JKOO Custom Katana Order Process Review or...A Tale of Three Swords

This is less of a review of one specific sword and more of a story of the custom ordering process, what was requested, what was received and if it hit the mark. This is the companion review to • JKOO Custom T10 Kobuse...
as was referenced.
The goal was to create a setup that was a "train like you fight" setup. What the meant was I wanted a shinken and iaito that used the exact same koshirae that I would swap out based on what type of keiko I was doing. The unused blade would stay in a provided shirasaya. This project ended up becoming what I call "The Tale of Three Blades"
Order your custom JKOO here...
www.sinosword....
Link to Manufacturers socials...
/ sinoswords
/ @kaneyang4129
Link to Instagram page...
/ studiogdt

[@JoeSteel1]

Jkoo has good value for money, I've had some very nice blades done by them, fit n finish is not the best but good to very good results expected...great job putting this together with pros n cons.

[@StudioGDT]

I’d agree with you-the one “good” blade I like, I REALLY like. It makes me want to learn how to make my own saya and tsuka. Wouldn’t make sense to pay the premium to have a professional do it for a blade that really isn’t worth much, but if I could do it on my own…different story. I’d buy from them again…I think you have to go in with appropriate expectations which honestly watching reviews from you, Matthew and Karl, did exactly that. There were no massive let downs more like “ah this is what they warned me about”

[@Katana-Karl]

I'm sure you did your research before choosing Jkoo. I have 9 customized Jkoo. I had reserved myself to the fact that Jkoo/Sinosword is one of the lower end sword production companies in the market. So i knew not to get too technical with difficult "extras" so to speak. The ALL have minor cosmetic issues but none with and safety or functional problems. Even had a katana that was 4" shoorter than my request. Which the promptly made and sent me the proper size katana free of charge. Im not sayn your nit pickn im saying i agree with you that you asked too much. That being said i thank and appreciate you for taking one for the team and giving us all such a detailed and honest assessment of your experience

[@StudioGDT]

Thanks Karl and I completely agree. I don’t think I expected them to nail it so I can’t say that I was super let down. It was more like “ah…that’s WHAT I expected”. The real kicker here is the “good” blade is absolutely gorgeous to me and honestly I don’t see a lot of Chinese swords that come close to looking like it so there is definitely some skill there! I think better communication and QC might go a long way for them. I looked at it as you don’t know unless you try! Now I know! If I could get the EXACT same smith that made my second sword, I’d reorder in a heartbeat.

[@timmcclain2519]

I got an amazing deal on my first katana from Jkoo (sinosword). They still have it listed. Its the Bamboo themed katana. But at the time they offered an upgrade on the ito to a genuine leather wrap. So glad I went with the upgrade was worth every bit of the extra money. Its done extremely well, super tight, diamonds are perfect, transitions perfectly to the fittings.

[@Born_Stellar]

good to hear, I just upgraded to the real leather on my Jkoo order. I got the hishigami as well, hoping that the extra cost leads to slightly extra effort on the person making it.

[@michaelrs8010]

When one hears that the Japanese Lords of yesteryear would have different fittings for the same blade (one for daily use and for wear when at court or other fancy affairs), this experience makes one appreciate the skill and painstaking care that the involved craftsman went to to accomplish such precision.

[@StudioGDT]

Absolutely

[@KissakiShinobi]

It is called fukure - it is errors from forging and welding the folding layers. It happens quite often and is very common for the Chinese folded steel, but also for real Tamahagane. JKOO swords are clearly at the price worthy end - for 350 USD you get a great blade! Fitting, geometry etc is inconsistent and often not close to being authentic. If you want to have a first class katana, you need to look elsewhere. If you want a great blade for a good price, go to JKOO. I have by now 8 swords from them (a unokubi zukuri kanatan with san mai structure, two ko-katana with different types of hamon, three ninjato and two ko-wakizashi). The blades always turn out very good, clean lines, nice hamon, crisp yokote; the koshirae I usually do myself afterwards.

[@AgouraSteve]

I loved this commentary. Yes this is a great format, yes adding history in or separately in its own video is always a great idea. JoeSteel1 does this very well in some of the videos I’ve seen of his in the past. “Let’s ask Shogo” does this well also. I think the vast majority of viewers like history thrown in. You asked for our thoughts on the topic… Anyway, Jkoo is great because they can do customizations like XXXL blades for mat cutting and for example creating designs like a Korean gumdo. I am truly a fan. However, my own experiences with them and watching a bunch of reviews on their swords over the years is that they are generally sloppy on fit and finish. I love ‘em but they aren’t super thorough. It looks like they gave you a replacement from what you said. They’ve given me that option and I opted for a full refund instead once. They stand behind their work. If they screw up they make it right. I think it’s just that they focus on volume and getting things out the door as quick as possible. Katana-Karl bought some $600 and up katana from them that had dull spots, saya wiggle etc. So even their higher end can get a little sloppy. I just try not to expect perfection from them. I had a couple customs made with them that came out okay. They came out interesting, different than expected but good cutters that I enjoy.

[@StudioGDT]

It’s hard because I’ve seen what they CAN do…at least in the quality of my replacement blade. If I could guarantee that same smith and that same polisher each time, there would be no question. I also am noticing something surprising about JKOO…from my limited range of samples of five companies (had Tozando and EBogu Iaito before I started recording reviews) my JKOO has undoubtedly the tightest Ito…unfortunately I picked cotton for looks and it seems to be much slicker than the synthetic silk or Japanese cotton. But that thing is wrapped like a rock.

[@AgouraSteve]

@@StudioGDTmine too. On the couple katana I have from them, the Ito is super tight! Ridiculously tight on the leather wrapped ito. I also have a couple of their Chinese style swords. My problem sword was a Chinese Jian, and not a katana.

[@StudioGDT]

@AgouraSteve I assume you requested hishigami as well…good to know it wasn’t a fluke. They will win back some point for me if that’s a consistent-knowing that it, it might be worth it to splurge for actual silk.

[@AgouraSteve]

@@StudioGDTNope. No hishigami. If you’re bored, these videos show the two katana and they are relatively short. Almost all of my videos are under two minutes long. The Samagawa is fully wrapped (no panel). kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXfJm3lprLtsoZYsi=ZS0lccNWsfm2PIA9 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJublnx_qrBkZ9Esi=pUvEG2UqKdWYZ3bp kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5zQZ2uEbbV9f5Isi=sKZqzkM8MMEkr_hf

[@user-bm3ts2ql6s]

Man... this company has a lot of work to do to get to the level they should be at to really shine. The best Chinese sword I have ever gotten came from Samurai Workshop. They are based out of Eindhoven. Unfortunately they closed their doors. The owner was a practitioner and a lovely person. Of course their tamahagane swords were well above two thousand dollars.

[@StudioGDT]

I would agree-when they do it right, it’s fantastic-but QC needs to be consistent. Recently I found Dremsword. Their owner who is also a smith is a practitioner and even in their $189 budget blade I reviewed I can see that. Might want to give them a look. Also recently I was turned on to Yari No Hanzo. I have yet to put hands on blade (in September though I will have a review) but their line is almost exclusively geared to practitioners.

[@DeterminAtor77]

Had Yarinohanzo, not great. Don't put your hopes to high there. Very good blade and overall good looking, but way too many flaws.

[@KF1]

Interesting concept, man. Had never considered this. If you're blindfolded and handed each sword in turn, is it easy to tell the difference from how one sword moves compared with the others? Did they get them close enough to make that a challenge?

[@StudioGDT]

The weight is DEFINITELY off as the iaito is much thinner and lighter, but the fit in the hand and the saya length being identical was nice. It’s all about external dimensions too-if you have an iaito that has different length Tsuka and saya, you could be building all sorts of muscle memory that becomes in conflict when you switch to shinken. I also opted for a HC iaito as opposed to zinc aluminum SPECIFICALLY so I would have to clean it properly-again establishing good habits. So I think the concept was there, but the execution failed.

[@KF1]

@@StudioGDT True about the dimensions and thanks for explaining. This is still valuable info to folks, to let us know the upper limit of their consistency and fitment. Normally I'd say an iaito should be lighter, tho for the reasons you mentioned, it's clear why it's important in this case to have a match. Congrats on the replacement blade with that nice of a polish and character. Well presented as always.

[@StudioGDT]

@@KF1thank you for the continued interaction and support!

[@Born_Stellar]

I'm pretty new to iaido, so I don't fully understand why you'd want to swap the koshirae between both blades instead of just having 2 identical swords. And when you say 'I like this one but not that one' do you just mean the handle shape/ wrap quality? they have the same fittings, but I imagine its a gamble what shape the tsuka will be. I have a cheap hanbon forge iaito, and I've got a more expensive one from them on order, as well as a middle ground custom iaito from Jkoo. Looking forward to seeing how they are when they arrive. I also have some live blades that I've been customizing, making new tsuka. Its pretty easy to do, I work on them while watching TV. First one has horrible shape, and the first half of the ito wrap isn't great, but the shape of the 2nd is much better and I should be able to wrap it better as well. I recommend giving it a try. the hardest part is drilling the mekugi-ana. I didn't want to drill new holes in the nakago but there is pretty much no way to get the exact placement on a new tsuka core. (and I've seen actual katana with multiple mekugi-ana.) The best bet is to unwrap the one that already fits on the blade and start by reshaping the wood then go from there.

[@StudioGDT]

@@Born_Stellar the intent was getting as close as possible to identical swords, just one with an iaito blade. If able to be executed properly, it would cost you less money as you are not buying two sets of koshirae. Think of it as having a real pistol as well as a 1:1 ratio air pistol that utilize the same holster. As far as “I like this one over that one” in regards to the shinken, they were supposed to be identical but looked completely different. The first one had significant acid etching and flaws, the second had no flaws and minimal etching. I’d LOVE to do tsuka and saya work, but in my current living conditions it’s just not feasible. Eventually.

[@Jaedeok82]

Thanks for sharing. Wish it had turned out better for you, but was about what I was expecting sadly. Lot of variation between those with the sori, length, and even kissaki size.

[@StudioGDT]

I think you could load one custom sword up with a fair amount of options and they could get it 80-90% right, but when you asked for what I asked for I think the fact they do t have full control over construction of every part of the sword becomes more apparent. The iaito cost was negligible. So I still have a training aid. I just have a better Tsuka on it that I’d rather have on my beautiful shinken blade. Womp womp womp.

[@Tygrus]

interesting

[@StudioGDT]

Thank you for watching!

[@grahamwarford5452]

All these custom swords are just part outs. You have to be way up in the thousands to get genuine custom.

[@StudioGDT]

I think that all depends on what your definition of “is” is. We know through companies in price points such as JKOO or Ryan Sword you can request “full custom” swords. What that means is you can request a profile and design that is completely bonkers from standardized designs and they will make it-this has been proven by other reviewers. I will concede however that after the blade is produced that is where the true full custom stops since practically 90% of the koshirae at this price point is outsourced and mass produced and “fit” to the sword. So if by genuine custom you mean from head to toe made for the user, than I would agree you would be in the 3000 plus price range. If you do however want some specific lengths/geometries/features, you can get that at a sub 500 dollar price point (some are better than others) but would have to have low expectations for the fit/finish of the furniture. In the end there is something for everyone! Thank you for checking it out!