Musashi Daigoro review

[8thsinner]

Musashi self build Katana kit

Admitadly I haven't followed review protocol type pics but I hope these at least display the basics.

Heres how it looks as of now...Click to super size



The set

Blade
Style: Gentle even curve
Overall length: 43"
Blade length: 29 1/2"
Width at habaki: 1 3/16"
WIdth at kissaki edge: 7/8 "
Steel type: High carbon probably 1060
Hamon type: Uneven wave
Hardness: Ha 55, Mune: Unknown
Bohi: Present
Kissaki: 1 13/16"
Sori: 11/16"
Weight: Not yet measured
Mekugi ana: 2 holes
Niku range: Soft targets
Balance point: 5 3/4"
Sharpness: Good but not perfect
Cutting ability: Clean

Furniture

Over all quality: Oxidized copper - Average
Tsuba: Two joints visable on both top and bottom
Tsuba size: 3.5"
Fuchi: 3 and 4 spoke things with rope background
Kashira: Same pattern as above
Menuki: Similar on finger tip side
Habaki: Solid brass with musashi marking on front
Seppa: Do not fit perfectly around circumference and badly finished

Saya

Finish: Gloss with unusual accidental pattern
Fit: Rattles both ways
Throat: Plain but fits well
Sageo material: Cotton
Sageo colours: Black
Tapered or not: A little

Other
Tsuka ito tightness: Quite good
Tskua ito colour: Charcoal dark
Same material: Ray skin
Tsuka length: 11 3/16"

Additional box
Outside: Satiny pattern
Fit: Pretty good but only for seperates
Solidity: Not solid at all
Liner: Cheap and not fitted properly

Additional maintenance kit

Box: Good size, balsa wood, Stamped label
Oil: Simple bottle choji
Cloth: Cotton strip tattered edges in decent box
Rice paper: If thats what it is (I have no idea)
Uchiko: Jam packed, needs to stay in ziplock
Hammer: Seems to be good enough though a tad light

Additional Sword bag

Material: Blue cotton outer, satin liner
Colour: Both blue
Size: About three inches too long but works


You can see from above most of the general noteworthy points of this blade at a glance. But it's always good to elaborate on things to be clear.

Overall
Generally speaking I am quite pleased and though I probably spent too much on it (£240) I suppose thats what it costs to buy in shop these days.

Blade features
I believe the steel to be 1060 because thats what most of their others are, although I have not found much information about them online.

The kissaki is unpolished which I don't mind however there was a noticable roll on the very tip, small enough, but when flatened out with a steel it's still a noticable defect. It doesn't much effect penetrative properties.

 

[8thsinner]

The sharpness going through paper is jagged but accurate, I carefully put a steel to it which helped a bit. It's not hair popping sharp but the angles are good and leaves are cut quite cleanly.

There is one unsharp area on the blade which is noticable from above if looking directly down on it, about two inches as we pass the habaki. This may be an intentional act to reduce the number of stupid mistakes but I hate it and would polish it out if I had the skill.

The hamon is an uneven wave and brightly polished but theres an error noticable from the tempering process, it's just a line out of place near the beginning of the monouchi. It's about an inch long but quite faint.

Over all the hamon is very bright but looked upon length ways it's less bright in some places than it is in others which is kind of annoying.

The balance is for me nearly perfect and though I am used to a blade 28" long it's quite easy to get used to the extra inch and a half.

The sound from the bohi is crisp and clear although it is not perfectly even the whole length over, You can only really notice this when running the fingers down the entire length of it and concentrating. Over the cloth of course.

Tsuka
The natural cotton ito provides an average grip but it's smooth and generally even and the diamonds are nearly identical. I will point out that this is a much better quality than seen on cheaper models.

It is possible to move the top of the wraps a little but still quite tight.

One major dissapointment here is that the wrap is back to front at the top which really does piss me off but it's seems this way on nearly all non nihonto blades as far as I have seen.

Each of the crossings of the wrap go the same way without fault but aren't they supposed to alternate each pass?

The mekugi ana are a little out of central allignment on the lower pin but only by about 3/32" so it's not too bad.

The omote and ura knots are horribly out out place. The tsuka should either have been an eigth longer or a full wrap shorter, preferably shorter. They are tight enough but I reckon I could have tied it off better myself. and yes I do have some experience with this.

I haven't become too familiar with the feeling of the menuki as I have only had the blade 5 days at the time of writing, but it's not uncomfortable.

 

[8thsinner]

Saya
The biggest down fall of this rather decent blade for the price is the rattling both perpendicularily and vertically, I might just be inclined to try another one myself even though I can't gloss too well I can get a much better fit. But before I do...
Does any one know a trick to fix this on a temp basis?
I am thinking about putting a cotton ball down there to capture the tip of the kissaki...

As I mentioned theres a strange pattern over some of the saya, about ten inches long on one side only and it seems like a pattern created by removing adhesive tape or a forzen oil slick. Theres no residue or anything and I actually quite like the randominity of it and would suggest if they know what it is to include it as standard as a way of dressing up a pretty regular saya gloss finish.

The finish of the rest is smooth without damages apart from one little bubbled fleck which fell of the throat area right at the edge.

I have since wrapped the first 7 1/2" of the saya with a hand cut pigskin leather band, This went on well and nicely sets off the overall duller charcoal tsukaito. It also gives that more custom look, just stands out a little bit you know what I mean. It makes a much more comfortable grip which feels warmer than a saya normally would.

The sageo is what you would expect at a large factory, nothing special, easily creased from the sageo knot originally on there and it makes it difficult to tie it up properly after practice. But it will be two weeks or more before my Turtoise silk black and random white pattern sageo arrives.
(I do have a certain way of tying my sageo) described below because it works and looks fantastic but also can be done whilst holding the tsuba shut, quickly with practice.

Extras
On first look the outside of the box is quite beautifull in a dark crimson and lighter red satin finish with dragons and clouds patterns, and the handles and locking pins look fantastic in an aged way. But the underside of the box is horrible, the satin finishes in a way which makes it look like it's framing an old kitchen cupboard liner or the back of a cheap deck of cards.

Although having the fitted and patterned box is quite nice it's only designed to fit the seperate pieces. It uses cheap poly as a filler and I will most likely remove this all together, and fit it in foam as there is space to fit everything. Line it with a better quality satin possibly aiming to match a better sword bag. If any one knows of a decent bag for the budget price range please let me know.
The box is not sturdy and seems to be made of balsa wood, it keeps the weight down though.

Every katana wether in the cheaper range or not should have a maintenance kit supplied and of course this does, Using a very cheap and inferior quality production box which as I will not be keeping in the presentation box I have replaced with my own mahagony stained beech box which is far more solid if not damaged from years of abuse.

The kit contents are as you would expect, bottle of choji, apparantly rice paper but I have no way of knowing, mekugi hammer, and uchiko powderball I will assume it's not stuffed with talcom powder but it feels the same to me. And it is stuffed full to the point where it leeks everywhere if not kept in a ziplock bag so I might try and stitch a super fine weave bag together for it. The cotton strip comes with a pretty decent plastic box to keep the rest of the contests from contaminating it, So I use this only for oil application.

The authenticity scroll is nicely done on velum as best as I can tell with japanese stamping and english printed. Hand signed I will probably actually have this laminated and placed behind the stand when I get it.

As this is a kit there was no need to include a presentation stand but I will be getting one in a couple of weeks with a gloss finish and Musashi written on it. My other stand is a three tier and had a cheap highlander rehandled and the old style marto also rehandled with a bokken in plastic sheath. One katana on a three tier stand just sucks.

Eventually this katana will be placed on a two tier stand with matching black gloss kit box with a tanto from Ninecircles.co.uk, as this is a pattern I like. It's not going to match the katana reviewed but still.



Sageo wrapping method (my own design as far as I know) If so lets call it (8th's knot) to keep things simple.

Lock the tsuba off with the right hand, front facing you. and sageo dangling to the right side.
With the left hand place the back of the three middle fingers under the sageo near the knot if you use one or an inch away if you dont.
Rotate the hand anticlockwise and drag that hitch created over the left side of the saya.
Use the gap between two fingers and grab the dangling sageo from the underside of course. I use my middle and forth finger.
Hook the sageo with the forth finger and pull this through the hitch you first made, this creates a slipped knot.
Pull it snugly but not tight until the loop your gripping is about three inches long, the sageo should be dangling out of the left side.
- Note the gap between the sageo dangling and the saya you need to go through this gap in a second.
Pull without loosening the slipped know the dangling sageo around under neath the saya, then up through the gap.
You also need to pull the entire knot uptowards the tsuba to loosen it slightly, and pass through the first hitched area.
At this point pull the knot back down tight with thumb through first loop and middle finger through the loop on the tsuba side.

You may need to tighten it up and fiddle a bit especialy if your using a cheap sageo which I am forced to do currently but a silk sageo fits together almost perfectly and looks fantastic when it's done right.
Depending in the length of your sageo you should have roughly three inch loops on each side of the knot and tassles also about three inches dangling towards the kissaki.

This knot was designed by me to provide something both aesthetically pleasing and easy to remove.
To remove just pull the tassles towards the kissaki, rotate once around the tip (you will see which way) pull again and rotate one last time.
To tighten quickly just pull the knot further from the tsuba or fiddle, but usually all thats required is that you pull most of the time.

If you shorten the first loop you can also hold the katana in a surprisingly decorative looking way with the second loop up over your fingers as you grip the tsuba. which can be transfered to the left hand quite easily.

 

[averageguy]

Great review.