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best sword for the buck

by Johnathon
(Florida)

QUESTION: A couple of months ago I purchased a tenchi and kaze katana and I got to say, these two katana's were really worth the money. I want to know what else can I get for the best sword for the money? Can you recommend any swords, not in price range, but in their strength, reliability, fittings, handling or just anything that comes to your mind from companies like Dynasty forge, Hanwei, and bugei. Or just simply tell me in your honest opinion what other katana is the best (besides the kaze and tenchi). I've heard great things about you and I look forward to hear from you soon.

ANSWER:Hi Johnathon,

Well, personally I think that as far as value for money goes - Cheness are definitely head and shoulders above everyone else. But I must admit to being a bit of a Bugei and Hanwei fan when it comes to swords around the US$1,000 price point.

MAS (Martial Arts Swords) - a Korean based forge also make some very nice L6 Bainite Katana and Jingum that are around 5 times as much price wise as the Tenchi, but with much better fittings and an even more durable blade (properly heat treated, L6 makes 9260 steel look average, just like 9260 makes 1060 look average).

There are so many others when price is taken out of the equation... ;-)

However, I've noticed that the biggest 'jumps' really only start to occur at just under or just over the US$1,000 price point. The $500 price point Katana are generally not all that much better than a Cheness IMHO...

Hope this helps.

- Paul

Comments for best sword for the buck

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Meijin Katana
by: Jason Roland

Personally My favorite sword if you're looking to take price out of it is the PAUL CHEN 5018 MEIJIN - FOLDED STEEL SWORD and its reasonibally price effective. Tho dont care for the Tsuba design at all, so I would trade that out apon arival or even order it with a request for a different tsuba.

Jason Roland.

What I've seen so far
by: Chris Henson

I personally own 4 Blades from Ronin Katana
1 30inch Oni theme
2 ko katanas 1 being the smaller version of my 30" Oni theme
And a tanto

All in my opinion are great swords for their price point. Nice tight wrap solid iron tsuba and sharp add to that the excellent customer service that you receive from Ronin Katana I'd say beat sword for the $300 range. I'm currently waiting on the SBG custom katana to arrive this February and from the looks of what I've seen they should be excellent swords for the price. I will most certainly follow up with a review on the SBG 3.0 katana when I receive it.

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