Ninecircles Shinken

[heresjonny]

Does anyone here happen to own or have laid hands on a ninecircles shinken? (other than ulvulv, whose I know about already) I am particularly looking for feedback on their folded blades, any helpwould be great, pictures would be even better!

Just in case anyone needs a memory jolt... <www.ninecircles.co.uk>

PS: Why, oh why does my profile still say on vacation?

[Brian Owens]

Originally posted by heresjonny
Does anyone here happen to own or have laid hands on a ninecircles shinken? (other than ulvulv, whose I know about already) I am particularly looking for feedback on their folded blades, any helpwould be great, pictures would be even better!

Not me, but several other members here have. Click on the "Search" button at the top of the page, enter "Ninecircles Shinken" as your key words, and you'll find five threads besides this where they are discussed. (Of course three or four of those are also yours. Not getting the answers you're looking for?)

HTH.

[ulvulv]

Get out, meet people, see swords, ask questions. There are always several people in bka with nine circles swords on their seminars

http://www.kendo.org.uk/newsevents/events.shtml

[Andy Watson]

If you are referring to the Chinese shinken which 9circles sell, I looked after them for about 4 months until Quentin could pick them up. During that time I had a good swip with all of them.

Basically the Chinese design has a slightly wider profile than the Japanese versions of the same length I have seen in the past and so they are slightly heavier shaku for shaku. They are fairly well balanced albeit the regularity of width means they can be a bit blade-heavy (in my humble opinion).

The hamon is quite a bit more regular than the more disordered Japanese versions but the ji is well defined. They have a strong sori on them which is also very regular.

Overall they are well built swords and well worth their money - they look a bit too regular for my liking in terms of their curve and their hamon but you get what you pay for. They are a bargain if you are planning the purchase of your first shinken but you might want to get a Japanese one years further into your iai "career".

You should also bear in mind that you will never be able to carry these swords into Japan with you.

Hope that helps.

[heresjonny]

Thankyou that was most helpful!

Could you describe the quality pattern of the hada grain? (I acknowledge no two are the same!)

[Andy Watson]

The jihada is quite distinct and clear albeit the entire hamon and jihada shape is quite regular as I said before. It doesn't quite have the slightly disordered swirliness that I like in a blade but then I am a sucker for clouds.

They don't seem to have committed the cardinal sin in allowing the hamon to reach the edge. As I said, the overall blade manufacture is very professional and you can be confident you are getting a strong blade, the things I refer to as negatives are purely taste.

Best thing to do of course is to go have a look and a swish.

[heresjonny]

Hey, is it just me or is the ninecircles sight bust? It keeps taking me to some patent directory rubbish...

<www.ninecircles.co.uk>

[Brian Owens]

Originally posted by heresjonny
Hey, is it just me or is the ninecircles sight bust? It keeps taking me to some patent directory rubbish...

That's "Parent" directory, but yeah, it appears to be down. You should get taken to the home page, not the server's parent directory.

[ulvulv]

Originally posted by Brian Owens
That's "Parent" directory, but yeah, it appears to be down. You should get taken to the home page, not the server's parent directory.

Its up now

[Dave Humm]

Hi Guys,

My very first post here on these forums so "hello"

Firstly, 9c's website is undergoing a revamp so you may find their site down or intermitant.

With regards to this thread, I have two of 9c's Shinken and I'm absolutely delighted with both.

I study Aikido and MSR Iaijutsu so I use the sword in almost all my daily and weekly training. I additionally own a military Gendaito Shin Gunto remounted in to civilian furniture (again purchased from 9c) The quality of the 'Chinese' made toshin is exceptional for the cost, indeed comparing my Shoden blade against a recently aquired Okuden version, the quality is hard to distinquish between the two.

Both of my toshin from 9c are Hi-iri and i've test cut both without problems.

Images of these swords can be seen on my dojo website at www.aikido-database.co.uk/higashikaigan/

Naturally I have absolutely no problem recommending Quentin or his swords to anyone.

Dave