Shadow Dancer S5 Hira Zukuri Katana Revested: Review and Destruction

**Shadow Dancer has admitted to falsely advertising some blade steels. This sword may not be made of the steel advertised in the review. Any opinions expressed in this review related to the steel type should be taken with that in mind. This is a comparison between a Shadow Dancer katana direct from the company VS an more recent example from Amazon. This example is from Shadow Dancer Directly- https://www.swordcn.com/Hira-Zukuri-T... Blade Specs: Original Sample From Shadow Dancer Handle/Tsuka Length: 10.5” Blade/Nagasa Length: 28” (without habaki) Sori: .631” Moto-haba: 1.229” Motokasane: .239” Saki-haba: 1.00” Sakikasane: .179” Weight: 1lb 14.8oz Weight Blade Only: 1lb 3.5oz POB: 4.5” from tsuba MSRP: $730 HRC: 55 to 60 Link to Review:    • Shadow Dancer Swords Hira Zukuri Tameshigi...   This example is from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/ShadowDancer-H... Blade Specs: Second Hand Sample From Amazon Handle/Tsuka Length: 10.25” Blade/Nagasa Length: 28” (without habaki) Sori: .648” Moto-haba: 1.246” Motokasane: .264” Saki-haba: .931” Sakikasane: .164” Weight: 1lb 14.9oz Weight Blade Only: 1lb 3.6oz POB: 4.75” from tsuba MSRP: $885 HRC: 55 to 60 Which is better? Tsuba/fuchi/kashira: Same Ito Tightness: Direct Ito Color: (Subjective Direct) Samegawa: Amazon Sharpness: Same Polish: Amazon Blade Shape: (Subjective Direct) Koiguchi/kojiri/kruikata: Direct (made of horn) Saya fit: Same Saya Shape: Amazon Cutting Performance: Same I prefer the Direct version mostly because the ito is a bit tighter. I like the shape of the blade a little better too. Those two are enough for me to choose the one from Shadow Dancer directly. Not to say the one you bought from Shadow Dancer would be any different than the version from Amazon today but if it was, then I would go with the one from Shadow Dancer directly. I think the ito is mostly because of the hisigami pro option that is offered by Shadow Dancer when you buy it directly. This is not an option when buying from Amazon. Lab testing was conducted by APL. https://apl-inc.net/ Sword Stand by Enso Workshop - https://www.etsy.com/shop/EnsoWorkshop Music provided by - Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com Link to the Facebook spot -   / matthewjensenswordreview   Link to the Twitch spot -   / sword_friend_matt   Link to the Patreon spot -   / krunan   Link to the TicTock spot -.tiktok.com/@SwordFriendMatt Link to the Instagram spot -   / matthewjensenswordguy   Link to the YouTube Membership spot -    / @matthew_jensen   Link to my eBay sales page - http://www.ebay.com/usr/krunangree