Question about a forged Katana I was offered.

[The General]

A local shop in Conwy (knightsgoneby.co.uk) is offering for £165 a 1045 forged steel Katana with differential tempering (60 at edge, 40 at spine) it has plain but nice fittings and a traditional tip rather than an Americanised style.

Question is, as it was a catalogue I was looking at, how reasonable a deal does this sound? Or to put it another way is a sword made like this going to be ok? I assume it will be mass produced in China somewhere.

They also offered folded steel models for £1045

All prices are UK Pound Stirling.

Thanks!

 

[horseclover]

Interesting page. They do state that most of their goods are ornamental but they also seem to carry some of the Hanwei products.
It might be worthwhile to contact them for particulars about who the manufacturer is for the katana. I could not get their Japanese section to come up. Might you be able to post a link to a picture of the sword itself? The price you mention does not sound way out of line but it would be easier to judge by who makes them.

Cheers

Hotspur, an Americanised Welshman

 

[shortgoth]

I had the same difficulty as horseclover, couldn't get to the oriental section (link isn't there), but at a guess having looked at the site, it's a Hanwei Practical Katana.

Click here (if the link works) to look at Barrington Sword's page for the Forged Steel series Hanweis. The Practical Katana is at the bottom. Is it the same sword? Seems around the same price.

Barrington Swords Is the main site.

 

[The General]

Thats the one! Thanks guys!

Is this a good sword for the money? Will it stand up to medium use and take a nice edge?

Thanks in advance.

 

[shortgoth]

In a word, yes.

For the price, it's the best Katana on the market, bar none. I was hugely impressed by both this, the practical ninja, and the damascus Tai Chi sword from the same company (the one my ex now keeps by her side 24/7). If you want something better, you'll have to pay four or five times the price.

They definitely take a nice edge, and although I didn't try steel-on-steel contact with any of the Hanwei swords (although I'm sure someone else on here has and will tell you what they thought), they certainly stood up to use of various hard and soft targets.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[The General]

Thank you for your input! Your comments and observations are most welcome and very much appeciated!

I am seriously thinking of getting one of these at some point.

Out of interest what was the edge angle like, how difficult is it to sharpen and how badly does it rust?

I am no novice with steel, but do not own a differental tempered steel blade of any kind. The nearest thing is a custom 10" CPM 10V fixed blade and a Deven Thomas Double High Carbon Damascus blade (Small wood Spiral Damascus Sebenza)

Oh and I own a knife in just about every steel ever seen by man.

Thanks!