Kris Cutlery Katana 29 vs. Paul Chen Practical Katana

[Bimmer1]

So far you have helped me in my quest. The Criswell Katana is in. What about the differences between the Kris Cutlery Katana 29 and the Paul Chen Practical Katana? I want this for realistic kata and practical home defense. Which is stronger and sharper overall? I want the most durable, low-priced katana I can get, so what is the opinion on these two katanas?

 

[Berkley]

There is an extensive comparison between the two in Sword Forum International's Online MagazineFall 1999 issue. They found the old version of the Practical Katana unacceptable because of its plastic habaki, a fault which has been corrected in newer production models by the use of brass. Otherwise a useful comparison of stats and performance.

 

[Robert Marotz]

I'm gonna be blunt here.

practicality and sword are not related terms nowadays.

For kata....what sort of kata? what art? what tradition? what does your teacher suggest?

Criswell "katana" is an example of several modern interpretations, but I won't call it a "katana." Yep I'm a real bastid when it comes to this stuff, but since nobody gives a damn anyways, it doesn't really matter.

KC blades are purdy good, Practical katana line by Chen is purdy good. Practical katana is more traditionalish in look, KC are a lil more abusable. Both appear to be hefty and imbalanced, and unless you get a good one from the line, probably not a good idea for kata. You can customize them though and find ways to fix up the balance, either through carving grooves, adding a bit of distal taper, or the old fashioned "make a longer handle" idea. Lord knows enough folks have done that one.

Of course you're not looking for aesthetics or traditional aspects, so there should be no real advantage from one to the other unless you want that slight edge in abusability the KC blade has. I assume you just want something "out of the box" that you don't have to take real good care of, so the KC may have another edge there in the finish, nobody will care if ya do a lil steel wool scrubbing to get rid of any possible rust.

Overall, not much difference at all.

 

[Broken Arrow]

Greetings Bimmer1,

You can check out the write up on these two swords on www.swordforum.com. The tests were done on a blem KC 29 kat and an older Practical kat. I was involved these tests and brought the editor to my friends place (Michael Bell) in Oregon for some of the tests.

Many will say that the Practical kat looks more traditional, than the KC blades and this is true. On the other hand, I have been testing KC's prototype high end katana. I'm very, very impressed. The blade has an excellent shape (correct distal taper, cross section, no ripples on the blade surface, and traditional furniture). The price is alot higher than the traditional production KC stuff ($500 - 600), but it performs better than the higher end Paul Chen blades. There is no hada on the KC blades, but there is a real hamon caused by the clay coating. Hope this helps.

 

[Triton]

Broken Arrow,

I think the guy is looking in the 100-200 dollar price range, hence his looking at the KC basic stuff and the PK. I sure hope Kris doesn't cede the basic line to the PK.