ABOUT MY SWORDS

Hello Chuck,

There you are, me practicing more on my own.

Rick is really very busy and I did in fact get a reply and just would like to know from you if I was diplomatic enough.
He replied sounding very grateful. I just want him to be successful.

« As for the Nosyu 3003...I wanted to ask you about the tsuka..if it was a traditional tsuka that can be easily removed,and if the nakago on the blade was of a traditional size and shape? 
But I did not want to press the point (I did not want you to feel awkward, or pressure you to sell this to me) »

Don't think that way my friend. You should feel fully comfortable with me. And I do very much hope we meet in person.
About the Nosyuiaito, in fact it is a full tang to my knowledge. It has a tricky way of tsuka insertion, meaning they put a piece of wood to hold it very thigh inside, apart from the menuki that you saw in the picture. They say that any of their swords, if you remove the tsuka, it will loose the warranty whether its a tameshigiri steel iaito or a aluminum alloy iaito.

But again this is something of a gimmick. That means tsuka removal at home, not at Rick's or Lohman. The Tsuba and the Koshirae as well as the Menuki and the Habaki are all Japanese made. This is easy to tell and are very worthy as they are a great combination for the brown theme. And the Stone Brown saya, its really great. That is real Japanese stuff and is worth a lot of work. 

You can indeed have a new tsuka built to your desired lenght since Fred Lohman has this silk ito color and Rick can always buy it and you should keep the same koshirae as it is indeed a full matching color. My Howard Clark 1086 is wrapped in a beautiful dark brown silk ito.  There is a slight difference, not too noticeable (I'm looking at both right now).
On the other hand, Rick can always epoxy bond the tang for further and stronger reinforcement.

You never pressure me at all brother ;- ). So actually I am ready to part with it because although its a superb piece, it has no interest to me. I can tell you that this sword is extremmely special and I had a $200 discount, as it mounted originally to US$1.600, but because Rick Polland was insisting on me to be his agent in SE Asia, he made an encouragement discount. And it came directly from Japan, this I can certify myself.

Now let me tell you about the Combat Wrap Tsuka after I slept over this issue. 

I have told you that it was the accident that I have mentioned to you earlier that prompted the leather wrap that imparted a special reformulation of the entire design of the saya, and then there was an entire new tsuka with full same and leather wrap and it is a very special piece because the habaki was silver bathed. 

Note that the lenght of the saya leather wrap is equal to that of  the tsuka.

Now to the facts that led to this:

When my wife accidentally bumped into the table and made it fall down, I was furious with the accident because I noticed the crack on the Koiguchi, and there were two old Blackwood chairs there. Well, I was really pissed of and hit the chair's horizontal part of the back rest with all my strength in a mood of, now that the saya is destroyed, what good is the blade, so lets break it. 

Well, the blow would've cut a bull's neck, as it cut a large chip of hardwood the size and shape of a match box, that instantly jumped. I was astonished as there was and is not a trace in the ha or chip or anything that can show I did such a gross thing. Just between us, I was happy about the chairs because I hated them ; ) 
So since one of them was damaged, Helena just threw both away. They were pretty heavy. About 35 pounds. Really hardwood stuff.

Well, when this happened I slept on it and emailed Fred and Fred told me to send it to him. Then we discussed the different possibilities and he thought of rattan first, I suggested leather, and oh man, what a work he did. Its a great sword in terms of durability and resistance. I don't care for the wobbles if it does perform well. I mean, I leave the wobbles and the hamon stuff for people who need to show their knowledge. 
There's also a matching Wakisashi which did not suffer any problem so its still with the original Koshirae.

But am I trying to sell you this blade? Am I pushing it hard towards you? Nope, I am not and I would not be capable of that. Now you may come to think, why have he changed his mind away from the Cicadas? Actually  you prompted me into some thoughts and I begun to think.

Well, I have always a reason and I always like to certify what I am saying so nobody gets wrong ideas. I have made some cutting of cardboard tubes with the Cicada Chokuto and though the lines are crispy and the hamon beautiful, non comparable with the softer lines of the Bamboos, the steel seems to be a little too soft. I've done the same cutting with the Bamboos and there's no scratch at all. In the Chokuto the scratches appear in the Shinogi-ji as well as in the ji and hamon. The photographs speak by themselves.
 

Though the photo is not very sharp you can see how many scratches are there with the edge on the upper side.

Though again fuzzy you can see that there are also marks on the  shinogi-ji very near the mune.

The question then is, how can a blade suffer so much if I know I cut pretty well? 

98% of my strikes are at 45 degrees perfect.

Now this has sounded the alert on me when I was thinking of it last night. Then I recalled that Rick has mentioned to me that he sent a blade to Adrian August last year. Then, maybe and just maybe the reason why Adrian has not come up with the review is because he may have tested the blade and felt even more then I felt as I have not abused my blade, so it may mean that most surely he may be a little embarrassed to talk about it.

Will this mean that is Rick's fault? Nope. But it may be Fred Chen's purpose. I know that he is the one who started doing the Nosyuiaito steel blades, because Rick Polland once emailed me that he was going to Shanghai. Then Rick Barrett, when I once mentioned my interest in visiting Fred Chen, he said that Fred has had a very bad experience before with some other company who pushed the prices very low and he was not yet willing to let anyone visit his factory. Now I guess last night was a good time to pick up the pieces and join the puzzle. In short, Rick is possibly being used by Fred Chen, a Taiwanese like the other Chen, to spearhead his US market, then he highlights the sword aspect but poisons the metallurgy of the Cicada Forge blades as compared to others that he will come up with.

Rick cannot deal with this alone, as the Chinese are very smart businessmen. So I ought to talk to him face to face and ask him for a destruction test filmed in video and photographed. Chinese businessmen will do anything specially if they feel that they have been exploited by Nosyuiaito. But again, my Nosyuiaito's steel iaito that I sold was just with a clam polish, no beauty in any aspect in terms of a hamon, but it was a cutter and there were no scratches. How come? 

So, it will take not only a talk but a visit to Shanghai and a really tough talk to make things straight. Remember that Rick does not have the exclusive to the US Market. Fred is selling Dao and Jian through MRL at least. And I'm sure they are tougher. Know what I mean? In short, there's something fishy here and I want to find out.

That is why I have reviewed my position. I could have bought one katana for me and ask you how you wanted for a special price from Rick. But you could have been disappointed at this stage. You know that I am doing my utmost to support Rick Barrett, but though I'm not a specialist, I can smell something and I feel the blade is softer. And while in doubt I would surely not want to provoke something that may harm you.

In short, if you want a beauty and just a beauty for the time being, you choose a Fred Chen Cicada Forge. If you want a cutter that won't scratch this easily and has been refurbished you can have my Blue Bamboo. I don't mind at all. Just wonder if the price is worth your liking. The cost of the upgrade was US$600 and the Bamboo costed US$1.250 not counting UPS (back and forth three times) at US$110 a time. This may end up a total of about US$2.000 cost of  which I am willing to make a US$400 discount. I'm letting you know so that we don't have to resort to emails back and forth. Only later I discovered that Fed Ex was cheaper and more reliable then UPS...

Its at your disposal should you like it. Why? I steel have another Bamboo, not so fancy but as good as the blue one. Feel no problems in wanting to purchase it or not wanting to. Between friends, such things should not exist. The saya is thight, and the koiguchi holds the habaki perfectly again.

I just hope what I just mentioned does ring a bell in you. Please let me know what do you think according to what you have seen of scratches and the like. Further to my thoughts, maybe now it makes sense that you and I should wait for clearing out what is happening with the Cicada Steel so that scratches like these don't appear by using the blade on cardboard tubes.
I feel that a Rick Barrett's own swords such as a 1086 are obviously safe. But I don't want to have complains from buyers here about too many scratches, and what else that may show or happen like the sword braking or bending. Yet the Nosyuiaito did not show scratches, nor does the Bamboo. What is wrong? Why is this happening?

Like I said, the blade lines are perfect as well as the hamon, but the steel is definitely soft.I will make new close-up pics of the chokuto and make another email to Rick so as to sound the alert to him.
Again I appreciate what are your own conclusions on the situation after what I have told you.

Just for you to see that the habaki is silver and that there is a Wak not upgraded.

And this incredibly well finished knot.

The leather is reflecting the blue sky.

I hope you have enjoyed this way of emailing you.

Have a wonderful day my friend. I'll be wearing the Hakama soon.

Kindest and warm regards to you and JoAnn,
your friend,

Antonio