Kill Bill Katana

[Jim March]

HI's:

http://www.himalayan-imports.com/sword.html

John Shirley is only partially correct.

It's a bit of a long story. Short form: years ago I bought a raw blade sword at a gun show with no mounts, intending to roll my own for SCA Bottle Chop competition or the like. I paid $300; I was told it was made pre-WW2. 26.5" length, good condition, no chips or similar, in need of a polish.

I had the tang markings checked. Whoops. It was older than advertised - late Edo, guesstimate 1840ish give or take 30 years. Only got a partial translation however, the location where it was made: Kyoto, but in the character that was used prior to 1864 when it was the Shogun's hangout. Didn't get maker info completed.

It was stolen, abused further by the thief (he allowed the tip to rust ), I got it back. Realized I had a problem: it needed an $800+ polish job, over $1500 in furniture, and THEN I'd have a wallhanger instead of the "beater" I was trying to get in the first place.

Bill Martino's father-in-law was visiting from Nepal - he runs the blacksmith shop in Katmandu that supplies HI. I show 'em this thing, we sketched out a design for a grip that would use "Khukuri construction techniques" and would otherwise be an order of magnatude tougher than Japanese practice.

That raw blade as a template now hangs on the wall in the shop in Katmandu . I got the first copy .

They didn't TEST it to destruction. They did however modify the tang to check various options and in doing so pounded out the original Japanese markings :banghead:. We'll never know who made it.

Doesn't matter. The versions in 5160 HI is doing *rock*. A bit funky, full of personality, brutally tough and well balanced.

 

[Cosmoline]

What's the metal quality like on these things? The ones I've seen up close have appeared to be exceedingly poor quality, even the expensive ones. Made to be shiny, not functional. My high-carbon Swede axe could most certainly cut them into ribbons. What of the *true* swords with high-quality steel in the blades?

 

[Jim March]

Right. Well of the cheap-but-functional blades we're talking about here, there's two categories:

1) "Plain high carbon" steels like 1040/1060 can make a good sword. You have to "differencially temper" them which means, in a Katana, a softer spine, harder edge. Paul Chen gets there with a process similar to the classic Japanese bladesmiths: coat the blade with different thicknesses and types of clay, so that the spine is softer. With these steels, you get a clearly visible "hamon", or temper line, a clearly visible border between the harder and softer areas.

They might be "plain high carbon" but they're still at least starting out with better raw steel than the old Japanese smiths had. The old Japanese smiths folded the steel over and over and over again in a tremendous effort to get something good out of basically crapola steel. Most used the folding process to basically add carbon content to their low-grade, high-sulpher "steel" that was barely a step up from "pig iron" .

2) 5160 is a borderline tool steel still classed as "high carbon". It's GREAT stuff. Used by a variety of 3rd world makers as there's a relatively ready source worldwide: automotive junkyards. Yup. Leaf and coil springs . HI goes one better: they've learned that the best materials comes from crashed Mercedes or Volvo truck springs . A few other makers (Albion I think?) are using brand new 5160 and advertizing it as such, and that's fine...there's no significant difference based on the source of the 5160.

Kris Cutlery in the Philipines uses this a lot, and it's all HI uses as noted.

This is a KILLER steel for big knives and swords. Good edgeholding, ridiculously tough, can be bent like it was a big spring.

There's just one problem: while you CAN definately do a differencial temper (hard edge, soft spine) and HI does, you generally can't see the borderline. So there's no "hamon" so critical in the eyes of the Japanese to good sword aesthetics. Differencial tempers are easier to do with 5160 - HI's blacksmiths pour water on the hot edge with a tea kettle to control which areas of the blade will be hard.

Doesn't matter to me! A good 5160 blade like the Everest Katana from HI is an order of magnatude tougher than a Paul Chen or basically anything else this side of $3000 to $5000, at which price point there's some American smiths making custom Katanas out of genuine tool steel like A2 and L6. Even then, I doubt their grips are the sort of Khukuri-engineered critters like HI does.

 

[Highpower1]

I have played around with a Paul Chen "practical" I loved the weight and feel of this katana. Perhaps one day I will purchase one, it's just not on the "I have to have it list right now". Good luck with your search, also I've seen some okay deals on P Chen's swords on ebay, just be careful and know exactly what you want. You might want to also to try a bladeshow. We have a great show here in Atlanta, GA once a year. All of the top sellers are here. That's where I bought my Emersons at. Good Luck

 

[Gifted]

They did however modify the tang to check various options and in doing so pounded out the original Japanese markings . We'll never know who made it.

No one thought to make rubbings or somthing like that?

 

[bad_dad_brad]

My Cold Steel Warrior Series Katana arrived today - picture #1 attached.

I must say I am impressed with this weapon given the price (unexpected $100 off because of an order problem - can't beat that.) The sword came UPS, was carefully packaged, and upon inspection, the blade was protected by a white grease, most likely vaseline. I wiped this off and quickly applied a coating of CLP to the 1050 carbon steel and saw little signs of corrosion coming off on the rag.

It is very well made - quality parts and an attention to the artisan - using real ray skin in the handle. This is the cheaper Cold Steel katana - the basic difference between this and the twice as high priced Imperial series is the cosmetic perfection of the blade, i.e. it is highly polished. The blade of this warrior series is a bit carbon steel dull but still relatively unflawed with no noticeable pitting or scratches.

This katana is very robust, has a strong, as opposed to extra sharp, cutting edge. It is well balanced, albeit a bit on the heavy side.

To finish things off nicely, the sheath (I know that is not the Japanese term) is a nicely black lacquered piece of wood that the sword easily slips into and locks positively.

All and all I am very pleased with this sword. I really don't plan to cut anything serious with it. I just bought it to mostly look at and fondle.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

My Cold Steel Warrior Series Katana arrived today - picture #2 attached.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

My Cold Steel Warrior Series Katana arrived today - picture #3 attached.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

My Cold Steel Warrior Series Katana arrived today - picture #4 attached.

 

[Drjones]

Beautiful sword there!

May I ask what you paid for it?

What length is it? Looks to be 26 or less....

Thanks for the pics!!

 

[bad_dad_brad]

Drjones:

I shelled out about $380 including shipping. Although many web-sites advertise for less - no matter - as nobody has them! I had to order direct from Cold Steel. That Kill Bill movie thing has made reasonably priced katana's scarce.

The sword measures from butt to tip along the curve is about 40 inches. It weighs about 2.5 pounds. The handle is about a foot in length so I guess that makes the blade 28 inches or so.