Cheness fittings.

by Joe
(Utah)

Hey Paul, love this site, I come here and your forum when I need it, and I am very happy someone is taking their own time to find the answers to questions we all have so we can get on to swordening (the art of loving swords).

Question: I have been going back and forth on getting a Cheness katana, and your (as well as others) reviews have really made me a fan. But, ever since I saw
this video on youtube I wanted to know if there are, or are they going to be making improvements to the fittings on Cheness swords?

ANSWER: Hi Joe,

It has never been a secret that Cheness uses aftermarket fittings. They often make their own tsuba's and of course - they make their own blades (which is what they do SOO much better than everyone else in the same price range) but the fittings are all bought from a generic supplier - indeed, you can see the same fittings on quite a few different Chinese made swords out there.

HOWEVER under normal cirumstances (which don't involve fighting someone on the sun or armed with a blowtorch) - they certainly can do the job they were created to do...

Indeed, before using these particular fittings Cheness subjected them to AQL level 2 MIL testing guidelines and found them able to withstand a separating force up to 100 lbs at the wield joints from a transducer (and that was not just one, but a large number tested per batch according to AQL guidelines).

I should also note that my own experience bears this out - I have literally subjected these swords to tests FAR more demanding than you would ever see in any dojo, and yet all the fittings held up without a problem...

That isn't to say that they are resting on their laurels. Cheness continues to improve the fittings of their line all the time - WITHOUT (at least so far) passing the extra costs to the end user...

Hope this helps put things in perespective.

- Paul