get from the kok lok si temple shops. blue color. will post pics with review when i receive it tmr. katana with stand =rm 100. suppose to receive it today but he's not free do see me.

ANYONE ELSE GOING TO PENANG?

I guess the unsharpened ones are not meant to be sharpened, and the quality of the metal is different. So if u sharpen it maybe the metal will spoil (rust and so on) esp those that u buy from batu ferringhi.. if i m not mistaken its solely for deco purpose only..

and like ijatz said the real katana is made from 2 kinds of metal, they mix it, so the "jisim" from one of metal can fill in into the "jisim" of another metal thus making it super sharp and much more stronger. I read this from somewhere long time ago..

katanas made before the world war are mostly hand-crafted, whereas those made during the war and post-worldwar are machine made cause its faster and cheaper to produce to equip the military. so that's y the pre-war swords are higher in value as compared to the the post-war swords.

another interesting thing about samurai swords are the cut test. in true iaido practise, those samurais/iaidoka will perform cut test on bamboos stacked together(normally). and from what i read, in the samurai days, they actually perform cut test on actual people (enemies etc..)

sorry for the long post, correct me if i m wrong cheers~

here's the review of the katana that can be bought at the kok lok shi temple.

the length of the whole sword is around 3ft plus and weighs around 2lb give or take. it's roughly the weight of the bar on those spinlock dumbbells or my parang ilang. first thing that strikes you is it's long and quite heavy. drawing the blade makes you gasp. it's shinny and has those waves and looks darn sharp (but isn't). not sure what the handle is made of (most probably wood) but the scabbard is wood. the caps are plastic though but looks like steel. the guard is metal and of course the blade too.

this is the picture of the handle still wrapped in plastic



this is the picture of the scabbard (saya) still wrapped in plastic



this is the picture of the stand (katana-kake). it's a 3 piece snap on.



unwrapping it we get this...

partly drawn and undrawn blade details near the guard (tsuba)



detail of the handle (tsuka)


detail of the sageo



This post has been edited by AsenDURE: Mar 22 2006, 11:36 AM

detail of the handle cap




detail of the guard (tsuba)


mounted on the katana-kate. should be facing left though. you can compare the length to the cpu below (thats a mid tower atx casing)



detail of the blade. you can see the faint reflection of the camera phone.



sorry for the bad picture quality. used a camera phone nokia 7260

This post has been edited by AsenDURE: Mar 22 2006, 11:42 AM

very nice review..too bad for the blurry pics...

btw, the caps(made of plastic)...that really concerns me...would it make the overall appearance of the sword look fake?

^ can pass off as metal to me. check out pic of the sword half drawn and compare the caps against the guard.

but if you pull out the caps (for whatever reason) and look inside you can see it's plastic (or maybe im just not that particular ). i don't dare remove the caps on the scabbard end or the handle end - later kenot put back die. i only removed the one where the scabbard meets the guard.


but trust me, it doesn't look fake.

This post has been edited by AsenDURE: Mar 22 2006, 12:54 PM

^ ok, waiting for news from ed0gawa...if tak jadi, then heading to PENANG for sword hunting....

btw, your friend told you how many types of swords to choose from? or just colour variation?

wow...i'm gonna give kek lok si a visit when i get back to penang....can u ask your fren the shop name or roughly where is it located? or any tell tale sign of the shop like...filled with other swords/katana displayed out side/etc....thx

^ he didn't pay attention. at foot of the hill. easy to spot coz selling all kinds of knives, swords, etc. lots of variations and color. got a 4ft. katana, one that opens left and right from the scabbard, wakizashi, etc.

cool...thx..i might get a katana and a wakizashi but thats still 2mth away

there are lots of places selling katana in pg. batu ferringi, lorong kulit and kek lok si. This is the only a few place i know of. Anyway, i think its a stall not a shop.

sheeet. Thats a nice katana. Any news as to when ed0gawa is going to inquire for us?

question for AsenDURE...is the sword stainless steel? Any bad assembly? like lose parts?

This post has been edited by young_soul: Mar 22 2006, 03:49 PM

how much of it?

RM 100++ only leh. what to expect?

yeap.

don't even wanna know what the cost price is

i went to batu feringghi just now and I saw the same sword u posted...he was selling for 150 then he gave me 130...but i gave him that long hmm...look and he asked how much do i want it for?

But I didnt get it coz the quality was poor.

My father bought a set b4 from Japan using Amex membership...it was like 20 years ago and the quality of those compared to the one posted here from Penang is really diff.

One thing you must make sure is that you maintain the katana once in a while...dabbing with talcum powder and oil, that comes with the package just like what we see in samurai movies (i doubt those from kek lok si temples have the maintenance kit) If you dont take care of it, you'll have a very bad maintained katana.

Rusty got his 3 set katanas yet?

hey, im not sure if this helps, but heres my info anyway.

im from penang and i know of a shop called Hobi Sports that sells swords. i used to go there to get my fishing gear and one day i went up to the upper floor and i saw a nice collection of stuff there. Katanas, english swords (ala King Arthur~) and a whole lot more. the price im not too sure though. but i have a feeling its a few hundred. oh, and theres bows and crossbows too.

abt the kekloksi one, im not too sure. i just go hiking there and the only thing that i can remember seeing in those shops are japanese opera masks (im not sure wat u call it). nice stuff, and who knows inside they might have ur katanas:)