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Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Paul Chen Katanas?
- Thread starter drjones
- Start date
Hi,
Again, I have to say I do not know much about katanas, thought I'll post a reply since no one said anything (Sword forums appears to be visited by only a few...
)
Anyway, if I were you, I would go for the Shinto for the lower price. Either that, or I would go for a bushido blade by the same factory; it is forge folded and very fancy looking...and you can probably get it for $800 or less nowadays...
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History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~Enoch Powell, Speech to the British Conservative Party Conference, 1967~
Again, I have to say I do not know much about katanas, thought I'll post a reply since no one said anything (Sword forums appears to be visited by only a few...
Anyway, if I were you, I would go for the Shinto for the lower price. Either that, or I would go for a bushido blade by the same factory; it is forge folded and very fancy looking...and you can probably get it for $800 or less nowadays...
------------------
History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~Enoch Powell, Speech to the British Conservative Party Conference, 1967~
I haven't seen a Paul Chen sword in person, but I've read a few reviews of them by people who frequently handle swords.
Pail Chen doesn't make them himself, he runs the factory in Hanwei, China, where they're made by Chinese smiths.
From what I've read, Paul Chen uses steel from scrapped railway tracks. He did produce a limited number of Golden Oreoles using swedish powdered steel (pattern welded steel), but most of them were sold before they left China where they're made.
A professional sword polisher in California, Keith Larman, polished one of the swedish steel Oreoles and commented that the standard polish it had been given in China could be better, but was still ok. The photos of the Oreole after he had repolished it were real eye openers.
Basically, the underlying comments about Chen swords have been that they are well made, but are not "master" quality and they stand up well to test cutting practice.
One point of interest is that Paul Chen has said in an interview that he will start selling bare blades in shirasaya (a bare "storage" scabbard) so that people can add fittings of their own choice and build up a more personalised sword. He is also considering producing traditional japanese style armour.
Pail Chen doesn't make them himself, he runs the factory in Hanwei, China, where they're made by Chinese smiths.
From what I've read, Paul Chen uses steel from scrapped railway tracks. He did produce a limited number of Golden Oreoles using swedish powdered steel (pattern welded steel), but most of them were sold before they left China where they're made.
A professional sword polisher in California, Keith Larman, polished one of the swedish steel Oreoles and commented that the standard polish it had been given in China could be better, but was still ok. The photos of the Oreole after he had repolished it were real eye openers.
Basically, the underlying comments about Chen swords have been that they are well made, but are not "master" quality and they stand up well to test cutting practice.
One point of interest is that Paul Chen has said in an interview that he will start selling bare blades in shirasaya (a bare "storage" scabbard) so that people can add fittings of their own choice and build up a more personalised sword. He is also considering producing traditional japanese style armour.
- Joined
- May 13, 2001
- Messages
- 113
They're a good starter blade.