# Communities > Modern-era Swords and Collecting Community > Modern Production Katanas >  PC Paper Crane katana... Any thoughts?

## Robert Housley

I am thinking of saving my milk money for one. Has anyone seen one up close or handled one? My only view was from the net. I just purchased a Tiger classic and I love it, except for the fact that I wish it were stouter. I have noticed some flex at the end of a non-contact cut. My wind and thunder on the other hand is a beast! Who needs a battle ax? :Big Grin:

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## Rubem Bastos

For the price, go with something else...

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## Andrew G.

It is indeed nice, but I agree that you can get a plethora of other--nicer and more unique--swords for the price.  Look in the classifieds and polishers' "For sale" pages for customs.

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## Aaron Justice

Honestly, unless you find a retailer who can let it go well under list, it's not worth it. The Paper Crane has beautiful fittings, but from what I've seen, the regular Paul Chen polish which looks to be just a machine polish, nothing spectacular about it. The Dynasty Forge tamahagane line is stone polished, but the fittings aren't as nice (the new nickel silver ones are pretty nice though). However some retailers have marked down Dynasty stuff pretty low since Dynasty Forge does not implement pricing controls the way CAS Iberia does.

In the end, I'd spend that kind of cash on a starter Nihonto. I just picked this up for much less than half the cost of a Paper Crane. I'm going to redo the rattan and add buffalo horn to make it a functioning saya, and carve a new core for it. In the end it may even cost less than a Paul Chen Kami katana.

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## Robert Housley

Much better hada than the PC also. Very nice! Thanks to everyone for the input.

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## michael wilson

> *I am thinking of saving my milk money for one.* Has anyone seen one up close or handled one? My only view was from the net. I just purchased a Tiger classic and I love it, except for the fact that I wish it were stouter. I have noticed some flex at the end of a non-contact cut. My wind and thunder on the other hand is a beast! Who needs a battle ax?


LOL  - way back in 1982 I saved up the dough to buy an amoco mongoose BMX out of my milk round , man I loved that bike .

Think about what Aaron said  - the cost of a paper crane is just beyond belief at retail  - that type of money can get you a nice starter nihonto or a very nice custom piece in the classifieds ,

I dont know what they sell for stateside but a paper crane in the UK is around the £2K  - thats almost 3000 USD , silly money for a factory polished blade.

good luck mate and whatever you buy please do a review with plenty of pics  :Wink: 

Thanks

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## k.moralee

> LOL  - way back in 1982 I saved up the dough to buy an amoco mongoose BMX



Man, how old are mate....I had you pegged round about the same age as me but clearly not as in 1982 I was probably drinking the milk you delivered, in a class room......you old git!  :Big Grin:

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## Chris Osborne

That's the way to go Aaron. 

Chris

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## michael wilson

> Man, how old are mate....I had you pegged round about the same age as me but clearly not as in 1982 I was probably drinking the milk you delivered, in a class room......you old git!


It was the wooly dut that fooled you Kris  - I am 41 this October , hey man I was riding skateboards in '78' hehe  :Stick Out Tongue: 

Back to the Paper Crane  - so far thats sound advice from Aaron and Chris 
 - due to the current financial climate Ive seen some nice pieces go for good prices right here on SFI .

personally I think once you go over say $1500 its not a good investment buying a high end production sword - as its still a production sword and would have to be sold at a loss if you wished to fund a custom piece in the future.

BTW  - Aaron & Chris   - have either of you handled one of the chen paper cranes yet ? or even one of the bugei lion dog swords for that matter ?

cheers

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## dave lorrez

Totally agree with Aaron, that price is really over the top and you better spend your hard earned bones with a starter Nihonto or a nice 'made in USA blade'..

Does anyone have some close up pics from the blade ? 

I was only able to find this one here and it made me cry  :EEK!: 



Dave

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## Rubem Bastos

> 


Indeed...

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## Aaron Justice

> It was the wooly dut that fooled you Kris  - I am 41 this October , hey man I was riding skateboards in '78' hehe 
> 
> Back to the Paper Crane  - so far thats sound advice from Aaron and Chris 
>  - due to the current financial climate Ive seen some nice pieces go for good prices right here on SFI .
> 
> personally I think once you go over say $1500 its not a good investment buying a high end production sword - as its still a production sword and would have to be sold at a loss if you wished to fund a custom piece in the future.
> 
> BTW  - Aaron & Chris   - have either of you handled one of the chen paper cranes yet ? or even one of the bugei lion dog swords for that matter ?
> 
> cheers


I haven't handled either one, but the 1500 dollar mark is a good philosophy. Luckily I can work with things like buffalo horn and rattan and carve tsuka, or else a $1100 sword can explode to $2500 or $3500 when you include a professional polish. Even making my own tsuba (well, I have a tsuba I am going to drastically reshape, patinate, and add some nice little kogai plugs too.).

eBay is a great place to buy stuff if you, 1. take precaution 2. buy from a trusted seller 3. know what you're buying top and bottom 4. Ditch a funny smelling auction if you have the least amount of worry. I almost bid on a Shinsakuto from a seller who had 100% feedback, then moments before i did, suddenly he got brand new feedback stating he was selling cheap copies but listing excellent pictures from respected smiths. Not even studio shots, but in person, regular joe shots like you would expect.

I eventually ditched the selling on eBay thing because oddly enough, people seemed to bid LESS than what my stuff was worth on almost every situation. I got depressed when I saw scratched and worn out Bugei katana selling for more than the ones I repolished and wrapped myself.

BUYING though is another thing. Great deals to be had everywhere.

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## Aaron Justice

> Totally agree with Aaron, that price is really over the top and you better spend your hard earned bones with a starter Nihonto or a nice 'made in USA blade'..
> 
> Does anyone have some close up pics from the blade ? 
> 
> I was only able to find this one here and it made me cry 
> 
> 
> 
> Dave


It's not HORRIBLE looking (says me, I could try to polish the thing, heh heh), but for the price... uh uh, no way. I'd expect a full traditional polish coming from China at that price. In a way it kind of reminds me of the Oni and the Mantis L6 katanas, very low grade polishes for the cost of the katana. I think the way L6 steel reacts to polishing threw them for a loop.

And the bo hi. I know bo hi blades actually sell better than solid blades right now (informal polling from several different manufacturers) but the bo hi ruins it for me to.

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## dave lorrez

The latest L6 blades i saw from Chen , i could barely see/find any hada there but still think that kind polish is an ok thing compared with the paper thingy which sells for double of the price  :Frown:

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## MikeB

The Bainite/L6 katana's, definitely the praying mantis from paul chen - hanwei - are not folded so looking for a nice hada can take some time :Big Grin: 

I know that because I have one, this katana is for sure not folded, you can read something about that process at a blog http://blog.katana-samurai-sword.com...-hanwei-forge/

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## Andrew G.

> Totally agree with Aaron, that price is really over the top and you better spend your hard earned bones with a starter Nihonto or a nice 'made in USA blade'..
> 
> Does anyone have some close up pics from the blade ? 
> 
> I was only able to find this one here and it made me cry 
> 
> 
> 
> Dave


Makes me cry too, for the price...in a bad way.  Definitely not worth it.  

I wonder what their production cost is?  Nickels?

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## dave lorrez

@Mike, i had more than 1 and the first pieces defenitely had something  :Wink: 


Dave

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## Aaron Justice

> @Mike, i had more than 1 and the first pieces defenitely had something 
> 
> 
> Dave


I saw the same effect on the Oni and Mantis swords I saw in person. It's not hada, the general concensus is that it's "alloy banding", a naturally occuring layering in the steel. Even the old Paul Chen Tokugawa katana had it.

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## dave lorrez

Thxs Aaron, never heard of that before..

Saw the same kind of stuff in a naginata




Dave

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## Aaron Justice

Not sure what creates alloy banding, but AndrewHarrington forged a whaling knife and posted it here, it also had a large level of alloy banding. Couldn't find the thread though.

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## Andrew G.

I owned an experimental James Raw blade in which he intentionally aimed to create alloy-banding in order to mimick hada.  The banding only occurred within the yakiba.

I will try to look up a thread where some smiths chimed in about it and post it.

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## Andrew G.

Here we go:

http://www.swordforum.com/forums/sho...highlight=en45

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## Peter Bystrom

I Own it and i can tell some of you guys just guessing using badly taken photos of it. It is handpolished with japanese waterstones. Im new here so i dont know how to upload photos,but when i figure it out,i will send som pics of My Paper Crane Katana.

Edit: managed to upload one. As you can see,its basically a mirrorpolish on it.

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## Holger P.

Wow, your's looks much better. It's really ridiculous that Hanwei is inconsistent even with their "top of the line" sword. As you can see, mine has the typical Hanwei frosting and the polish is not different from any of their other high end Katanas. I also have the Paper Crane Wakizashi and the hamon looks like yours but the polish is somewhat between your sword and the picture above from Dave. The fittings are beautiful but overall I don't see the high price justified. In my opinion you can take any Kami or Praying Mantis Katana and you get the same level of quality. I haven't noticed any special "heirloom quality".

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## Peter Bystrom

Holger..are you Swedish by any chance? I am! Hehe! Well,yes,it seems they have that frosting on your sword! And almost a straight hamon too! I never knew they were that inconsistent with their high end swords,they even used different methods on ours,Thats weird! Mine has no frosting at all,the polish on the hamon is actually pretty close to an nihonto. But mine has an other type of flaw - its less sharp than My tori XL and Bushido,so it seems they didn't bother to sharpen it fully!

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