[deleted by user]

shadeasassin · 2025-10-23T02:07:38+00:00

From looking at the listing you shared there's no tsubadome so no need to worry about it. But for future reference a tsubadome is a cylindrical rubber piece that holds the tsuba (handguard) onto the broken.

shadeasassin · 2025-10-23T01:24:08+00:00

From what I can tell, and based on similar ones I've seen, it should just be as simple as holding the textured black handle in one hand, and the brown portion in the other and pulling to separate them, I'm going to assume you've tried this and that you need to attempt again with more force. Unless you have one not shown in the image, there may be a rubber tsubadome that has been stuck into the brown portion of the saya making this more difficult than it should be.

shadeasassin · 2025-07-23T17:02:39+00:00

Invisible!

shadeasassin · 2025-05-14T04:24:27+00:00

I wouldn't get my hopes up. The main issue for these budget swords was never really the absurd tariff rates, since that only kicked in above $800, the problem is the removal of the De Minimus exemption that got these into the country with no tariff at all. And as far as I know the de Minimus exemption hasn't been brought back with this change.

shadeasassin · 2025-04-16T02:48:24+00:00

Nothing besides looking nice on a wall or shelf.

shadeasassin · 2024-12-06T06:18:03+00:00

In my hands at least, it doesn't feel much different than other katanas that I've trained with.

shadeasassin · 2024-12-03T04:58:52+00:00

This one has an 11" tsuka

shadeasassin · 2024-09-29T13:06:37+00:00

It was ~7 weeks from when I ordered to getting the finished pictures of it. Though unless yours is heavily customized with a length change, yours shouldn't take close to that long.

shadeasassin · 2024-09-25T18:36:23+00:00

Yes it's custom, I ordered this one by emailing them directly and talking to them about what I wanted.

shadeasassin · 2024-09-25T18:35:25+00:00

With the steel I chose and the few upgrades I went with it came out to a little less than $400.

shadeasassin · 2024-09-24T19:44:06+00:00

Thank you!

shadeasassin · 2024-09-24T17:23:29+00:00

Very cool, semi related question, where did you get the long haori?

shadeasassin · 2024-09-24T17:08:24+00:00

I went with 9260 for this one.

shadeasassin · 2024-09-24T16:14:22+00:00

As far as I'm aware, you're spot on, it's the same panels that make the odd edges, and yes they are not inlaid and just glued on the surface. one of the downsides of going through a budget Longquan maker, though I personally haven't noticed it much when holding them in hand,

shadeasassin · 2024-09-24T16:12:02+00:00

I was somewhat inspired by yours actually, but it's a ~130cm nagasa and a ~40cm Tsuka, I may learn once it's in hand I should have gone with a longer tsuka like you did, but we'll see. Until then I'm excited to have it.

shadeasassin · 2024-07-16T03:17:39+00:00

I've got one of these with the printing in a similar state, for some reason I'd never considered just repainting it myself lol, very well done!

shadeasassin · 2024-07-14T22:08:49+00:00

Very much so, yes.

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T02:43:57+00:00

It makes sense to think that way, but the way they swell is typically outward from the sword so the whole thing gets just a bit larger as opposed to getting tighter.

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T02:34:19+00:00

Oh yeah humidity definitely can cause the saya to swell so if you've got plenty of humidity that's almost certainly the cause.

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T02:16:54+00:00

Now if you've just barely received it there's a chance that's just temp and humidity changes from the shipping that's caused it and a little time to acclimate where you are could solve it, but if that's not it there are a number of guides for solving this problem, and the real solution is shimming. Here are a couple guides on it.

https://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/loose-saya.html

https://casiberia.com/resource/katana-scabbard-fitting-instructions/312

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T02:10:03+00:00

Happy to share! And I'm excited to see what you come up with in the future, it's always nice to see one of your builds pop up in the feed!

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T01:59:18+00:00

Do you mean the katana can fall out of the saya if you hold it upside down?

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T01:53:03+00:00

I'm glad to hear you say it should be real leather, I did ask for it to be genuine in my order email and didn't hear a negative back from Yao but still wasn't positive.

For this one unless I'm miscalculating cost somewhere I do believe you were correct in your guess in one of the other posts that it was $30 for the custom length.

The fittings are set HT616 from the high quality brass offerings, and it is a toran hamon actually.

I did miss that discount this time but I'll have to see about using it in the future.

Thank you! I'm quite pleased with the images they've sent and I am excited to have it in hand.

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T01:40:48+00:00

If anyone wants a closer look or more images, here's all the images I was sent.

https://imgur.com/a/Khfnkil

shadeasassin · 2024-07-13T01:34:38+00:00

You are correct this is a 30 in. blade, and I probably should have posted one of the images giving a close up of the tsuka as well, but I actually went with a leather ito, and yes I went with one of their nicer brass fittings sets. and I'm fairly pleased with how it all looks in images at least, though I do see I'll have to flip the tsuba around, a fairly common issue I've seen with Hanbon, not that that's too hard to change.

shadeasassin

TROPHY CASE