High Quality Katana?

j_curd said:
swords were designed to de-limb people...aka major bone structure. A good one can hit the hardest of the hard and keep on truckin.
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wrong
"green" bone isn't really all that hard. Try and cut a piece of dried bone and you're in for a rude awakeining. I wouldn't use any sword, differentially heat treated on anything but green bamboo or soaked tatami mats. Even with good technique you can have a "whups" moment and mess one up. A student at the dojo I attend recently did just that cutting tatami ,not only was it twisted but it also had a lateral bend in the blade--it's junk now.
 
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dont buy a differential hardened Katana for a beater. you will end up doin what was just said in the above post eater twisting or bending it.. you want a blade thats tempered the same all the way through they wont bend and their extremely hard to break if made in the right steel and used properly.
 
Katanas are actually designed to fight against armor and chop through bone, both of which is harder than wood. Cutting down a tree is nothing, I've done it before with my katana. Trying smashing your blade against a piece of metal or rock, it's a magnitude more impulse as using the same stroke against wood.

There are a number of cheap katanas that can be used as beaters. They are fun to use. Why use a machete when you have a sword?

And I somehow doubt a 3/8" thick katana made out of super-tough 5160 spring steel (or the similar 1060) is going to break unless you are beating it repeatedly against a giant rock, whereas the a much thinner machete made in the far more brittle (relative to 5160 or 1060) 1095 is going to survive?
 
SShepherd said:
you're a little off base here...

Samurai only wore armor in battle. katana were a secondary weapon, the primary weapons usually being a polearm.
http://www.samurai-archives.com/sts.html.

A katana, with it's curvature (sori) is designed to cut or slice, not "chop"
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The cuts that we learn in the Japanese sword arts can be considered both chopping and slicing. It's an argument over semantics.

The katana was a third weapon to the bow/arrow and spear, but nevertheless it was designed to be useful against armor, or it would be pretty useless in battle. These things were expensive back in the day, like buying a car. Today, katanas are dirt cheap and you can use them for anything.
 
cotdt said:
The cuts that we learn in the Japanese sword arts can be considered both chopping and slicing. It's an argument over semantics.

The katana was a third weapon to the bow/arrow and spear, but nevertheless it was designed to be useful against armor, or it would be pretty useless in battle. These things were expensive back in the day, like buying a car. Today, katanas are dirt cheap and you can use them for anything.[/QUOTE]

you can drive a ferrari offroad too, but it wouldn't perform very well

like i said before, I wouldn't use a differentially heat treated sword for "bushwacking"
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I wouldn't use a traditional japanese sword for cutting trees.

The Swamp Rat Waki is differentially tempered, and a much stronger design.
 
SShepherd said:
you can drive a ferrari offroad too, but it wouldn't perform very well

like i said before, I wouldn't use a differentially heat treated sword for "bushwacking"
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Not worth the argument, Shep....you cannot educate a rock.

Why are you even responding in General? It is guaranteed to get the blood pressure elevated....

Isn't the BS in the "Sword" subforuming aggravating enough?;):D;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
Not worth the argument, Shep....you cannot educate a rock.

Why are you even responding in General? It is guaranteed to get the blood pressure elevated....

Isn't the BS in the "Sword" subforuming aggravating enough?;):D;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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thanks for the reminder...:o
 
SShepherd said:
yes it is, but it's not a katana either. The shorter leingth helps out the durability
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It is also top quality steel and heat treat, but it's definitely shorter than a katana.

I think if someone wants to abuse a traditional sword chopping into trees, it's his money and his blood. :D
 
cotdt said:
Katanas are actually designed to fight against armor and chop through bone, both of which is harder than wood. Cutting down a tree is nothing, I've done it before with my katana. Trying smashing your blade against a piece of metal or rock, it's a magnitude more impulse as using the same stroke against wood.

There are a number of cheap katanas that can be used as beaters. They are fun to use. Why use a machete when you have a sword?

And I somehow doubt a 3/8" thick katana made out of super-tough 5160 spring steel (or the similar 1060) is going to break unless you are beating it repeatedly against a giant rock, whereas the a much thinner machete made in the far more brittle (relative to 5160 or 1060) 1095 is going to survive?
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1095 is brittle?

Don't forget machetes are usually more wider(length from edge to spine).
 
cotdt said:
Katanas are actually designed to fight against armor and chop through bone
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A katana is not made to "chop" but rather to slice its way through the body. There is a big difference which is part of why technique is important with a katana or similar blade (the other part is to protect the blade).


A katana cannot cut through any armor that is worth anything. It can be possible to stab a katana through lamellar armor but as soon as metal gets in the way you're sol.
 
SShepherd said:
The OP said "katana", which is longer than what you posted. I would consider that to be a good size for brush clearing though
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I'm aware of what a Katana is but I was not responding to the OP, I was responding to the individual I quoted who was speaking of swords in general.
 
A sword or katana is probably not the best tool for the job you want to do. But I bet its super fun. I wouldnt want to chop any trees with a Paul Chen practical sword but I'd hack away with an inexpensive Cold Steel 18" Kukri machete.
 
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