By all means you should try one. I would suggest a wakizashi first ( I greatly prefer a wakizashi to a katana). A wakizashi and tanto set is highly sellable, and a joy to own.
While it is not a long knife, a sword isn't a huge leap. From what I have seen, you have the basic skills. Feel free to PM or email me with any questions, or post a thread in Shop talk.
Forget W2...it isn't a sword steel. Try 1080 or 1070. Get as low Mn as possible. Aldo had some nice 3/4" Sq. 1080, and good 1075. Both will hamon nicely. The 3/4 forges out to a sword well.
I occasionally do stock removal, but forging at least partially shapes the steel. In some cases I forge to near finished proportions. In making a katana/wakizashi/tanto the basic shape is all you need tom forge, as the real shaping is done in shitaji-togi. after HT shiagi-togi finishes it up and brings out the hamon.
I just ordered 1000 grams of Japanese tamahagane from a smith outside of Tokyo.
As an aside ( and shameless commercialism) I am getting ready to offer a batch of ornate sterling fuchi-kashira sets in The Exchange. These will be good for swords, tanto, fancy fixed blade knives, and sgian dubh.
I have a tutorial on "designing a knife around a handle" that shows how I make these.