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Old 03-25-2007, 01:30 AM   #3
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
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Re: Help buying Katana

Quote:
Kevin Wilbanks wrote: View Post
Sounds like you need to do a LOT more research. There is no such thing as a real sword for $300. The cheapest legit japanese-style swords I know of are from Bugei Trading Company, are over $1000 each, and have no "blood groove". The cheapest legit sword with the groove will be closer to twice that. Something with any antique value or renowned craftsmanship will be much more expensive still. For $300 you can get a basic aluminum Iaito, or two or three stamped-out, fake decorative swords, but nothing that is even remotely a real katana.
You don't actually have to go as expensive as Bugei... some of the Chen or Last Legend forge swords are fine but you'll need to go up to $500 or $600 if I remember their pricing... I don't think you can get anything that would be worth while (and safe) for quite that cheap. (possible exceptions see below) I have a Cold Steel and while its blade is pretty much indestructible, the fittings were CR**! We did some cutting and the first time I used mine the wrappings came undone; another student had the same experience. So basically these handles needed to redone within hours after we started using them. I will probably have a decent handle put on mine and use it as my "work horse" katana (the one that no amount of bad technique will hurt) but by the time I do that, the value of the sword will be back up to what I am talking about at around $600. You get what you pay for...

That said, the Paul Chen Practical Katan Plus is just over $300 at this site. I question the quality of the fittings at this price but the blade is probably fine for a beginner to start cutting with. I would check out what the sword forums say.
http://www.imperialarmory.com/paul-chen.shtml

Last edited by George S. Ledyard : 03-25-2007 at 01:45 AM.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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