SWORDBUYERSDIGEST: Issue 2, Noveber 2006 MAGAZINE Sword Buyers Digest: MAGAZINE! From the Desk of Paul Southren (Editor) Hey guys! a very cool place where you can download some pretty nice arcade game emulations Welcome to the second edition of the new look (including my favorite arcade game of all time Inside this issue: Sword Buyers Digest Magazine. ‘Samurai Showdown’), a special last chance This months jam packed issue has a bit of a fo- offer to pick up the recently discontinued razor SBG Site News 1 cus on that hobby that gets all the neighbors sharp Cheness Higo Katana, and lots, lots more. looking at you funny—backyard cutting! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this issue of the di- Sword Industry News 2 In the first of a two part series I’ll be taking a gest—should you have any comments or sug- look at this hobby, from how to do it as safely gestions for the mag, be sure to drop me a line. as possible to how to select targets that are both Sword Review: Che- 3 Cheers, ness Higo Katana safe for you and your sword. Plus, we also have a couple of readers reviews, Article: Backyard Cut- 4-5 - Paul Southren ting! FREE Sword Games; 6 Samurai Showdown! SBG Site News Sword Review: Wind- 7 GRAPHIC PROBLEMS SLOW DOWN MY NEW AUSSIE SWORD STORE lass Qama NEW PAGES... Finally, in a an effort Customizing a Katana 8 October saw a few technical problems with the to help out some of my the EASY way... graphics suddenly not displaying on my pages fellow Australian Best Forum Posts 9 for medieval swords… :-( Japanese sword enthu- siasts, I have started This kind of slowed a few things down a bit, my first serious shipment of Cheness Cutlery Last Chance Discount 10 but the problem has for the most part (fingers Iaito and the 30” Nagasa Katana by airfreight Offer: Higo Katana crossed) straightened out so will hopefully be into Australia. While it isn’t easy, I’ve done able to get back on track with some planned everything I can to keep to prices competitive changes and additions to that page this month with the international standard (us Aussie (including a ‘test to destruction’ of one of my sword buyers tend to pay far too much for favorite Generation 2 swords, the Maximilian. freight, and when we buy locally the prices are It’s going to hurt, but it’s all in the name of see- simply waaay too high). PLUS: ing just how far you can push these swords be- fore they inevitably break). So if you live in Australia and are sick of pay- New super strong ing inflated prices, have a look at the new tem- Filipino Swords porary home for my (slowly) growing sword WIN a Free Cheness SWORD MANUFACTURERS INFO store HERE 9260 Spring Steel I have also been refining some of my sub-pages Katana in Shirasaya on the different sword manufacturers, and will MORE SBG SITE NEWS AS IT HAPPENS Video of the Month continue to do so into November so that by the end of the year there will be a kind of ‘one stop To keep (more or less) up to date with all the Exclusive SBG Dis- shop’ page detailing all the major manufactur- changes on my site as they occur, have a squiz count Offers ers of the different brands of sub-US$300 at the ‘official’ SBG Blog: swords with lots of links to further info. And MORE! Behind the Scenes at SBG © Sword-Buyers-Guide.com 2006 Sword Buyers Digest: Issue 2, Noveber 2006 MAGAZINE! Page 2 Sword Industry News: Discontinued Classics... CHENESS CUTLERY favourite single handed medieval arming swords, the European Sword… Cheness are definitely the company to watch in late 2006 and early 2007. Again, this really is pretty disappointing as I liked this sword so much it was the sword I More great designs of swords are currently in chose toe feature in the SBG Logo!!! the prototype stage and will be unveiled here in the coming months, including the extra tough 9260 prototype of the SGC (Specialized Goza Cutter) - a thick blade designed specifically for heavy duty tameshigiri (can’t wait to check that one out) - and a few other prototypes waiting in Well rather than change my logo, I am working the wings that I am dying to tell you about (but away behind the scenes to bring the European will have to wait until another edition of the sword back into production! So if you want to newsletter)… ;-) see it come back too, shoot me an email and I’ll compile them together to Windlass and see In other, somewhat sadder news, one of my fa- Arms of Valor’s Compari- what we can come up with…! :-) tive Sword Tests: Shrews- vourite Cheness swords, the Laminated Higo bury, Lucerne, Marshall and Katana is about to be permanently retired Mercenary (L to R). from the inventory due to ongoing difficulties of manufacturing it within the required budget. ARMS OF VALOR: Sword Tests I was recently submitted a review on this truly My good friend Jason at Arms of Valor has de- ‘sharp as a scalpel’ sword by a SBG visitor, cided to do something that pretty much no other Matthew Scruggs—but it isn’t purely nostal- online sword seller has ever dared to do before. gic… Taking four of the US$150 to $300 medieval swords with a similar blade profile that he sells, Paul Chen advised me that there is ONE LAST he is in the process of conducting some quite BATCH of these laminated, razor sharp blades scientific tests to help his customers understand that has just come in. the strengths and weaknesses of each brand and And while it is considerably smaller shipment select a blade that is right for them and their that what used to come in, if you are quick and budget.. want to get one of these swords at the lowest price on the internet, I have put together a spe- The blades included in the test include the cial LAST CHANCE offer at the back of this Windlass Shrewsbury Sword, Gen2’s Lucerne, months newsletter. the William Marshal by Hanwei and the Merce- nary by Valiant Arms (which is also rebranded and distributed by CAS Iberia). Tests include fit and finish, cutting, flex and edge on edge WINDLASS STEELCRAFTS contact. More of the results of the tests will be I hate it when they do this, but Windlass Steel- detailed here but for now: Click here to see crafts have recently discontinued one of my stage one: fit and finish. New Manufacturer of Traditional Filipino Swords I was recently submitted some information on a ones on Traditional Filipino Weapons. That new manufacturer of high quality Filipino along with the mirror finish is what makes them blades and thought the story was interesting very unique. All blades are full tang. You actu- enough to share: ally can chop a tree down with a ginunting and still use it in combat. “When I was training in the Philippines, I met a family tribe that has been making blades and They all have to be held to be believed. You can other weapons for a few hundred years. What I feel the power of how they want to slash and saw impressed me so much, I talked to them thrust by themselves...they are all engineered about importing these blades here to the US. I that well. This tribe knows what they are doing. My personal favorite: also import a very high grade steel to them that They have it down to a science when it comes to the War Golok, just $165. cannot be found in the Philippines so that is the blade making.” Only available from Tradi- reason no one else has the same quality as the www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com tional Filipino Weapons.com © Sword-Buyers-Guide.com 2006 Sword Buyers Digest: Issue 2, Noveber 2006 MAGAZINE! Page 3 End of an Era: the Discontinued Cheness Higo Katana Reviewed for the last time... While they might have been discontinued, The tsuba is very plain and utilitarian, but good- there is one last smaller than average batch looking, with a simple Musashi double-ring. remaining. In this last review of the Higo, The habaki had a few black streaks or smudges SBG customer Matthew Scruggs gives you on it upon delivery, but these polished right out, the low-down on what these swords were all so it's not a big concern. Everything seems tight about... and well constructed. The blade is absolutely immaculate. It has a gorgeous curve to it, and Cheness Higo Katana something of a "double hamon." The hamon is acid-etched (because the blade is not differen- Review By Matthew Scruggs, USA tially tempered), but it is very attractive and natural looking. There is also a second hamon, Forging of a Higo: a cen- where the 9260 steel is revealed as the edge, tral core of 9260 Spring which I think is very cool. Steel sandwiched between 2 billets of Carbon Steel Oh, and the blade is sharp. It has a real edge, not a double bevel, and tapers fine enough that your eyes go out of focus if you try to follow it. Here's how sharp the Higo is: real G@dd@mn sharp. It is sharper than many scalpels, and, working in the medical field, I know this for a fact. “Here’s how sharp the Higo is: real G@dd@am I recently purchased a 2nd Generation Higo My only problem is that the tip is extremely Katana from Cheness Cutlery on SBG.