I understand a little about metallurgy so.... 1050 steel is useable, but if it's just hardened i wouldn't do tameshigiri or anything with it for fear of breakage. If you must have only a hardened blade (the cheapest of them all) I'd go to Last legend for the new series of competition blades. Those are 1090 steel which i've heard is better, but i'm not totally sure. For about $150 US more you can get a defferentially tempered blade which adds strength to your sword. For about $300-$500 more you can get a folded blade. These are the higher end blades and cost anywhere from $774 to $1000. You could of course go to bugei for their high end paul chen stuff but you 'd be paying about $1500 for the cheapest stuff. Wherever you go if you want to cut with it and heavan forbid "block" get something steel. Some places (won't mention names) *cough*cheapswordsstoptoshop.com (shut down)*cough* offer unbreakable titanium katana. These are ripoffs and are usually no more than stainless steel brushed to make a duller color. My final answer is go with last legend or high end paul chen stuff, but try not to get anything with a bo-hi as it actually can weaken the sword if made incorrectly.