9260 bend resistance

by Brad

QUESTION: I have a Musashi Bamboo Katana that, I'm embarrassed to admit, I dropped the other day (it just slipped out of my hands). I guess it landed badly because the blade took a pretty serious bend (about 45 degrees).

The Mushashi is supposed to be 1060 steel, but it bent much more easily than I would have expected. It was also, however, much easier to fix than I expected. Just slap it in a vise and bend it back.

My question is that I'm considering getting a Cheness Ko Katana but, after my incident with the Musashi, I am concerned about which steel I should choose.

Heaven forbid I drop that sword too, but if something like that were to happen, would one their 9260 swords like the Tenchi withstand and impact like that, or would it most likely take a bend as well?

If it did take a bend wouldn't it be much harder to fix it?

To sum up, should I get a Ko Katana in 9260 steel with the hope that it would withstand bending, even after being dropped, or should I get one in 1060 steel so that I can straighten the sword myself if it does take a bend?

And what about the differentially hardened Kaze Ko Katana? I would love to have this sword, but my understanding is that it would bend more easily than the through hardened 1060 (due to being differentially hardened), and be much harder to straighten (due to being 9260). Is this correct?

Thank you so much for your help.

Brad


ANSWER: Hi Brad,

9260 Spring steel is not invincible (heck, no steel is) but durable - most definitely. I recently received an email from a customer who managed to drop his blade (it was a Tenchi from memory) tip first into the concrete and there was no damage whatsoever.

As to the differentially hardened swords - being 9260 they still resist a bend better than most other steels on the market. But bend them too far and they will stay bend and are slightly harder to bend back to true. But no where near as hard as the 9260 through hardened blades.

Hope this helps.

- Paul