Tips on getting good swords: part two.

Part two on getting a decent sword. here's part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSYOrbO8mE

Again, this is not complete information, so anyone out there that cares to add to this, please feel free to do so.

Basically, in this part, I go a little bit into detail on some companies to check out while hunting for a Japanese style sword, as well as a couple of things to look for in a real katana.

As promised, here are some links for you guys:


Sword Manufacturers Guide
http://www.sword-manufacturers-guide.com/index.html
This is a great place to start when looking for a decent sword. The guys here review and rate different sword making companies and forges, as well as a few of the swords they make. A lot of good information here. This site is tied to http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/index.html , another good place to get info. While the Sword Manufacturers Guide goes into detail about the different forges, The Sword Buyer's Guide talks more about finding individual swords at a price you can handle. Again, both are good places to start at.


Hanwei
http://www.casiberia.com/
Don't be fooled by the name in the url: this is the main site for Hanwei, a decent place to go for Japanese swords that are made outside of Japan, yet aren't made by traditional smiths. They got a functional katana for just about every budget. Hanwei pretty much put CasIberia into the limelight as far as quality swords go. Worth checking out.


Cheness
http://www.chenessinc.com/
These guys are worth checking out just for their Tenchi and Kaze Katana alone! Very affordable prices on their blades, with top quality performance. They seem to have some of the most durable blades around, and from what I've seen, they have good weight and balance to them too. They also have some excellent customer service, and they are very open about how their blades are made, which ones should be used for particular types of practice, what metals they use, and so on. I personally am planing on getting a sword from them sooner or later, and I don't even practice japanese sword arts... I just want to get my hands on that Kaze model. :P


Bugei
http://www.bugei.com/index.htm
This company seems to be a good place to go for quality samurai swords... they definitely know their stuff. Granted, you're going to be paying 4 figures for one of their weapons, but from what I've seen of them so far, they seem worth the money. One thing to know that their line of swords are actually from Hanwei, just up to a higher standard of quality than the ones Hanwei puts out on their mass production line.


Modern Tosho
http://www.moderntosho.com/index.html
If you are serious about getting a traditionally made katana from a Japanese master swordsmith (and have the scratch for it), try here. Keep in mind that just the blades are sold here... not the whole sword. So you are going to have to craft the whole thing yourself, or find someone else to do it for you. there are also some blades here are aren't fully polished... so you're going to have to find a traditionally trained polisher to handle that for you as well. But these blades are the real deal... and you're going to have to spend some real deal money to get them.


Richard Stein's Japanese Sword Guide
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm
This is a great resource to go to when looking up info on the Japanese sword. The research that this guy has done is astounding! It's a great site to learn about the history and development of this iconic weapon, and it can be a great help for the buyer who is only interested in Japanese made katana.



I'll update this link list if I find anything more of interest.


sountrack:

Dj Food - Ninja Walk

Nightmares on Wax - Nights Introlude

Mr Scruff - So Long

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• swords
• japanese
• katana
• samurai
• blades
• budget

[traceydeanrainey]

Well Bugei does not sell real Japanese swords, but they have great quality. Now Hanwei is really good but if you want even better you should look at Thaitsuki swords, they retail from like $1050 to $3599. A Loy of people think a Japanese blade is folded because it makes it better, not true at all. It's folded because Japanese Iron ore was of poor quality and that's how they had to homogenous it. Modern steel like T10 if properly tempered is considerably tougher. A folded blade can have unseen i

[Swordsage]

@traceydeanrainey You know what, I'm glad you pointed all that out. I've been meaning to do an update on this video for quite some time now, bringing up the points you did, and taking about the merits of today's mono steel blades, but I keep forgetting to. I have to get around to that. :P

[k00lkane]

Hey duude kool vid...

But about the folding process, I heard you don't need it these days because the Japanese used to fold the steel to remove impurities and these days they purify the metals another way...

[Swordsage]

@k00lkane You're absolutely right about that. These days, as long as the steel is good and they didn't mess up the tempering process, you don't really need folded steel to have a good functional cutting sword. So folded steel is pretty much an aesthetic thing. Hell, the main sword I have now is mono steel, and I like it just fine.

I really need to do an update to this video. I made this 2 years ago, and I've gotten two new swords and new info since then.

[defkweli]

I agree with most of what you're saying, but your Differentially Hardened vs Mono-Steel comments aren't entirely accurate. In both cases it is dependent entirely upon the steel in question. A mono-steel, through hardened Spring Steel sword (Cheness) in comparison to a Differentially Hardened blade is so much better because it is built with a guaranteed defense against bending. It's structural integrity is made more sound.

[Swordsage]

Yeah, you're right. I found this out a while ago, after I had made this. In fact I've found many mono-steel swords to be more structurally sound than a lot of differentially hardened swords out there. My current cutting jian is a mono steel blade, and it's proven it's worth to me many times over.

[DRx1xKing]

@111Wolverine Do your self a favor and don´t buy from him, he has beautiful swords but most of them are not well made and it´s dangerous, they are not worth the money.

Go to SBG you have some reviews and lots of information to help. : )

[CCTXGABE]

so are all stainless steel swords pretty much shit? i have a sword that i got from a friend whe he moved away which is 440 stainless steel and it's pretty solid and extremely sharp,doesnt bend easily,and is hard to break.

[chunderbucket]

Thanks for the tips on getting good swords, @swordsage

[111Wolverine]

are trhe swords from ryansword.om any good

[111Wolverine]

nice



[painsey]

good vid, i think you should have said about the full tang to