Great review! I just ordered their T10 clay tempered katana at about that price range. I customized it a bit, and the communication from Ryansword was top notch. Your review was very helpful with the decision to give them a try.
Thanks for the shoutout. I think Ryan Sword is certainly a rather cost-effective maker of somewhat generic Longquan katana offerings with above-average fit and finish, and very versatile one for custom commissions, and yes I'm talking about actual custom swords, not drop-down menu customizable swords. You can give them specifications of any arbitrary geometries and dimensions and for the most part they can execute them on a reasonable budget and finish in a timely manner.
I personally own one of their other budget replica swords, the Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and had basically the same experience. Pretty well put together, tight ito, relatively accurate fittings, and very sharp. Only complaint is that the blade was way thicker than necessary. I'm actually in the process of grinding the spine down a bit like a unokubi-zukuri geometry, and now it's a pretty reasonable weight for its size. That being said, I believe I bought it in 2018, so I don't know if they've kept the same blade geometry since way back when For 135 bucks, pretty darn good. However, I'd actually recommend doing a custom sword from them; for between 200-400 bucks, you can basically get them to make whatever you want Good review as usual 👍
Starting to see some decent users again for less that $200. Definitely not bad for the money, especially compared to other cheap Kill Bill swords I see. Nice review! And accidentally clipping your stand gives some very useful information.
There's definitely some good options in the sub-$200 market! While they're never going to be excellent katana, they can certainly be good. It's a good time to be shopping in this price range imo.
I just put in an order for a straight bladed odachi with a kogarasu-maru profile the other day, and it was only $30 extra from one of the baseline models I picked the fittings for. So yeah, they'll work with you on a request at a rather reasonable price. Also, I think the tiny edge warp did come from hitting the stand rather than the bottle neck. I'd have to ask, but I don't think requesting niku would add to the cost as much as potential wait time to make a fresh blade.
I think you're right this is a really good sword for the money and it's definitely above average for a 'brides sword' replica. It's not very accurate to the one from the film but none of them really are, so you can't really hold it against this one. it's better than most. If it was film accurate it would have totally different fittings. I forget what the style is called but you can see rayskin through the kashira. Which is more like a chape with a cut out sort of similar to one on a scabbard. The Saya has metal fittings on it, the blade is close but wrong, the lion on the blade is a brazed(or something) on metal piece of like gold or something. Blah blah blah...hey I bet Ryan sword could make a film accurate one if you asked them that would be really cool. If you look at the movie version and this one side by side they are actually very similar they did a good job at getting all the details wrong in the right way. They still captured the look very nicely. If I had the extra money I would get one. I always wanted a decent quality hanzo sword.
Have you tried using small wooden/bamboo sticks to hold tatami pieces together, like at around 21:29? I got a few dozen from Amazon for a few bucks. I also had some edge rolling on a diff. hardened katana by cutting the thickest part of a plastic protein container. The neck/cap regions are probably too tough for most blades with no niku or apple seeding.
That's an interesting idea - I might have to try that. Cutting the free standing piece is intended to be more difficult, but I may not always want that.
Great review! I just ordered their T10 clay tempered katana at about that price range. I customized it a bit, and the communication from Ryansword was top notch. Your review was very helpful with the decision to give them a try.
Right on!
Thanks for the shoutout. I think Ryan Sword is certainly a rather cost-effective maker of somewhat generic Longquan katana offerings with above-average fit and finish, and very versatile one for custom commissions, and yes I'm talking about actual custom swords, not drop-down menu customizable swords. You can give them specifications of any arbitrary geometries and dimensions and for the most part they can execute them on a reasonable budget and finish in a timely manner.
Thanks friend for this review… god job Sir👊🏻🗡️❤️
My pleasure
Have you seen the kill bill from Sheng Sword? More expensive but the blade finish and polish is amazing and worth the price. Also it's an L6 blade
I personally own one of their other budget replica swords, the Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and had basically the same experience. Pretty well put together, tight ito, relatively accurate fittings, and very sharp. Only complaint is that the blade was way thicker than necessary. I'm actually in the process of grinding the spine down a bit like a unokubi-zukuri geometry, and now it's a pretty reasonable weight for its size. That being said, I believe I bought it in 2018, so I don't know if they've kept the same blade geometry since way back when
For 135 bucks, pretty darn good. However, I'd actually recommend doing a custom sword from them; for between 200-400 bucks, you can basically get them to make whatever you want
Good review as usual 👍
Starting to see some decent users again for less that $200. Definitely not bad for the money, especially compared to other cheap Kill Bill swords I see. Nice review! And accidentally clipping your stand gives some very useful information.
There's definitely some good options in the sub-$200 market! While they're never going to be excellent katana, they can certainly be good. It's a good time to be shopping in this price range imo.
I just put in an order for a straight bladed odachi with a kogarasu-maru profile the other day, and it was only $30 extra from one of the baseline models I picked the fittings for. So yeah, they'll work with you on a request at a rather reasonable price. Also, I think the tiny edge warp did come from hitting the stand rather than the bottle neck. I'd have to ask, but I don't think requesting niku would add to the cost as much as potential wait time to make a fresh blade.
I agree that asking for niku would likely not affect the cost much at all.
I think you're right this is a really good sword for the money and it's definitely above average for a 'brides sword' replica. It's not very accurate to the one from the film but none of them really are, so you can't really hold it against this one. it's better than most.
If it was film accurate it would have totally different fittings. I forget what the style is called but you can see rayskin through the kashira. Which is more like a chape with a cut out sort of similar to one on a scabbard. The Saya has metal fittings on it, the blade is close but wrong, the lion on the blade is a brazed(or something) on metal piece of like gold or something. Blah blah blah...hey I bet Ryan sword could make a film accurate one if you asked them that would be really cool.
If you look at the movie version and this one side by side they are actually very similar they did a good job at getting all the details wrong in the right way. They still captured the look very nicely. If I had the extra money I would get one. I always wanted a decent quality hanzo sword.
I think their goal was to capture the feel of the katana from the movie at a very affordable price, and to me, they succeeded at that goal.
wished u try to slice a 2x4 wood. so we know how it bends or not
Great Video Man! i wonder whats ur opinion on "John Lee" budget Katanas by comparison?
Unfortunately I don't have any experience with them.
Have you tried using small wooden/bamboo sticks to hold tatami pieces together, like at around 21:29?
I got a few dozen from Amazon for a few bucks.
I also had some edge rolling on a diff. hardened katana by cutting the thickest part of a plastic protein container.
The neck/cap regions are probably too tough for most blades with no niku or apple seeding.
That's an interesting idea - I might have to try that. Cutting the free standing piece is intended to be more difficult, but I may not always want that.
Hittori Hanzo: "If you meet God, the sword will cut him."
Me: "So... like an Albion?"