Swordier Manganese Hybrid-Chokuto Katana Review: The .22LR of the sword world?!

[Music] hello blade enthusiasts and thank you for checking out another Studio gdt review you may have took a look at the thumbnail and thought what is this guy talking about the 22 long rifle of the sword world this is a sword Channel what's going on here if you can stick through this slightly longer than normal introduction slm monologue all will be illuminated so let's start off here by thanking sordar for putting up uh four of their new hybrid chokuto Tas shagiri swords uh up for review in the world space I happen to be one of the four people that happened to get one and I think I got a little Lucky in the configuration that I got because they were not all the same but the one thing that was unique amongst all four was that this was a very different type of sword that some people may write off uh because of the price of the sword the non-traditional design the non traditional materials um but I I need to give you a a bit of an idea of what I saw when I got this sword and took it out of the box and and how I think it applies even to a a traditional practitioner so in the Firearms world something that a lot of users do is they will pick up a firearm chambert and 22 long rifle to practice with this is whether they're shooting pistol this is whether they're shooting a rifle there's a couple of reasons for this what you're talking about doing is building up the fundamentals of of Marksmanship so you're talking about trigger presses you're talking about sight alignment you're talking about things like um anticipating recoil and it really doesn't matter what caliber you have in your platform to be able to train uh against some of these things in addition to that the cost for ammunition of 22 long rifle is significantly less than the full power cartridges so you've got uh people practicing to shoot long guns 22 rifle people trying to practice shooting uh CCW pistols and 22 long rifle the triger Press is the same the side alignment's the same the fundamentals are the same so if this concept holds true and is proven in the Firearms World why can't something like that hold true in the sword world this sword for all intents and purposes looks like I say looks like because my plan for cutting demonstrations come a little bit later but from the configuration and the geometry and whatnot it looks like it's going to be a strong cutter it is also $99 uh it it is something that would help you learn the body Dynamics the fundamentals to be able to perform good Cuts without running the risk of damaging expensive blades um if you're a student and you end up spending a little money on a nice sword and you learn a new cut what if you biffet on that first cut and you put a real nasty Bend IN in your sword what are you what are you going to do that that could suck so if you've got the option to move back to that training aid and and learn to make that cut with something where hey not only is it going to be durable so you don't run the risk of breaking the training aid but you can feel those body Dynamics and say hey you know what that was not right I'm glad I did not use my very expensive you know folded differentially hardened Dory polished whatever it is sword and totally Jack it up so I know some people may have seen this sword reviewed in other locations and and thought it was silly or gimmicky but I do hope that you look at it at this approach from a training aid use it to help you teach the fundamentals learn it to uh use it to help learn new techniques and not run the risk of damaging something that you maybe have invested a little bit more in that's not a slight on sword year for making something that you don't care about I actually think it's very smart and very intuitive you could buy another sword from them that's a higher tier and still pull this out hey I'm going to try a different technique maybe I should put this nice one away I'm going to bring out my tester I'm going to bring out my 22 long rifle I'm going to practice with it I'm practice with it I'm practice with it I got it down okay let's take out the real tool and see if I can do it with the real tool so that's where I'm at with this sword I think it has a value to it it's a unique value you think about it in the world of the 22 long rifle and the practice pistol it makes a lot of sense so enough about that I promise no more monologues no more soap boxes we'll just do a traditional Sword review from him on here on out as always please remember that I am an amateur martial artist and I'm an amateur sword reviewer the opinions expressed herein are my own please do not take them as gospel and feel free to tell me to go pound sand if you don't like something that I say uh the sword that we're reviewing today was sent as a review sample although that would not change my opinion of what I would tell you if it was or was not so let's take a look be careful and let's get into some swords starting off I was a little shocked to see a box within the Box I've reviewed 10 swords so far and this is the first box that I've had there was a nice presentation behind it and then opening up the box there was this greeting tag as well as an inspected Buy on the reverse and it was just a nice touch it's something I hadn't seen before didn't expect it for 99 bucks and here is the hybrid chokuto in all of its Glory at a glance with the exception of the ring at the end of the handle um it probably looks like a pretty traditional sword that's really where the similarities stop and you can see how this was very purpose-built panning down the length of the sword you can see the synthetic leather EO the iron subba and the ishime Finish SAA um you'll also see the standard autant that you would normally expect from a katana and as in the kuriata uh the shito and seil the handle and you're going to hear me refer to it as a handle from here on out as opposed to its Suka because it is not removable it is not user serviceable and it doesn't have a wood core so really you can't call it a Suka so the handle is very straight uh it is wrapped with this synthetic uh leather on it there's a padding of some sort underneath it that does make it comfortable to squeeze and hold in the hand the Nago or really truly Tang goes all the way to the loop and is a part of the loop so that Loop is not coming off you'll see that there is a retention lanyard that comes with it I I won't be using that I think I would have much rather that length of synthetic leather be used as SEO I think a white SEO would have looked good with this uh but that's how it's set up so let's delve into the handle a little bit more the EO was wrapped tight well enough All Things Considered there is some movement on it but there really just isn't any traditional shape to work with uh the sagama uh isn't rough I I'm not entirely certain it's real it's it's pretty flexible but the handle is comfortable uh the synthetic leather is tacky and it does have a decent profile as you can see sorer handed out four of these in different configurations some with some pretty outlandish subas so I think I got lucky and I got this modern take on the Fletching subba it is iron it kind of looks like oil rubbed bronze and I like it I would use this on another sword um unfortunately I can't cuz I can't take it off but I think it looks good and it works my expectations were low at $99 so the fact that there's no buffalo horn um kuchi or kuriata or anything like that doesn't surprise me but the SAA was actually very nice it has an ishime finish which means Rock grain it was solid obviously the kuchi is shaped to fit the unique suity of the blade but the Saia felt like it could have came on a $250 sword the SEO was of the shoelace type which I think should be expected but maybe we missed an opportunity to have the synthetic leather uh be used as the SEO in white I think that would kind of look cool so if I could make a recommendation to sord here I would say get rid of that shoelace and put some more of that leather in there taking the blade out of its resting place you're confir fronted with this Frankenstein hodgepodge of ideas that somehow seem to work you've got a very wide uh blade profile on it there is some shinogi but not much it's almost hukuri yet you have a kamasu Kaki that you would normally have on chokuto it's all over the place upon closer inspection the purpose-built nature of this sword makes itself immediately clear there's no niku whatsoever this thing is like a gigantic razor because the whole point of it is to help you learn to cut and why make that harder why not make it easier with the previous closeup I'm sure some of you are thinking how secure is this Blade with no Habachi and a nontraditional kuchi well listen click it is pretty dang secure they did a really great job of that blade flats are relatively flat with just a hint of a ripple that can be seen in the sunlight but nothing serious and nothing I think out of the ordinary historically chokuto are quite old and tend not to hold up as well as other neonto and are typically in rougher States they are all straight however so another part of this hybrid design is adding the Sor to it that sord deer has done to make it a little bit more modern and more effective at cutting here you see the kamasu or soli Pike Kaki that is the distinguishing feature of choku the sugua style hone is wire etched and the mirror polish is functional and designed to hold up for what this blades purposes overall the sword while looking different is attractive and I think it would be neat to see this in a different Steel type that actually had a true hone on it because I think it could be pretty neat looking obviously that defeats the purpose of this entry level uh practice cutter but I think they could make something a little bit more traditional with this as a foundation behind it the review portion of this video may seem a little short and that's partially because there's less pieces to take a look at when compared to something that's traditionally made that doesn't mean that I don't plan on doing the full four phases with the sword as I would with everything else so you're probably going to see some really goofy EI with this if it's even possible when we get to cutting we should see this cut extremely well and uh prove the purpose that it was designed for and then in the long-term test how did that synthetic leather handle hold up that I won't be able to service so stay tuned and take a look at what this interesting sword ends up having to offer us thank you sword [Music] here e e e e

Channel: StudioGDT

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Keywords: katana, katana sword, katana forging, making katana, katana replica, katana slice test, kenjutsu, kenjutsu training, kenjitsu, kenjutsu (martial art), iaido, iaito, iaido kata, iaido (martial art), iaido demonstration, master the art of laido, iai, bushido, iaijutsu, budo, kendo, kobudo, shinai, samurai, battodo, martial art, martial arts, sword review, sword, review, swords, sword test, replica sword, battojutsu, shogun, custom katana, swordier, tameshigiri, chokuto, backyard cutting

Id: J5iVjkS0X9I

Length: 13min 20sec (800 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 06 2024