A friend of mine is looking for either a scimitar or a katana. For no real purpose other than to have though he still insists on finding something fairly historically accurate. I have never bought a sword myself (except foils which dont count) so i am not familiar with any of the makers. What I am asking, is if anyone knows somewhere that might have something like this, keeping in mind that he is only willing to spend around 500 USD.

Thanks

Can't help with the Katana, but if you're looking for a historically-accurate "Scimitar" on the cheap, there are a couple of options, mainly Cold Steel and Windlass.

Both are available at Kult of Athena....
The Cold Steel Shamshir ("Scimitar" is an anglization of "Shamshir"): http://www.kultofathena.com/product~item~CS88...amshir.htm

The Windlass Scimitar: http://www.kultofathena.com/product~item~5008...imitar.htm

Both are very similar swords, and may be from the same manufacturer AFAIK. The main difference is that the Cold Steel comes with a very sharp edge, and the Windlass is unedged.

Watch out for the stereotypical "Arab Scimitars" with the extremely curved blades and deep clip points. These are strictly "Hollywood" and do not resemble actual Middle Eastern swords. The Turkish Kilij probably comes the closest to resembling one of these, but not very close (the curvature is far less extreme and the "clip point" or yelman much more subtle -- and it's usually much shorter). Needless to say, real Middle Eastern swords are much more graceful than the "Hollywood Scimitars".

Those are quite perfect for what he wanted, thankyou very much

There are plenty of katana makers out there, though I'm not sure what makes one historically accurate. I'm guessing the equivalent is traditional construction and real hamon, which shouldn't be impossible to find in this price range.

I'd recommend asking about it on SFI's katana forum, they'd probably be happy to recommend brands.

The shamshirs aren't bad either, though. I might get myself one of those Windlass Scimitars one of these days.

If you are looking for a katana that has a real hamon for around 300 us dollars you can check out Cheness. Their "Kaze" model is differentially hardened and the hamon is legitimate. Their blades are hand forged, tsubas (hand guard) are cast steel, and the handles even have real ray skin panels. They are not fancy, but they are practical and sturdy. You can find the "Kaze" here... http://www.chenessinc.com/kaze.htm