Zhui Feng Forge

by Patrick Vermeulen
(Eindhoven - Netherlands)

QUESTIONS: First of all, very good site you have. I've learned a lot here! I have two questions;

I just saw a very cheap Katana. It's around 230USD. According to the site it would be a handforged Katana.

This katana would be from the Zhui Feng Forge. Here you can see the page (In Dutch unfortunately): Here

Here you can find some information about the Forge and Katana's (in English): here

Do you have any information about this Forge? Or more important; of its Katana's?

And my next question is; what is the very best Forge for the real thing. A real shin-ken?

Regards,
Patrick

ANSWER: I'm not all that familiar with the work of this particular forge, though I am led to believe that it is a Fred Chen offshoot (who makes the Katana for Cold Steel). But without handling them (which may be hard, as they are pretty much exclusively sold by European distributors only) - I can't really say anything more...

But to answer your question, the best forge for a real Shinken... Depends a lot on your budget. My vote goes to Cheness Cutlery and the Chris Zhou forge made swords by Musashi - though the Hanwei Performance Series are pretty nice (if a little TOO sharp).

Above the $500 mark, a lot more options start to open up - and again at the $2000 point, but it really depends on how much you are willing to spend. The sky is the limit! :-)

Hope this helps.

- Paul