Back when Michael was expecting his first sword, my question to him was whether he was interested in Japanese swords or Japanese style swords. At one point after that, I remarked that Michael would soon be coaching those entering the market. Still leaning towards the qualities of Japanese style swords, Michael has become a beacon, in and of himself.
While Michael has raised other questions about swords and sources, they generally regard the worth of budget swords or touting his patronage of Hanbon. Not that there is anything wrong with that, aside from accepting there may be better alternatives at a given price point. Lots of companies take shortcuts.
Michael's exploits are well outlined at SBG.
Cheers
GC
I have exploits?
If I had known that I could have been writing them down as I went and probably could have had them turned in to some sort of series like "The Michael Chronicles" or some such
Not sure I fully understood the point of every statement there, but to address one I think I understand I will say this;
I've only been at this katana thing for a year and a half and so do not have a fraction of the knowledge of those that have been at it for many years and in a much deeper way. But I found there is some basic knowledge that easily acquired by anyone in this field. And that knowledge makes functional enough at a certain level.
One of the things I found out is that there is an ill-defined parameter of what constitutes a "budget" katana and a confusingly wide range of quality and of what companies offer for their budget katanas.
After about a month's research. (And these days you can get a LOT done online with such research in a month. Which Probably sounds very funny to people who grew up in a world where there have always been cell phones and computers.) I settled on what I was looking for; an art piece that is functional, with the budget I had at the time. Based on what they said they could offer and perceived trustworthiness, largely based on reviews by others, I whittle it down to 3 places, Swords of Northshire and HanBon Forge being two (I forget who now who the third was), and I sent out a request to each for an estimate. HBF beat the other two by more than $100. So I decided to go with them.
I was also pleased, as a new customer, on how much they worked with me on ironing out the details of the design when it came to the etchings and special length BoHi and such. When I got my sword I was pleased with how it turned out and thought I got decent value for the money when comparing to others out there. So I ordered a second and a third and so forth.
Now, do I think that there are other budget companies out there that offer a "better" value for one's money?
Well I would say that depends on what the individual values.
I value a sword that is safe and functional and that I can theme out a little bit.
Other things, like certain specifics of the geometry, are not as important to me as they are to others.
If one wants a decent looking sword though with limited custom personalization options that cuts well enough, sure, there are several other companies out there besides HBF that many people would be perfectly happy with. But I don't value them because they don't give
me what
I want.
Does SoN have "better" customer service through communication then HBF? Sure. But not to a degree that have I found it being any more beneficial to getting the desired product that I want from HBF. And certainly not to the degree that I'm willing to pay their 60% or more premium for the same product. (My first sword from HBF was 280 and I was quoted 430 from SoN for the exact same specs)
Over the last year and a half I have established a good working relationship with HBF and found them to be honest and trustworthy and very much trying to do the right thing by their customers.
That does not mean they are perfect and that does not mean that some of the flowery sales language in some of their product descriptions could not be a little better or a little more accurate. But frankly I have not found any of their business model peers that do it any better.
All of that is why I use
my experience to guide new people to HBF based on their stated desire for a katana product.
But I'm in no way responsible for other people, who may like other companies, for whatever reasons that are valid to them, if those other people do not tout those companies.
Or the
only way most seem to promote or advertise a company that they like is to tell somebody to "Check out this website" and then, maybe, leave a link with no further personal information as to why the person, in their newbie ignorance, should consider that company for their katana.
I like to help people by sharing my (limited) knowledge in this are. Not showing it off to make the other person
feel their own ignorance.
(And y'all know what I'm talking about. We all know pretty much know who those type of people are in specific forums.)
And helping new people is also why I arranged for them to have a discount on their first order with HBF.
So yeah. If anybody has a "counter" to HBF, that they think will better meet the needs or interests of the new person looking for a "katana", then they should pipe up and explain to that person
why they think their favored product would be better for them over HBF at that price point.
