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tiocfaidh
30th September 2004, 13:20
The following is a post I made in the Ninpo forum. I would be interested in general views from outside that community as well. Thanks. :

Hello all,

I am buying my first sword and have been recommended a Paul Chen Practical Katana ("PK"). Is it worth the extra £100 (depending on the supplier) to get the Practical Plus Katana ("PPK")?

I'm not that bothered about the extra £100. It certainly looks nicer but I wanted to get views as to its feel, cutting ability and ease of maintenance.

I understand that the PPK can be dismantled whereas the PK cannot. Does this make the PPK easier to clean, or should dismantling a sword be left to the experts.

Like I say, I'm happy to spend the extra £100, but only if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance,

Gerard

P.S. I realise this is not strictly a BBT question but I am a practitioner so would welcome comments from that particular community.

pgsmith
30th September 2004, 15:22
Hello Gerard,
Personally, I would recommend that you save your money and buy a decent sword. While both of the swords you mentioned are sufficiently strong enough for safe use, they are both pretty lousy as far as Ja[anese swords go. I say this because on the ones I have seen, the fittings are poor, the wrap is poorly done, the balance is lousy, and the feel of the whole thing is just not what it should be. In other words, you get what you pay for.

If you insist on getting one of them, then it should be the PPK. The extra money is worth it for having a sword that is mounted more traditionally. It is not so much that it should to be taken apart, it is that the epoxy that is used to glue on the PK handle lends an ugly feel to it. The wood of the tsuka serves to help absorb shock, and the epoxy in the PK handle doesn't do that. This makes it feel funky when being used.

My suggestion would be to save up until you can afford something from Bugei or SwordStore. You'll end up unsatisfied with a PK or PPK before too long.

Cheers,

Ren Blade
30th September 2004, 17:38
Agreed. Save money and spend it on high end production swords at least like swordstore and bugei. And I'm also in agreement that if you must have either the PK or PPK, go with the PPK. PPK is an approximate of a Katana. The PK is already a lesser sword than PPK.

I used to own a PK (just sold it) and currently own a PPK. Bought both before I joined a dojo. I'm more aware of Japanese swords now than before. Right now I'm only going high end production swords like bugei and swordstore and will eventually custom.

mAIOR
8th October 2004, 10:43
Yup the PPK is much better...
But beware with the supplier you must check first if it has good quallity control cause sometimes the blades come with bad tempering wich makes them hard to sharpen...
Regards

pgsmith
8th October 2004, 14:26
... sometimes the blades come with bad tempering wich makes them hard to sharpen...
Mr. Batista,
Care to elaborate on just what that means? I can't quite figure out what you're talking about there.

Thanks,

senki
20th October 2004, 01:52
Originally posted by tiocfaidh
The following is a post I made in the Ninpo forum. I would be interested in general views from outside that community as well. Thanks. :

Hello all,

I am buying my first sword and have been recommended a Paul Chen Practical Katana ("PK"). Is it worth the extra £100 (depending on the supplier) to get the Practical Plus Katana ("PPK")?

I'm not that bothered about the extra £100. It certainly looks nicer but I wanted to get views as to its feel, cutting ability and ease of maintenance.

I understand that the PPK can be dismantled whereas the PK cannot. Does this make the PPK easier to clean, or should dismantling a sword be left to the experts.

Like I say, I'm happy to spend the extra £100, but only if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance,

Gerard

P.S. I realise this is not strictly a BBT question but I am a practitioner so would welcome comments from that particular community.

---------------

Gerard,

Our dojo here in Aus has just bought a couple of the Paul Chen blades for generic use in class for tameshigiri. The blades are ok - they cut. But - you have to work out what you want. Most serious tameshigiri practitioners here have their own katanas in our dojo though.

You could save a lot of money and buy a proper katana (Paul Chen Blades have a 'chinese' handle [ie - straight, not curved inline with the blade]and if they are folded, it is not many times!) but, if it is your 1st sword, i would suggest going with the Practical Katana. Imagine, you save all your coins - wait a long time - get your proper blade, only to bend it or something like that on the first few cuts?

The practical plus is a 'hollywood' sword. With all the useless additions and finery that only get in the way and make the sword heavier. You may find most serious swordsman will buy a katana as plain and simple as possible. People buying first swords usually go for the ones that look the nicest, not necessarily the most practical.

So - what does all this mean? Buy a chen blade (hey - it's only $100) - practice your cutting styles until you are confident enough to buy a proper blade and use it as it is meant to be used.

A properly made katana should cost between $2000 pounds - $10000 pounds - this being an average blade - and will last you a lifetime if you treat it well.

Best of luck,

In Budo.

Senki

Jock Armstrong
20th October 2004, 14:36
What finery would that be? I've handled and used PKs and PK+s and I haven't noticed any "extras" on either.

kenkyusha
20th October 2004, 19:21
Please sign all posts with your full name as per forum rules.

Be well,
Jigme

UKPatrick
20th October 2004, 20:57
Hi Gerard,

sorry to be so late with a reply to your question, but I have not been checking the site recently.

You do not say what you want your sword for.

If you want something for cutting with, the Practical plus is probably better for the money, for reasons giver by other respondents, if you just want a toy to pose with, either one will take your fingers off.

If you are looking to train in a sword style, and there are several schools/clubs in the London area, then an iaito may be a better choice. If so, try the Nine Circles website (www.ninecircles.com), who are based in Gloucester, and give a realy goos service (most of the time).

Whichever way you choose to go, good luck

Patrick

senki
21st October 2004, 01:10
Originally posted by Jock Armstrong
What finery would that be? I've handled and used PKs and PK+s and I haven't noticed any "extras" on either.

Jock,

Additions to PPK not on PK are slight, but are there if you know what to look for:

- 'Sunburst' design tsuba (Instead of plain)
- Detailed hamon line (Instead of basic)
- Brass Habaki
- Decorative menuki
- Stylised Kashira (instead of plain - no design)
- Genuine ray skin (Same) on tsuka

Although, am sure you have seen this on both of yours. Above was observed last night @ training putting my old pk (not used for much more than a toothpick now) next to our dojo's new ppk's. (All Paul Chen blades - with straight (Chinese style) handles....not good...)

At the end of the day - the blade is important, along with balance and feel of tsuka. Anything else is not important - or over the top and unnecessary.

However - as stated - both will cut, one just looks nicer - and lets face it, it's about the cut - not the look. However, this probably doesn't really matter all that much with cheap blades. Just pointing out an observation and putting forward my thoughts as requested by original post.

I hope this answers your query.

In budo,

Senki

pgsmith
21st October 2004, 06:32
At the end of the day - the blade is important, along with balance and feel of tsuka. Anything else is not important - or over the top and unnecessary.
Actually, the blade is probably the most unimportant feature of a sword to be used in the dojo. Many people tend to ask "What kind of steel?" or "How well is the blade made?" when that will have the least impact on your practice. The important things are will the poor fittings or shape of the tsuka affect your grip? Will it slip because the ito shifts due to the poor tsukamaki? A poorly done blade just means you'll have to sharpen it more often.

Cheers,

senki
21st October 2004, 23:43
Originally posted by pgsmith
Actually, the blade is probably the most unimportant feature of a sword to be used in the dojo. Many people tend to ask "What kind of steel?" or "How well is the blade made?" when that will have the least impact on your practice. The important things are will the poor fittings or shape of the tsuka affect your grip? Will it slip because the ito shifts due to the poor tsukamaki? A poorly done blade just means you'll have to sharpen it more often.

Cheers,

Paul,

Quite right. And as the saying goes - each to their own. However, i respect your logic there. I was just making the point that at the end of the day, if you have a v avge blade and the best of everything else - it wont matter, because it won't cut as it should.

Besides, the most important thing is the swordsman. The blade being just an extension of him / her.