Can anyone tell me more about these beautiful blades?

[BladeLover777]

The CRKT Hishou, Shinbu, and Sakimori really caught my eye a while back. I am in love with the Japanese style blade shapes. Not too many people seem to own them though. I guess that is understandable since most people have no use for a blade that is intended for combat and nothing else. Even so, I am having trouble resisting picking up a Shinbu. The Hishou just seems to be a bit large and the Sakimori is smaller than I would like. So the Shinbu seems just right. Is there anyone who owns any of these? Or even just handled one?

My main concerns are:
1. How is the steel? Is it brittle? Hard to sharpen? Does it compare to a katana in terms of sharpness?

2. I hear some troops have used these overseas, but I haven't heard their reviews. Does anyone have feedback from people who have deployed with these knives?

3. How sturdy are these? I understand they are not for hard use, but do you feel they would hold up well in their intended roles?

Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[dkb45]

The CRKT Hishou, Shinbu, and Sakimori really caught my eye a while back. I am in love with the Japanese style blade shapes. Not too many people seem to own them though. I guess that is understandable since most people have no use for a blade that is intended for combat and nothing else. Even so, I am having trouble resisting picking up a Shinbu. The Hishou just seems to be a bit large and the Sakimori is smaller than I would like. So the Shinbu seems just right. Is there anyone who owns any of these? Or even just handled one?

My main concerns are:
1. How is the steel? Is it brittle? Hard to sharpen? Does it compare to a katana in terms of sharpness?

2. I hear some troops have used these overseas, but I haven't heard their reviews. Does anyone have feedback from people who have deployed with these knives?

3. How sturdy are these? I understand they are not for hard use, but do you feel they would hold up well in their intended roles?

Thanks in advance for any information.

1) The steel used is actually a decent steel for the application. It will take an edge, hold it well, and shouldn't give you issues in sharpening, but they are carbon steels, so corrosion will be an issue.

2) Not a soldier myself, so I can't say exactly how they would perform on deployment, but I can say that with the thin tips and the horror stories I have heard about knife abuse on deployment, I would honestly pick something more stout.

3) The knives are modeled off of traditional Japanese tantos, which were mostly designed simply for armor piercing. For a combat duty knife it would most likely do the job, but it is definitely not the tool for the job. It wasn't made to be a sturdy and robust general purpose blade, it is for punching holes in stuff.

 

[BladeLover777]

Awesome points, thanks for the info.