Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.

Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.

by Hak
(Chestnut Hill, MA)

I've been learning HaiDong Gumdo for a couple of years now, and lately we've been getting into cutting. I needed a live blade, but all the available swords were $800 and beyond. Seeing how many people had their swords damaged by accidentally hitting the base, or just from a bad cut, I definitely had doubts about investing $800+ on a sword.

I was considering ebay, but I noticed most of the swords were made of stainless steel. And then I found this site, and Cheness Cutlery. I was sold after reading the review here and some destructive testing on other sites. I chose the Shura seeing that it appeared to be one of the tougher swords that wouldn't take damage if I made a bad cut.

Now, I've never bought anything expensive over the internet and I was a bit nervous, and despite having to figure out paypal, the SBG shop made it a very easy process. Even the address mistake I made while ordering was fixed quickly when I emailed Paul Southren. The sword actually got here in a little over a week, and I was very impressed with it (as were the people who spent more than twice the amount on a sword). Overall I'm very happy I made the purchase.

The one thing that does bother me though, is that the sword is a bit difficult to draw from the sheathe. I could probably fix it by sandpapering it a bit, but I'm afraid of messing something up. Also I just started college this year, and am not allowed to have a weapon on campus, so I had to leave it home. When I went home for thanksgiving break, I noticed it developed some mild rust spots despite having oiled it throughly (I guess I'm not home often enough to take care of it). While I'm stating this, if anyone has a solution to either one of these problems, it would be greatly appreciated.

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Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.

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Dec 15, 2007

Thanks for the comment :-)
by: Anonymous

Hi, I would like to thank you for the comment on my page, I enjoyed reading your's as well :D

Also, you can use sandpaper on a blade, it tends to polish it up real nice too, but it is safer to go with something that will polish it more evenly.

MAS sells L6 Jingum, and these blades are very, very durable. I know a guy who cut at least 1000 bamboo poles with his katana from MAS and it has not dulled yet. Take a look at them if you'd like.

Dec 06, 2007

To Milo
by: Hak

Oh wow, the cheness page told me to sandpaper the blade, and I was scared of doing that. Your solution sounds much safer. Do you recommend one over the other (silvo or brasso), and would I be able to find either in a hardware store? Also I was told that petroleum jelly tends to stain the blade. Was I mistaken?

Dec 04, 2007

Oil solution
by: Milo Young

Hey Hak try using silvo or brasso on the rust spots. When I ordered my Practical Katana it arrived with a few rust spots, polishing with silvo did the trick. As for the difficult drawing the Habaki is fiction fitted to the saya and I would advise against tampering with it. Use your thumb to push the sword while drawing. If you store the sword for extended periodsI recomend using a heavy petroleum gel to coat the blade as oil will eventually run off. Petroleum gel will not run, just use a light coat.

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Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.

Comments for Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.

Comments for
Very nice beginner (and beyond) swords.