my first samurai sword

by ricky read
(england )

QUESTION: I have just recived my first sword from japaneseswords4samurai.com and paid $1,199.00 for it.

It is ment to be hand forged, heat treated, tempered but I can't see any temperline on it? do all samurai swords have temperlines?

A copy of the one I brought is below

this is also ment to be a Limited Edition with only 100 made world wide.

http://www.japaneseswords4samurai.com/imperial-forge-limited.htm

Could you also suggest a top quality Samurai sword i could buy ?

thanks for you time

Ricky Read
England uk

ANSWER: Hi Ricky,

It does suggest that these swords have been clayed and differentially hardened, so there should be a hamon in there somewhere. From the images, it looks like it hasn't been polished out and the 'damascus' steel appearance makes it hard to see...

Anyway, for the same price - I personally like Bugei Katana. These are more or less high end Hanwei swords that are made to the exacting specs of James Williams and pre-inspected very carefully before being sent to the customer.

Hope this helps.

- Paul