A step up for Masahiro

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Masahiro truly took a step up here in the mounting dept...

Now a little work on the blades...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[N.E. Blackwelder]

It's a big step up in the tsukamaki, which seems to be something that alot of companies are focusing on.

The Paul Chen's (both Hanwei and Cheness) have shown alot of improvement in that department also; now if only Cheness used better material to begin with......

BTW what's the name of the sword you pictured?

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Sorry , I don't know...

I guess it's the catfish

[Jeff Hagen]

One question: What are the menuki made of? I know on their older ones they were using plastic...

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Oh, I don't know...I don't own the sword, I got the pics off an eBay auction...

[W Tolentino]

Nice! That was always my biggest complaint with my Bamboo. Really poor tsukamaki. I agree, if Cheness would up the ante, they could be the leader in the economical field.

[Timo Qvintus]

Does the upgrade apply to new Masahiro Bamboo's? If so, I'm extremely interested.. if they still sell at $50 on eBay, that is.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Originally Posted by Timo Qvintus

Does the upgrade apply to new Masahiro Bamboo's? If so, I'm extremely interested.. if they still sell at $50 on eBay, that is.

Nah,

Stil, they are well worth the $50 .

I bought one almost a year ago...Have cut all manner of things with it...up to 4-5 inch bamboo.In fact I started the bamboo craze with my initial review of the model here.

A couple of weeks ago,I missed on a pooched cut and lopped a huge section off the 4x4 that is the riser on my cutting stand.This sword was expected to fail soon as I got it. In fact,I was assured by many SFI members that it was a cheap toy and would fail within a month.

This sword survives with no damage at all... Still sharp enough to shave with.

This sword (Masahiro Bamboo)gets the best bang for the buck grade in my collection...which includes Cheness, Oni,Hanwei,Citadel, Dynasty,a shingunto and a couple of antiques.

Hell , the new performance PK has suffered edge notching off
plastic bottle mouths...The masahiro has survived lumber...

[Karsten Hansen]

Originally Posted by M.K. Ridgeway

Masahiro truly took a step up here in the mounting dept...

Now a little work on the blades...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

The engraving on the blade is the same as Furubushisdo which leads me to think these are some varied degrees of quality/Blemished blades from the Ryumon line.

Possibly old stock and discontinued or new and upgraded quality.

I am a newbie and figuring things out but Masahiro has various Tsuba's and also the number of wraps on the Saya...Maybe early stock as opposed to present day stock.

Maybe a comparion of Tri Angle shipping boxes as oppose the shipping tubes and sword bags would give a time line.

Karsten

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Originally Posted by Karsten Hansen

The engraving on the blade is the same as Furubushisdo which leads me to think these are some varied degrees of quality/Blemished blades from the Ryumon line.

Possibly old stock and discontinued or new and upgraded quality.

I am a newbie and figuring things out but Masahiro has various Tsuba's and also the number of wraps on the Saya...Maybe early stock as opposed to present day stock.

Maybe a comparion of Tri Angle shipping boxes as oppose the shipping tubes and sword bags would give a time line.

Karsten

Masahiro is a rebrander, and source their blades from several different forges.

Some are obviously cheap machine made blades ,like the "display box " series.

The bamboo is from another forge...along with a couple of other models..

There is the shadow box series...the historical replicas series ... the historical figures series...the practical series

Larger distributors for Masahiro and ryumon (wholesale ) include Master cutlery and Sunpoint USA and in the UK , Hill Giftware

[Timo Qvintus]

A wee bit off-topic, but which other Masahiro's come from the same line as "Bamboo"?

[Jerry G.]

Hahahaha...they should at least give you stock options or a freebie in recognition of your fine contributions to Masahiro sales.

Perhaps you have a future in marketing; I never really looked into Oni until you started plugging 'em!

Originally Posted by M.K. Ridgeway

Nah,

Stil, they are well worth the $50 .

I bought one almost a year ago...Have cut all manner of things with it...up to 4-5 inch bamboo.In fact I started the bamboo craze with my initial review of the model here.

A couple of weeks ago,I missed on a pooched cut and lopped a huge section off the 4x4 that is the riser on my cutting stand.This sword was expected to fail soon as I got it. In fact,I was assured by many SFI members that it was a cheap toy and would fail within a month.

This sword survives with no damage at all... Still sharp enough to shave with.

This sword (Masahiro Bamboo)gets the best bang for the buck grade in my collection...which includes Cheness, Oni,Hanwei,Citadel, Dynasty,a shingunto and a couple of antiques.

Hell , the new performance PK has suffered edge notching off
plastic bottle mouths...The masahiro has survived lumber...

[C Yarbrough]

Originally Posted by M.K. Ridgeway

Masahiro is a rebrander, and source their blades from several different forges.

Some are obviously cheap machine made blades ,like the "display box " series.

The bamboo is from another forge...along with a couple of other models..

There is the shadow box series...the historical replicas series ... the historical figures series...the practical series

Larger distributors for Masahiro and ryumon (wholesale ) include Master cutlery and Sunpoint USA and in the UK , Hill Giftware

Masahiro and Ryumon are trademarks of MC.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

I disagree. You may be correct, but I will wait for provenance. Hill Giftware, a British Wholesaler has them Trademarked under Ancient Warriors(both Ryumon and Masahiro) and has models Masters doesn't have. BTW I am registered on both sites, though I've never bought anything.

I stand by my assessment that MC is just another distributor.

[C Yarbrough]

I buy from two Chinese companies and another in Taiwan that MC and WJ buy from, and am very familiar with who owns the various trade marks. MC owns Masahiro, Masahiro International (which is on their martial arts uniforms) and Ryumon.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

I am sorry, but that is still not provenance to me.

Nothing you've said indicates anything to me other than Master Cutlery buys from the same Chinese distributors as Sunpoint and Hill.Both Sunpoint and Hill carry Masahiro and Ryumon models not availiable on Master's site.

As I have said, you may be right, but no evidence has compelled me to believe so.

[C Yarbrough]

Believe what you like, it makes no difference to me.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Originally Posted by C Yarbrough

Believe what you like, it makes no difference to me.

I was wrong, and you are correct.

Ryumon and Masahiro are owned by Master, according to an electronic search of the Trademark database.

However , it seems that Masahiro is an abandonded trademark...


Either way, I stand corrected.

Word Mark MASAHIRO
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 008. US 023 028 044. G & S: Cutlery Items. FIRST USE: 20051001. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20051001
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 26.01.01 - Circles as carriers or as single line borders
28.01.03 - Asian characters; Chinese characters; Japanese characters
Serial Number 78746806
Filing Date November 3, 2005
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) Master Cutlery, Inc. CORPORATION NEW JERSEY 701 PENHORN AVENUE Secaucus NEW JERSEY 07094
Attorney of Record Walter J. Tencza, Jr.
Description of Mark The mark consists of MASAHIRO and various symbols.
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date November 14, 2006

[M.K. Ridgeway]

December 2006
Case details for Trade Mark 2365081
Case history Mark
Mark Text : ANCIENT WARRIOR
View Image
in new window
Status:Registered Class: 08 List of goods and/or services
Class 08:Swords, samurai swords, re-enactment swords, axes, daggers, knives, penknife, sidearm; martial arts equipment. Relevant Dates
Filing Date:5 June 2004 Next Renewal Date:5 June 2014 Registration Date:3 December 2004 Publication in Trade Marks Journal
Journal Page Publication Date
First Advert 6544 20 August 2004
Registration 6563 31 December 2004
Names and Addresses
Proprietor:Hill Giftware Ltd
Hill House,Oak Tree,Burneston,Bedale,North Yorkshire,DL8 2JW Residence Country:United Kingdom Customer's Ref:ANcienT WArrioR Tm ADP Number:0850685001

This however is one of the things which confuse me...
You can see Ancient Warrior is a trademark of Hill Giftware in UK,

Furthur...

.MASIHIRO™ PRACTICAL KATANA RANGE FROM ANCIENT WARRIOR®

.RYUMON ™ PRACTICAL KATANA RANGE FROM ANCIENT WARRIOR®

From the Hill wholesale portal.

So , I am still confused.

[C Yarbrough]

My guess is that Hill Giftware belongs to the distributer program offered by MC. I would imagine that they then had MC create a line of swords for them and then co-branded it. Perhaps they don't have the buying power to deal directly with the better Chinese factories.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

It must be something like that, however, Hill filed in July 2004, and Master in Nov 2005.

Hill may have had a preexisting sword line called ancient warriors...and then added MC's line to them as a UK marketer...

Still, the only place I've seen the bamboo model is at Sunpoint...

I wonder why MC has been so secretive about these sword lines?

[C Yarbrough]

I bought a Mas Bamboo from Sunpoint about 6 months ago just to see if it would ship in the tube, which it did, and to take it apart. My personal thought is that Sunpoint and 1-2 other ebayers soaked up some serious excess inventory from MC at one point about a 1-1 1/2 years ago.

The Chinese have made a move away from the tubular and brown cardboard boxes. They are heavily pushing customized wooden boxes with corporate logos, and the red silk gift box. All of the new stuff I see the US distributers stocking are in these new boxes.

Sunpoint may have the cash and connections to buy direct from the Chinese factories that are producing the decent entry level stuff, but the only one I know for sure who's doing it is Omimusha. They are also importing massive amounts of junk too though.

Honestly though, since they (Sunpoint) were using that model as their .01 cannon fodder to attract people to their listsing, I think they got them at a massive discount. They've sold that sword for less than it costs the factory to make it too many times for me to think otherwise. I also saw them transition from that sword to the Mas dragon sword with the black silk sword bag, which I know MC did not do well with. Again, they have sold a lot of these below factory costs.

That is all just speculation on my part. I could be completely wrong.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Well founded speculation, I would say. I bought 7-8 of those Bamboo and one of the dragon from Sunpoint in it's various entities (Sunpoint,Handmadesword,Razorsharpkatana).

At one point I asked about a wholesale lot, and was informed that I was winning the auctions far cheaper than wholesale prices.

In talking with the Sunpoint guys, I learned they are Chinese...don't know if that has any bearing.

[C Yarbrough]

I took a closer look at that blade. I don't know which company is making it. I haven't see those fittings, nor have I seen the blade engraving. Since it is a Mas, I would guess the steel is 1045-1065.

When you bought from Sunpoint and the other two ebay IDs, did they all come from the same place? I never knew those were all the same group. They are doing some serious business.

[M.K. Ridgeway]

Yes, the return address is Sunpoint Marketing in Walnut ,California from all three sellers. I think I have found another ID or two as well..but am unsure, I've never ordered from them.

Yes, Those guys are turning them over...at any given time they have a couple hundred each listed.