Entering the katana world

stonproject

stonproject

Joined
Nov 22, 2013
Messages
7,184
Since I was a young boy the samurai and Japanese culture fascinated me. As my knife collection expanded through my adult life my tastes always gravitated back towards asian style tools and weapons , specifically Japanese.

Well with trepidation, I want to dip my toes in the world of the katana. I've narrowed it down to hanwei and ronin. I don't know that ill necessarily use it for anything beyond admiration, but id like if it was capable of use.

The sword that interested me most is ronin's entry level swords. I've read good things about it for the price, I will probably jump headfirst into some better swords when I understand them more, but i would appreciate any advice around the $200 mark, and maybe some reading material if you have any to suggest.
 
Can't tell you anything about the Ronin, but have had some experience with Hanwei over the years and found them to be a good value for a functional Japanese style sword.

If you want to read up on the real thing, here is a list of some good basic books.
http://yakiba.com/books_recomended.htm

Samurai Sword - A Handbook
by John M. Yumoto is cheap on amazon and while maybe a bit dated it still has lots of good basic information.
The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords
by Kokan Nagayama, Kenji Mishina may be a bit advanced for the average newbie but is a very good book.
 
I have heard good and bad things about ronin, also should check out hanwei, huawei, munetoshi skyjiro, ryujin, citadel, hsts, etc but a few to get started
 
Man I think Ronin is a solid $200 range choice although I've never had one, I was tempted to pull the trigger. I think the decent ones were more in the $300 range though. But for a beater katana I wouldn't think there's all too much of a chance of messing up and making the wrong choice, as long as you get a major brand, they'll all be decent, not awesome. I picked up a folded hanwei set for a beater set and have literally never beaten on it once but I remember that all the research and option weighing leading up to it drove me mad. Good luck.
 
fonedork said:
Man I think Ronin is a solid $200 range choice although I've never had one, I was tempted to pull the trigger. I think the decent ones were more in the $300 range though. But for a beater katana I wouldn't think there's all too much of a chance of messing up and making the wrong choice, as long as you get a major brand, they'll all be decent, not awesome. I picked up a folded hanwei set for a beater set and have literally never beaten on it once but I remember that all the research and option weighing leading up to it drove me mad. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Well what are you waiting for? Beater cutting vid now! >:O
 
Yeah fair enough. I’ll try to get at least some bottles over the weekend.
 
Oh yeah, the Hanwei raptors are supposed to be nice. The eagle tsuba makes it seem like captain america's katana or something though.
 
You get what you pay for, anything made of 1095 is trash. Iv baught many a sword and deliberately broken them, itl chip on woodbark and nails in 2x4s. My advice is look for a ww2 gunto, theres a decent amount of them for around 1000-2000, still made the japanese way. The japanese actually have names for fake katanas and confiscate them, everything modern production other then kobuse is made wrong.

Kind of a mood killer, i had to learn to forge everything ground up to own one.

If you have to go with modern steels look for tool steel laminated with spring steel or having a wrought iron core.

Real steel isnt cheap, 1095 costs about 10$ for three feet one inch wide, an angle grinder costs 25$ at harbor frieght and a belt sander costs 50$. People heat treat blades for 25$ plus shipping. All in all you can do it yourself for 150$. It isnt that hard either to do what they do.

Iv sold alot of blanks for about 500$ just making kobuse blanks unfinished using W2 or Cru Forge V with wrought Iron. Really.i dont get it at all.
 
Last edited:
I suggest that anyone getting into katana look around the Kult of Athena site; large selection and very good prices (also, good people). :thumbsup: Don't dismiss Cheness because of not so great fittings, the swords themselves are very strong, sharp and well priced; my first user was their 5160-through hardened Tenchi and it is still an excellent entry among my 40 or so katana. :) My info, however, is about 7 years old. ;)
 
Last edited:
Joseph Gardner said:
Iv sold alot of blanks for about 500$ just making kobuse blanks unfinished using W2 or Cru Forge V with wrought Iron. Really.i dont get it at all.
Click to expand...

Many of us reading your posts don't get it either. You are running off at the mouth a bit and making some pretty outlandish statements while often bumping up dead threads.

If you are looking for attention, let's go back to your kobuse thread and that you verbally paint a picture but seem unable to produce any evidence of your work.

Think about that.
 
horseclover said:
Many of us reading your posts don't get it either. You are running off at the mouth a bit and making some pretty outlandish statements while often bumping up dead threads.

If you are looking for attention, let's go back to your kobuse thread and that you verbally paint a picture but seem unable to produce any evidence of your work.

Think about that.
Click to expand...


2FIYKkR.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top