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Rusty Knorr




Location: Seattle, WA USA
Joined: 08 Jun 2006

Posts: 17

PostPosted: Wed 21 May, 2008 9:23 pm    Post subject: Katanas         Reply with quote

Hello friends,

I was wondering if anyone had experience with www.handmadesword.com. They seem to have a huge range of forged and sharpened Katanas at decent prices. Can anyone make any comment on these swords? Thanks everyone! -Rusty
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Stephan Hall




Location: Germany
Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 41

PostPosted: Wed 21 May, 2008 9:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Weird, some Swords very cheap, a damascene Sword for 150$ and a non damascene for 18000$.
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Gabriel Lebec
myArmoury Team


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Location: NY, NY
Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Reading list: 32 books

Posts: 420

PostPosted: Wed 21 May, 2008 10:10 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm going to have to treat this in greater depth, and with greater care, when I have some free time. For now, let me just point out that these are clearly not nihonto (i.e. authentic Japanese-origin blades), nor are most of them traditional in certain ways. I would also advise against assuming they are functional, for reasons I'll go into later.
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science." - Albert Einstein
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P. Cha




PostPosted: Wed 21 May, 2008 11:50 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

They all say they have a real hamon when they clearly are etched as well. I don't know about you, but I don't like being lied to...and silly me, I tend to get skeptical when somebody lies to me. So yeah I sure as heck wouldn't buy anything from them...especially since you can get musashi swords for about the same-ish price for the TH 1045 and 1060 ones.
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Sam Barris




Location: San Diego, California
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Likes: 4 pages

Posts: 630

PostPosted: Thu 22 May, 2008 1:50 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

That's kind of a strange place. I'm not sure I'd trust them. Something seems... wrong. Just a vibe; can't put my finger on anything specific at a cursory glance. If you plan on doing any cutting, I'd recommend you go with Bugei. They have a very good reputation.
Pax,
Sam Barris

"Any nation that draws too great a distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools." —Thucydides
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Bennison N




Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Likes: 1 page

Posts: 416

PostPosted: Thu 22 May, 2008 4:33 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

If you were someone who checked out the "Japanese Sword over $10000" section on that less-than-totally-forthcoming site, you might want to try this place...

http://www.e-sword.jp/

The prices are in yen, not dollars... Haha! I bought a really nice antique authentic Dotanuki from there a while back. If you can't speak Japanese, give me a PM and I'll help you out.

"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance" - Confucius

अजयखड्गधारी
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Nicholas A. Gaese




Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Joined: 06 Aug 2007

Posts: 100

PostPosted: Thu 22 May, 2008 9:16 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

while we are at other recommendations, I thought I might throw in my 0.02 cents worth.

I have been participating in Iaido for a few years now and I can recommend you to a place in B.C. , Canada that mainly works on Iaido and other Japanese martial arts equipment for actually very reasonable prices. They also sell Shinken if you go under Katanas and they also sell them in Yen, all their stuff is made in Japan and distributed In North America. They also have very friendly service.

http://www.budo-aoi.com/

As for the Handmade store, I'm not sure about it either. I also kinda find it fishy that they sell pattern welded swords for 150.00 dollars and also clay-temper for $1000+. I so pose further checking into is in order, as mentioned before......

Regards

Nicholas
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Ben C.





Joined: 01 Dec 2006

Posts: 65

PostPosted: Thu 22 May, 2008 8:38 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It's hard to draw conclusions about the site but the fact that the Japanese language link just opens a non-functional image with Japanese translations seems a little suspicious. It's almost like it was included to give the impression that the company also sells to Japanese customers which seems unlikely considering the link is just an image and has no actual use.
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Etienne Hamel




Location: Granby (QC) canada
Joined: 09 Sep 2006

Posts: 443

PostPosted: Sat 24 May, 2008 6:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Nicholas i took a look on this site of yours and for the price it is well worth katanas.
the best thing about these katanas is that they are made in japan and traditionally forged.
and for this expensive site i don't know either seems fishy too for me and its not made in japan Mad
no definitely i don't know.
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Bennison N




Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
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Posts: 416

PostPosted: Sat 24 May, 2008 4:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Oh, here's another site I totally forgot about, even though they send me emails every couple of days with specials...

www.japaneseswords4samurai.com

Join their "Warrior's Club" mailing list and get substantial discounts. I have yet to purchase something there, but they certainly have a huge range and acceptable prices. It's definitely worth a look, I'd say.

"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance" - Confucius

अजयखड्गधारी
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Etienne Hamel




Location: Granby (QC) canada
Joined: 09 Sep 2006

Posts: 443

PostPosted: Mon 26 May, 2008 8:25 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

i would like to know if paul chen's katana are good because i would like to cut things with it so for the durability are they ok?
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P. Cha




PostPosted: Mon 26 May, 2008 11:18 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The hanwei/paul chen katana on the lower end have some quality control issues. They are however scary sharp...in some cases TOO sharp. They have a very thin blade geometry as well...especially their extra light models which doesn't help with durability. I have seen several of the practical and practical pros snap in half cutting single mats...and if they do, prepare to deal with some hell. While they do come with a 1 year gurantee when used for cutting single mats, collecting on that gurantee will be a pain since the first reply they send everyone is that it was abused no matter what. Their higher end stuff however has better quaility control and is generally less likely to break. However due to their rather poor customer service, I suggest you never buy directly from them. Due to the QC issues, I also don't suggest going with the lowest price you see, but with a company with a very good return policy (and then they can deal with hanwei's horrible customer service). However, if durability is your main concern, I would steer you away from them in anycase.

Cheness makes some wonderful uber durable swords in the 9260 line. However, they do have issues a well since their tips aren't properly HT for some reason so no tip cuts. This is what I use and what our dojo has as loner cutter swords. However do to the blade geometry, it doesn't have nearly as much cutting power as the hanwei katanas. It is something a lot of the newer students complain about, but I find that it is because sharper blades let them get away with sloppier techniques.
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Etienne Hamel




Location: Granby (QC) canada
Joined: 09 Sep 2006

Posts: 443

PostPosted: Tue 27 May, 2008 5:46 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

but is the katanas ur talking about are for newbies?
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P. Cha




PostPosted: Tue 27 May, 2008 5:40 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Etienne Hamel wrote:
but is the katanas ur talking about are for newbies?


???

If you mean are cheness priced for newer students who don't know if they want to invest a lot of money...then yes. They are around 200-300 dollars. Although if your really worried about money, many people are using the musashi 1060 blades for cutting. They are made well enough and will handle single mats with no issues other then maybe a loose ito wrap every once in a while and they cost like half what the hanwei or cheness do (around 150 bucks). Hell if your only interested in cutting single mats, even the musashi 1045 will work...assuming your willing to resharpen it often. For around 60 dollars it's what most of the poor students who want their own sword uses. So exactly what are you planning on doing with this sword?
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Etienne Hamel




Location: Granby (QC) canada
Joined: 09 Sep 2006

Posts: 443

PostPosted: Wed 28 May, 2008 9:12 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

maybe liveblade training cutting mats (so it mean that i need a heavy duty katana.
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P. Cha




PostPosted: Wed 28 May, 2008 10:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

If all your doing is single mats, then even the 60 dollar musashi 1045 swords will work fine. Like I said, a lot of the poor students use it quite effectively.

Cheness is considered one of the toughest entry level katana and that is why our loner swords are cheness.

So if you can spend the money, I'd recommend one of the 9260 katanas from them. If your poor, musashi will work fine as well (and looks wise, I think musashi looks better anyways hehe).
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