$300 Iaito Review : Cloudhammer Steelworks 51CRV4 Steel Blade

This is a review of a Cloudhammer Steelworks $300 Iaito made of 51CRV4
If you are interested you can by one here - rva-katana.com/ or here cloudhammerfor...
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Iaito 51crv4
Handle/Tsuka Length: 10.5”
Blade/Nagasa Length: 27.5” (without habaki)
Sori: .72”
Moto-haba: 1.188”
Motokasane: .287”
Saki-haba: .853”
Sakikasane: .191”
Weight: 2lb 2.9oz
POB: 5.5” from tsuba
MSRP: $300
Musashi 51crv4
Steel: 51crv4
Handle/Tsuka Length: 10.5”
Blade/Nagasa Length: 27.62” (without habaki)
Sori: .73”
Moto-haba: 1.”23
Motokasane: .287”
Saki-haba: .878”
Sakikasane: .184”
Weight: 2lb 4.9oz
POB: 5.25” from tsuba
MSRP: $300
HRC: Between 50 and 55. 55 bites and 50 does not. Spine seems to be a little softer.
Edge: Still not 100% sure on if I am using the measuring tool right but seems to be about 22 degrees and fairly consistent.
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[@Jaedeok82]

That leather holds up really well. I've used my Cloudhammer shinken daily during downtime at work since I got it, and there's no loosening, deformation, or discoloration that I've experienced with my artificial silk on my Iaito. I never thought I'd be a leather fanboy, but here we are. As far as getting a more audible sword, unokubi zukuri seems to have a great feedback with the tip bolster that you mentioned. Their customs are not terribly expensive, and you could get a 51crv4 Iaito made in Unokubi zukuri from them pretty easily if you wanted that would address that issue as well, and you could select different fittings at the same time. That basket weave fitting has had issues on every sword I've seen it on, though it's admittedly looking better than in the past. The fittings on my shinken from them have much better fitment. Just a couple tips from the peanut gallery to anyone considering getting one.

[@Leon_Kozza]

I must admit I'm preferential to steel iaito. The maintenance sucks a bit but they feel so much closer to shinken. Great video Matt.

[@Matthew_Jensen]

Have you ever had to that were almost the same?

[@andrewsock1608]

@@Matthew_Jensenhi Matt . The purpose of the practice sword being light weight is because it’s for daily training and won’t cause fatigue and injury to the wrists from prolonged use like an actual katana.

[@Leon_Kozza]

@@Matthew_Jensen Not exactly the same, but close enough for my taste. My steel iaito are a bit thinner towards the kissaki making them resemble a more lively feeling shinken, very pleasant and not too tiring class that runs for an hour or two.

[@KF1]

Man I wanna have a beer with you and talk swords. I have a piece from the same 51crv4 production run, unokubi with the same tsuka dimensions and fittings, and actually dulled it down specifically for an iaito because the tsuka feel and shaping are so good. Modded with new fuchi, darkened the bright brass, new piano black saya with horn parts, new Japanese cotton sageo, and switched out the copper seppa for matching brass etc. Thickness of the unokubi spine is 2.2mm so it's great for iai because it's not thin enough to be uncomfortable on noto, and makes the sword lighter. Pretty cool stuff. Biggest bonus is that you can resharpen the blade anytime if you want to switch to cutting with, so it has that advantage over the aluminum. The CH iaito are heat treated, which is important if you wanna do stupid crap with your training sword, or just to know that you could. Funny thing, John at RVA katana sent me some more testers, and none of them have the refined feeling to the tsuka. Also none have the panels inset. On the second batch here of sx105v testers, they got all the transitions to fuchi etc nice, but the handles are so damn thick I can't even swing them with xl glove size. 40mm x 30mm just below fuchi to match it, way huge and frustrating to move well. A lot of it is the lack of panel inset and lack of slimming. This production run you're showing in this vid is awesome though, straight keeper.

[@New2Kendo]

We have very similar taste, give me basic Higo fittings, a basic Tsuba (nothing overly ornate or embellished with gold and silver), quality materials done right, and I am happy. I really want Katana with a Higo Saya that has the wrap top to bottom (rattan or carved I believe) in the textured black finish (gloss tends to dent and chip easily)

[@GGolden219]

I thought I left a comment, but maybe it didn't go through. Another great review! Nice job!

[@thecavalrygeneral3453]

thank you SwordFriend

[@JoeSteel1]

Excellent job Matthew

[@tengu190]

Leather I have found shifts more than silk or cotton.

[@Matthew_Jensen]

Generally it does.

[@JuardianK]

Great review! I agree with what you said about their handles being a step up from a lot of cutting sword counterparts. I definitely see how the japanese iaito is better made purely for training iaido. Very cool to have your iaito and tameshigiri swords with the same weight and dynamics. Also 10:35 that habaki gap looks huge if its not just the lighting!

[@Matthew_Jensen]

The angle and reflection are making it look bigger.

[@warrennass24]

Hi Matthew, thank you for this comparison video. My first iaito was low carbon steel that also could be sharpened if I wanted to. I retired it as handle unravelled and replaced it it 2 times with one saya replacement. I got a lot years out of it. It became too uncomfortable to use. It did make a good whooshing sound though. My second was a 1060 carbon steel iaito from Hanbon Forge with has gone through one tskuka replacement within two weeks of use. It is heavy unsoundness but I train with it for the wait. But I have a Tozando Musashi zinc alloy iaito that I use more frequently. It gives me good feed back when I am doing kata.

[@erichusayn]

I was surprised by the quality of the shinken version of that one.

[@Seven_vii]

I'd love to see your thoughts on Swords of Northshire's jian blades

[@tengu190]

I need to send you a prototype once Peter "Budo Bum" Boylan and Michigan Kenkyukai are done doing some T&E on it.

[@andrewsock1608]

I say go real or go stick 👍👍

[@shawnclifford362]

👍 🖖 . ☘️

[@hvskyline1368]

What would you recommend most for a beginner Iaito I need one for my Iaijutsu class

[@Matthew_Jensen]

Tozando.

[@hvskyline1368]

@@Matthew_Jensen thank you I was thinking that but I just wanted to make sure haha

[@hvskyline1368]

@@Matthew_Jensen what if I wanted a really well fitting steel iaito my school sometimes does partner drills with actual swords to get the feeling of it I’m looking to spend like 4-500 bucks in the future

[@andrewsock1608]

What is a good replacement handle with a good tight wrap ? Do people buy idio and swap handles with cheep real katana?

[@Tygrus]

a fully redone tsuka would cost about $500 in the US with a new handle rewrap (though i don't know if that would include premium silk or leather, full same rayskin wrap). So it's not usually done for katana that cost less unless someone really likes the blade.

[@andrewsock1608]

@@Tygrus so I guess it’s best to get a $25 replacement handle from Amazon and dip it in lacquer.

[@Tygrus]

@@andrewsock1608 it can't hurt. Problem is they may not fit correctly and may require some work by the end users to get to fit. Then again, better than a broken tsuka.

[@bobjoatmon1993]

I enjoy your videos but I strain to hear you, I turn the volume all the way up on my phone (I don't even own a PC or notebook/laptop) and am still struggling to understand because you talk softly and the volume is low. I might be the only one in the world with that problem but I'd bet that isn't true, probably a lot of people wish you had a better microphone or in processing set the volume higher.

[@blades8284]

Phone speakers are junk compared to any bluetooth speaker, earbuds, headphones. Seriously, it's money well spent, you'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner.

[@bobjoatmon1993]

@@blades8284 I'm not going to carry around a bunch of crap like that. I have no problem with most videos so I don't need them, that shows it's not a global problem on my side. That means the problem is this one channel.

[@beepboop204]