s.o.m. nagamaki?

by David
(muskegon, MI)

QUESTION: I have 2 questions one is have you heard anything about the swordsofmight.com (the $200 one)handmade nagamaki katana now I have done lots of research into japanese swords and I understand that there tougher swords that historically were used horseback to break swords and cut down opponents because of it's size and weight was also good for attacking the horse at the legs to get the guy on the ground for quick dispatch anyways I was wondering if you heard if they are any good from there or are they of lower quality like the masahiro's? The other question I had was you guys tested the The chinese Dadao by the Hanwei Forge but you did not test the cold steel War Sword (I was only curious because you've said before that cold steel has a tendancey to make tip-heavy swords and the war sword is about using weight to make disasterious cuts so...) I would be wondering if you might be testing wither of these swords in the not so distant future or know someone who has and might be able to shine some light on them

thank you,

David A.

ANSWER: Hi David,

I'm pretty hesitant to recommend the sub US$300 Nagamaki style swords... The main reason is, with a blade and fittings that long and at such a low price tag, the chances of there being a serious flaw in the sword goes up exponentially...

Hanwei have produced one recently that is in the $900 price tag that should be ok, but personally I would not use the cheaper ones due to the risk of breakage either in the handle or the blade.

Now, as to the Cold Steel Chinese War Sword - I haven't tested this one myself yet, but considering that it is supposed to be heavy, and has quite a simple construction so there is little than can go wrong, I'd be quite confident saying that it would live up to Cold Steel's reputation for heavy duty cutters, that is for sure.

Hope this helps.

- Paul

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Nagamaki's a category in its own.
by: Caleb

If you've handled pole-arms...well, then, you'll know how they handle! I'm assuming that you don't want to just hang your nagamaki for display--for crying out loud!--and that you wish to have some fun with it. If you're doing backyard cutting by yourself, it's a-okay. It's just that if you ever want to learn more--either alone by reading stuff, or with other people such as friends who also has arms(probably swords), re-enactment groups, or even martial arts clubs/dojos--then you're going to feel like the odd one out because i gather that the Nagamaki can really feel like a polearm, so it'll feel way heavier than a sword...and yet it lacks the -oomph- of a full polearm (particularly their reach, which is something you can really play with in a polearm which a sword can't) It would be very hard to ~advance~ with a nagamaki, as your concept of how you can go faster and or more powerful is kinda divided between two popular mindsets (while you don't have one yourself to begin with). Unless you've already trained with a nagamaki, my 2 cents is that, when it arrives at your place, you're going to hold it and say, "What am I supposed to do with it?" This happens with swords and polearms as well, but as for these cases, the question goes away once you become more informed with them; but the question probably won't go away for a long time for the nagamaki.

And $300 for such a large piece of steel is way too cheap. Look for the "We got ripped of by Swords of Valor, what can we do?" post (please forgive me if I worded it wrong)

to caleb
by: Anonymous

I don't disagree with you Caleb, but I just want to clear up a common misconception. A traditionally made Japanese blade of almost any kind would not be made of steal. It should be made of tamahagane (a type of iron sand) which is stronger than steal.

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