How to make your own katana (Japanese ninja/samurai sword)?

[assassino]

How to make your own katana or where to get one? Also.. What would be the price of manufacturing or buying?

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Learning to make a high end katana would probably take 10 years or so if you had no prior knowledge or skills.

What is 10 years of your life worth?

It's going to be cheaper to buy one.

 

[hank_rearden]

even if it take 10 years, you'll have to time to eat, sleep and live it during the period, so no harm in trying. if you find that smelting iron sand or foundry drippings into carbon steel, or forge welding and drawing out selected furnace lumps into a katana blank too taxing, you might want to instead apprentice as a sword polisher/sharpener. it's just as exacting an art.

 

[Bo T]

If I understand what I have read in the past, a very well made, non certified (by the Japanese government), katana will run in the mid 4 figures USD. These are made, by hand from modern steel. Swords made by Japanese sword smiths, using traditional steel and techniques (again - if my memory serves) start in the lower 5 figures USD. I am not certain of the availability of the traditional swords.

 

[Storm Crow]

Oh come on, guys. I see a complete daisho in the mall for $30.

 

[Sosa]

I'd hate to be an apprentice serving his master in old tyme Japan haha.

 

[Mike157]

There are quite a few Internet sites that offer all sorts of information and blades. As Storm Crow alluded to, they can be had from $30.00 on up to tens or hundreds of thousands. It really depends what you're looking for - a back yard chopper, something to practice martial arts with, and/or an authentic Japanese blade. There are also some really great books available on Japanese swords. If you've never made a sword, or a knife for that matter, and do attempt it, be aware that a sword that may have some flaws or less than ideal materials for the intended purpose in it can be a dangerous thing if it breaks apart during use. Disclaimer: I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but have been interested in sword for quite some time so most of what I've said is a regurgitation from what I've read. Mike