Pozwalam sobie wkleić cytat:
Production Swords and Place of manufacture
OK, I'm probably going to make some people mad with this post, but that is not the intention, I just want to point out some facts about production swords that seem to get confused with these kinds of global comparative reviews. For the sake of clarity, let's examine the many sword re-sellers or dealers, and where they have their prodcuts manufactured.
Bugei - Paul Chen's factory
Paul Chen - this is pretty self-explanatory
Last Legend - Fred Chen's factory (no relation to Paul)
Cold Steel - Fred Chen
LiveBlade- Fred Chen
Swordstore steel iaito - Fred Chen
Darryl Guertin - Fred Chen
(This list leaves out any custom swords offered by any of these companies from individual smiths)
OK, if we look at this list we see that two factories in China are responsible for the manufacture of almost all of the production swords offered currently. From what I understand, each dealer has their own account and relationship with the seller and submits their own designs, but the people making these designs are the same. So if we really think about this, is the quality going to be astronomically different between a Bugei and a Paul Chen's higher end swords? Probably not. The fittings might be nicer, and the quality control will be a lot better, but that's what you're paying the extra money for, but the difference isn't enough for somebody to justify spitting on a PC Bushido while elevating the Bugei Samurai to Excalibur status. The same goes for all of the Fred Chen made swords, the Cold Steel versus the Last Legend or the Swordstore steel iaito are all made by the same guy, or group of guys, and so you can expect reasonable similarities in global quality. Of couse each line is made for different markets, but this is like when one car company has another make a car for it. I drive an Isuzu Rodeo, who also made the Honda Passport. Now the Rodeo and the Passport are the exact same car, and yet the Honda costs more. This is the point I am trying to make here, sometimes paying an extra 800 dollars for a different name on a sword made by the same person is just market inflation. We all want to buy the best sword for the best deal we can, and so these comparative tests and reviews can really be useful, but know how the production sword industry works so you understand a little better what you're buying and where it is made. If anyone has any corrections or updates on this information (factual, not opinion) please make sure to post it, my goal here is really just to illuminate production sword manufacture and resale to the people on this forum who want to spend their money wisely.
nawet niby hamerykański Cold Steel
Szokujące