Cheness Tenchi Review

by Mo
(Michigan, USA)

I received my cheness tenchi recently so I'm going to give some initial impressions. This was ordered from SBG, and I had an EXCELLENT experience with Paul! He was very helpful, responsive to emails, and even helped me out with some other sword related questions asides from the tenchi. I HIGHLY recommend him to everyone and will definitely suggest him to anyone I knows that wants to buy a sword. Thanks Paul!

Moving on to the sword, here is my attempt at a quick and to the point review. Keep in mind I?m relatively inexperienced and have no formal training.

Here is a video that I made as soon as I received it.



Packaging: 5/5

I was very pleased with this part. The box with a dragon theme was superb! It also came with a sword bag.


Fit and Finish: 3/5

This is the only part of the sword that is lacking a bit. But for a 250 dollar katana that is expected. Just like paul mentioned in his review, the fittings are very simple and nothing that are a joy to look at. However they are quite functional and will do what they are intended to do. I have read a lot on SBG about issues with loose fittings, and most of them were grossly exaggerated. The menuki (ornament) moves around a little bit, but no big deal. It won't move unless you physically push it, if you do then it will move slightly. Same with the fuchi (collar), right below the tsuba, it moves around slightly but again no big deal. The saya or tsuka was definitely not cracked. The ito was wrapped tightly. True that the ito isn't very high quality, but it was on put on tightly and will get the job done. Overall the fittings aren't too visually appealing, but they are functional and should work well. I didn't get this sword for looks, I got this to cut and the fittings should not be of importance when you're spending 250 on a backyard cutter.


Blade: 5/5

As soon as I took it out, I decided to see if it was sharp by testing it using my thumb. BAD IDEA!! At first I applied slight pressure, nothing happened. Then I moved my thumb just a tad with that slight pressure and I was cut. Not going to try that again.

I proceeded to chop the cardboard box it came in half without any problems, and then cut some water bottles in half easily even with my terrible form and inexperience. After that, I grabbed some paper to test out the sharpness. Here are the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQsKon6CzO0&fmt=18

This is a wonderful blade! The blade does have a hamon, but it isn't clearly visible, which doesn't bother me at all because it is strictly for aesthetics. The kissaki had no scratches. The blade had a light goat of thick oily stuff, which was easily wiped off and it looked great. I am very satisfied with the cutting abilities of this blade. Since I'm quite inexperienced, this blade will be a great way for me to learn proper cutting techniques. The weight and balance of this sword are excellent, handles a lot better than my cold steel warrior katana which feels like a tip heavy pole. The cold steel is good in it's own way, but this cheness seems more "katana like" compared to my cold steel warrior sword. I'm bound to make mistakes, and the 9260 spring steel will withstand any cuts I perform with the wrong form.

Overall I highly recommend the cheness tenchi! It is a great backyard cutter, and if that is what you are looking for, I think for $250 this can't be beat. And I definitely suggest buying from SBG. It is the place to buy cheness. Take your business to Paul from SBG, he will be very helpful and be straight forward with you.

Once again, thank to Paul from SBG for making this a pleasure to buy. I'm off to kill some milk jugs now.