Looking for a decent, no-frills sword

[DutchmanDick]

I have been wanting a real, useable, if not terribly fancy, sword for years. I currently have a "qama" from Atlanta cutlery, which was made in India and has a 17-1/2" blade. I suppose that qualifies as a short-sword in some circles, but I'm looking for something a bit longer. Trouble is, I'm on a tight budget, and my wife would kill me if I gave in to impulse and spent several hundred bucks on something from Museum Replicas Ltd./Windlass (made in India) or Del Tin Brothers (from Italy), or the Paul Chen swords from China. I saw something in the latest Atlanta Cutlery catalog called an "Asian sword" that is supposedly based on the Burmese dha, but it costs about $20 and has a stainless blade and while I've seen (and owned) stainless knives that would take and hold a good edge (like my Victorinox Swiss Army "Tinker"), I'm a bit leery of a $20 stainless sword. I don't buy decorator-only guns, or decorator-only weapons of any kind. Any ideas???

 

[coelacanth]

I think you're going to be unhappy. . . . .

with a $20.00 sword no matter what it's made of. Wooden practice weapons sell for more than that. About the only functional blade I can think of in that price range would be one of the Tramontina machetes or bolo knives. Not true swords but functional blades nonetheless. One of the Cold Steel 1917 cutlasses might be a possibility but they are in the neighborhood of $180.00. If you're like most of us you trade or sell something you can live without to get the next item on the " I want..." list. Good luck.

 

[JShirley]

You can buy a sword for less than $200 from Himalayan Imports (go to BladeForums.com, and look for the forum). It will be hand-forged, and tougher than you, in all probability.

John

 

[Rushifell]

I own a Hanwei (paul chen) practical pro katana, and its great. In retrospect I probably should have gone with a Practical Plus II, its a little bit shorter, but theyre both good, inexpensive, no frills functional weapons. if youre spending <$100 on a sword (and many times up to $150) youre not -usually- getting anything worth the steel its made of. MANY swords that are cheaper have a bolt welded on to the blade which then attached to the pommel through the handle, instead of a full tang, and are prone to catastrophic breakage when used. The steels are softer and not properly heat treated for flexibility and durability. I have seen a test (torture test) where they took the practical plus up against (an orchid I believe) which is a more expensive paul chen sword, the more expensive swords blade chipped and fragmented along the hamon where they hit bone with it (not technically designed for this, non living cow femur or something) and the practical plus held up, the more expensive one had been over hardened. Practical katanas from hanwei can be had for ~150-300 without difficulty. I have never used a cold steel sword so I ant say much on them. But with swords you really do get what you pay for, and spending too little on a functional weapon can bring great harm if it fails while in use. (Such as the welded tang breaking apart and sending the blade flying.) Another thing to remember is that a "real" sword will NEED proper maintenance, most of them arent stainless and will need to be cleaned and oiled regularly. If you go with a katana the menkugi pins (bamboo pins retaining the blade into the handle) do ocassionally need to be replaced, lest the blade go flying on its merry way.

 

[hso]

DutchmanDick,

Anything less than $100 proabably isn't a sword. It may be shaped like one, but it realy isn't. It's a dangerous hunk of metal that may come apart in use throwing the blade out of your control or the blade may bend (if you're lucky) or snap (if you're not) and again send metal flying in an unpredictable direction that includes you're tender bits or the tender bits of others. They are remakably dangerous when not hanging on a wall.

Stainless does not make usable sword blades and it's use can be used to mark a POS from a usable sword. Look for blades made from 1095 or 5160 carbon steels for inexpensive but potentially usable blades.

Take John's advice or look at Kris Cutlery.

http://www.kriscutlery.com/
http://swordforum.com/

 

[Joe Demko]

The Paul Chen swords can frequently be had for substantially below retail if you watch ebay. I picked up a Paul Chen Tai Chi sword for under $100 there.

 

[hso]

Good point, JD. I'll change my statement to, "If the MSRP is below $100...".

 

[nwilliams]

check out www.knifecenter.com, you can find some really great prices on swords there.

Others have suggested swordforum.com and I have to agree you won't find a better source of information out there. I've been a member there for about a decade now. I mostly buy swords from Angus Trim, Del Tin, Arms & Armor and Albion, maybe thats why I'm not married

I've owned a few Cold Steel swords and they were ok, including the 1917 Cutlass, 1796 Light Cavalry Saber and their Small Sword. The only sowrd of theirs I didn't care for, and I've pretty much handled them all was their Hand-and-a-Half sword, sharp as hell but I didn't care for the blade design and construction. Aslo for the price I could almost buy another Albion sword or Del Tin.

Windlass Steelcrafts are decent and I've been pretty impressed with them, great value for the money. I also like the Hanwei and the Paul Chen line of swords.

If youre on a limited budget and want something that is respectable here are some of my suggestions. But like others have said, if you want something decent and realistic for under $100 your options are going to be very limited. However for under $200 you have many more options available.

Here are my top two picks for under $100

Practical Single-Hand Sword - Hanwei
www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=2046GT

Practical Viking Sword
www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=2047GT

 

[Ronin_Samurai]

Hmmm

I have three websites for you. www.chenessinc.com www.musashiswords.com and www.swordsofmight.com

Cheness is the higher of the three but it is the best quality for the money that I have ever seen. Their weaponry is designed for the martial artist on a budget, functional blades with cheap prices as compared to other weapons of their caliber. You will have to pay at least $149 for their low end katana. It has a 1045 monosteel construction blade and very simple fittings. I cannot stress enough that these are EXCELENT Swords for the prices.

Next is Musashi swords. I dought that these swords are as good as the Cheness swords but at the low end price range of $59 dollars they are worth a shot. The "Musashi Hand Honed Katana" would be the sword for you on this website.

The last sword site is Swords of Might. Now, some people will scoff at me but this is true, the one that I will recomend to the tightest budget would be the assemble yourself katanas. They are only $30, but trust me (I admit I bought one of these) they are a hell of a lot better than anything I have ever seen for 30 bucks. They are full tang and they have beefy blades. I haven't cut a lot with it because it isn't very sharp but it makes a great practice weapon. They also come disassembled so that you learn to put them together, a good thing to learn. The ito wrapping isn't as tight as it should be but that can be fixed with some synthetic ito, a pdf guide, and a lot of time.

So, thats my advice and I hope it helps.

"Character is the sword which a man
uses to cut his own path though life."
-M.F. 2007

 

[carpettbaggerr]

If you like the dha, you can find the Hanwei Banshee for around $110.

http://kultofathena.com/product~item~PC2126.htm

http://www.mantisswords.com/banshee_cutting_sword.htm

 

[DutchmanDick]

I found one I like for $100 +S&H from G. Gedney Godwin. It's their "India Import" grade replica of a late 18th century British or American naval cutlass, with a straight single-edged blade, heavy sheet-iron "figure of eight" handguard, and iron-covered wood grip. The finish isn't the greatest, and it's obviously hand-forged in some Indian backwater (though doesn't that describe 90% of the country?), but it seems to be well-tempered (flexes decently and returns to true), and takes an edge. Have to find me some tatamis for a cutting test, at some point.

 

[hso]

Try 2 L soda bottles filled with water. When you can cut that in two so that the bottom stays in place let us know.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Allow me to re-iterate what Ronin Samurai said:

http://www.chenessinc.com/

Get a Cheness - great value. You can get one for less than $175 new if you get a basic one. I researched them heavily before picking Cheness and could not be happier. PM me if you want more detail/advice. You can't get anything decent under $100 unless you find a smokin used deal on say, a Cheness.

If you can gather up $230, these two "SGC" line of 9260 Ko-katanas are a smokin value:

The Yamakami Ko-katana: http://www.chenessinc.com/yamakami_kokat.htm

and the Tsukikage Ko-katana: http://www.chenessinc.com/tsukikage_kokat.htm

 

[86thecat]

The Cheness Tenchi 9260 (also Kurome) look like the best deals in a lower priced Katana that cuts well and is hard to ruin with bad technique. They are in the under $250 range, the waks cost a bit less. Google Tenchi for the tests to destruction and you'll be hooked. I have seen reports of the SGC dragging in a cut so the traditional blade with out bo-hi would be my pick. Kris Cutlery may have some scratch and dent items available but their fittings and blade geometry may be non-traditional. Good Luck and be Safe.


Here's a basic overview.
www.sword-buyers-guide.com/authentic-japanese-swords.html

 

[Drusagas]

+1 on the Paul Chen Practical Viking. I work at a sword shop and I own one if that says anything

 

[Kjay]

Take a look at http://www.leesarmoury.com/ and see ATRIM's and Treasures page. Lee is having an inventory reduction and is dealing on ATRIMs. Make an offer. Lee is a great guy to deal with.

 

[Cosmoline]

I agree you'll need to spend at least $200 to get a quality blade. I really like the GenII Philippino made swords. I picked up a gladius from them last year and it's a nice stout piece of steel. Not too fancy, but sharp as a razor and made of good quality steel.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I have seen reports of the SGC dragging in a cut

Do you remember where you saw this report?

 

[theotherwaldo]

I blundered into a Paul Chen damascus practical viking at a local pawn shop last year for $110.

That became my sister's birthday present.

I got a Cheness 1060 katana and wakazashi on EBay from some clueless dude for $81.00 plus shipping. The guy accidentally included a bright red Masahiro katana in the deal. I gave that one to a co-worker, who loves it.

Be patient. The deals are out there.

 

[86thecat]

PremiumSauces
This is the review of SGC with video
http://www.tameshigiri.com.au:80/7_cheness.html

and a good article by Keith Larman about niku and tameshigiri
http://www.bugei.com/niku.html

 

[mrmeval]

Find what you want then give
http://www.sharppointythings.com a yell, he might be able to find a better deal via his contacts. He's a THR member.

 

[lookshigh123]

I find a deal for King Arthur Excalibur Sword..It is only $22.The sword is really pretty - ITS METAL! Handle engraving is nice.

 

[hso]

lookshigh123,

Thanks for pointing that out, but the OP is looking for a sword that can be used repeatedly to cut with safely. The "Excalibur" sword on that website isn't safe to cut with and wouldn't hold an edge. If you look at the requirements for a cutting sword you'll see that the type of steel, grind and edge bevel, heat treat and construction of the sword itself are critical in making a real sword vs a wall hanger.

After all these years I'm still finding that there's lost to still learn about swords.

HSO

 

[Navy joe]

I'm not a sword guy but I did buy one of the Himalayan Imports katanas for the hell of it. With that and an HI khukri I've disassembled sizeable trees. If the blade was going to break it would have done it by now. The khuk is now my walking knife, removing cedar trees from the pasture.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Ronin Samurai:

Which of these Musashi swords would be the best or best value, in terms of the strongest, toughest, most flexible steel, in that $150-$250 range:

http://www.musashiswords.com/shop/home.php?cat=5

? Thanks.

Also, do you happen to know why the Swords of Might videos show the Musashi "Damascus" as being one of their best sellers and best value sword under $200, and yet I see no "Damascus" model shown at the Musashi site? Edit: Nevermind, found it - it's actually called the "Functional Katana with Damascus Pattern", being of folded steel, and it's price in the $250-$399 category, not the $150-$250, but it's on SALE for $199 there (although out of stock).