[Etienne Hamel]

Hi, i'm pretty new to kats and i wanted to know if musashi swords r a good value for money (most for the learning of kenjutsu)?
does a light cutter is enough for a newb?
what does a light cutter cuts (water filled bottles, foam pool toys maybe somme tatamis occasionnaly?)

[Christopher H]

Hi,
If you want to learn kenjutsu it is best to talk to your instructor as to what would be suitable.

Some of the Musashi Swords (if you're talking about this company http://www.musashiswords.com) may fall under the price range one would expect for a decent quality sword, but one can't expect a good quality sword for around 100 bucks.
I have a similar style cheap katana myself (as a first purchase) and it's very obvious the level of difference in quality in performance and visually.
The folks at Sword Buyers Guide test a few of these swords and find that they hold up... for a while. I can remember a few instances of the tsuka-maki comming undone. For cheap katana, cracked tsuka are also an issue as is uneven or inappropriate heat treatment.
For a sword to be of good quality the pieces need to be fitted individually to the sword and this simply doesn't happen in the budget sword industry.
Tatami wouldn't fall under light cutting in my opinion... though foam pool noodles and perhaps soft water filled bottles would (harder plastic bottles will increase the hilt stress).