ShadowDancer Premium Tsuka Upgrade for Katana Review

Hello Blade Enthusiasts! Our first Equipment and Upgrades review is here and we are proud to show the ‪@shadowdancerswords‬ Premium Tsuka Upgrade! This gorgeous tsuka upgrade can be requested at the time of purchasing a sword from ShdowDancer or if you have previoulsy purchased one of their of the shelf models with no modifications, you may buy it and install it after the fact! This allows users on a budget to start of purchasing the blade the end up liking which may come with an entry level tsuka and materials and a later date when it is financially viable upgrade to something more authentic in materials, fit, finish and feel!
I hope you enjoy!
Shadow Dancer Premium Tsuka
Hand Carved
Premium Ray Skin with large emperor nodes
Full wrap in the Maru-gise style
Genuine Silk Ito
Jabara Kumiage ito maki
Premium Brass Fuchi Kashira
This tsuka can be requested at...
www.swordcn.com
Link to Manufacturer's socials
Facebook: / shadowdancerswords
Instagram: / shadowdancerswords
KZbin: / @shadowdancerswords
Link to StudioGDT Instagram page...
/ studiogdt
Review Music Provided by: TONEDEAF / @tonedeafsound
Featuring "Levitate"

[@SpaceGhost182]

Wow! Thats an incredible tsuka. Great vid and review brother.

[@StudioGDT]

Thanks Ghost…I have a fever…and the only cure is more silk Ito and premium same!

[@JediContrast]

I instantly noticed the samegawa quality.

[@StudioGDT]

When I looked up at my wall at all the other swords, I was like ….damn….its not even in the same league!

[@JediContrast]

@StudioGDT Proof that less, is more.

[@StudioGDT]

I’d love this same on everything I own!

[@JediContrast]

@@StudioGDT Im glad mine is not this nice considering my motorcycle resheath is a spin throw into the dirt...might aswel just make that apart of the move lol

[@christopherdacunha8636]

Nice upgrade. Even with their standardization process I’m surprised they could make such an upgrade fit as well as you’ve experienced. I have a couple of custom orders with them (standard sizes though), that I’m looking forward to receiving.

[@StudioGDT]

I was shocked as well to be honest, but pleasantly surprised. I hope you like what you get!

[@armoredsweatpants3997]

Great review!👋🏻😁

[@StudioGDT]

@@armoredsweatpants3997 thank you!

[@KF1]

Very nice tsuka. Cool stuff

[@StudioGDT]

Thank you!

[@KF1]

Also, I've done multiple full wraps in that style, and have no prob with the seam. Agree with the vid, it's a worthwhile upgrade

[@8thsinner]

That does look nice, I did see some movement in the wraps and minor deviation in the diamonds but only extremely minor, thats quite impressive. I have never handled real silk ito myself, but the last sword I got in a trade I redid the ito in leather I cut myself and I think I feel the same way about leather as you do about that silk, the leather doesn't just grip the handle it grips you, even if wet it would stick to you, and it's smooth, it's never going to get a thread pulled by accident like. You've reminded me though that I have had another refit on my mind for a while, only I think I want to use kangaroo leather on the next one and do the double stranded Naka-biku-maki type. Over an emperor node this time too. Damn that makes such a huge difference.

[@StudioGDT]

@@8thsinner my only experience with leather was that it was somewhat tacky? Could be good could be bad depending on your tastes. The silk for me had a much less intrusive texture than say cotton or artificial silk. It just was so much more pleasant to handle and less noticeable? If that makes any sense at all. Thank you for watching and contributing!

[@8thsinner]

@@StudioGDT Yeah some leathers can feel tacky good and tacky bad, depends on the quality, but I have some extremely high end kangaroo sitting here from my old whip making days. It grips you like, have you handled a hickory handled axe treated properly with food grade linseed oil that gets all the way into the pores and oxidizes the outer layer...? Thats what I mean. I think i'm a little more against silk because I spent a fortune some years back on nice hand made silk sageo with I think they called it the tortoise shell pattern, but in just a couple of years it had threads poking out of it in multiple places. But I understand the smoothness factor. Hope it holds up well for you.

[@StudioGDT]

@@8thsinner funny you mention Sageo because that’s the one thing I wouldn’t splurge for silk on either. Japanese cotton for Sageo is absolutely fine for me. I have a Shadow sword with Japanese cotton Ito as well and I can say that at least for Tsuka I think the silk is worth it. The cotton is great it just lacks a certain something.

[@sergiomartins3230]

Tsukamaki type is called moro tsumami maki with silk ito Jabara is a type of ito (theres no jabara ito on those tsuka?

[@StudioGDT]

@@sergiomartins3230 you are correct. As I stated in another comment, it was not advertised by the vendor as Jabara kumiage, that was an honest research error on my part.

[@Jaedeok82]

Nice upgrade for sure. It's worth noting that compared to many examples of that samegawa wrap with a seam found on genuine nihonto, this is actually extremely well done and the seam is barely visible. One nitpick, are you sure it's Jabara-maki? That's typically done with 8 woven strands. This looks Tsumami-maki, where the crossovers on the knot are twisted under into a flattened cylinder shape vs the hard twist found on Hineri-maki. I only ask because I'm curious who's terminology was used to make that determination.

[@StudioGDT]

@@Jaedeok82 from what I could find (and I may be wrong) there are multiple styles of Jabara maki varying from fairly simple to ultra complex. Jabara kumiage is what it thought it was from some photographs of antiques, but again I can absolutely be wrong and am open to correction.

[@Jaedeok82]

@StudioGDT Jabara Kumiage examples I've seen have 2 strands wrapped straight down the center and 2 more crossed over the top of them from the outsides. This definitely seems like only 2 wide strands crossed. I don't want to come off with the wrong tone here. I just wasnt sure if you ordered it as Jabara-maki and received this instead, if they advertised it as Jabara and sent this, if it was your honest and very understandable mistake, or if it's MY honest and very understandable mistake in thinking so. Tsukamaki is such a complex art, I'm still just trying to understand and grasp it all so I think of such things.

[@StudioGDT]

⁠@@Jaedeok82no tone felt at all brother. This is also not on Shadow. They didn’t advertise it as such and I didn’t order it as such. It was just my own (inaccurate) research! Always want the right info even if I’m wrong.

[@joske2838]

That's really nice! just curious though, did they also have the mekugi peg spot drilled in the same place? (or did you have to drill a new spot yourself etc.)

[@StudioGDT]

It was indeed predrilled and a perfect line up! I think this is the advantage to high quality “pattern” swords. It required zero modification or work. It went right on and the original pin went right in.

[@joske2838]

@@StudioGDT That's awesome! truly no messing around at all 😅

[@erichusayn]

That looks like a Z-Sey Tsuka. Lol. Like exactly the same as my ko choji hamon. Same exact quality amd finish of samegawa and the tsukamaki looks like it was done by the same person.

[@erichusayn]

Thats a brilliant idea the way you broke it down and can buy better koshirae down the line

[@StudioGDT]

Hmmmmmmmm ;) probably was the same person my friend.

[@StudioGDT]

@@erichusaynthat was important to me to convey. It’s easy to scoff at $600 but if you think of the target market, it’s a rather brilliant idea.

[@erichusayn]

Wait. The seam amd full wrap. That takes it up a notch. Strike me saying it's the same as Zsey.

[@erichusayn]

The samegawa would go for at least $100 if you were to buy it from that exotic leather works guy, silk ito is anothe $100. Guarantee that took at least 40 hours in total being assembled. That actually a very fair price if you understand the logistics it takes to put a tsuka together, the tsukamaki, and everything that goes into it. Im actually very impressed. They should offer shirasaya as well.

[@tainowarrior5781]

Where is the upgrade found? I went on the site and found nothing that mentions it.

[@StudioGDT]

I would shoot them an email-it’s a highly configurable item so I imagine it’s not the easiest to build a product page with all the options.