# Communities > Modern-era Swords and Collecting Community > Modern Production Katanas >  Buying my first "beater"

## Kenny H.

Ive been debating what company to buy a 300$ or less beater katana from for the past few days. I have come to love Oni Forge's "Kenshi Katana" and Cheness cutlery's "Tenchi Katana." However this will be my first functional katana ive owned in four years, is there a better company to buy from in the 300$ range. 

I was also looking at the LastLegend Mikusa katana, but I cant afford the 479$ price tag for the lowest priced cutting katana. If anyone knows of an affordable katana that resembles the Mikusa's sori I would love to hear about it. 

Besides that I would love to hear your opinion on what would be a good first beater katana that doesn't look terrible but doesn't lose functionality for beuty, under $300.

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## Timo Qvintus

SFI Classifieds is a great place to get killer deals.. 

Oni has been having problems for the last 6 months, and Cheness has been the center-piece for the "cracked-tsuka" conversation for a while now. I wouldn't buy from either one right now (well, maybe a Cheness bare-blade for a project).

Alternatives.. there's always the Practicals from Paul Chen / Hanwei. Not beaters IMO, the current generation has virtually no niku and the DH'd edge makes them subject to chipping. Kris Cutlery has new look on their website, their 5160 blades are renowned for their durability but they don't look very traditional. Brian of Roninswords has something to offer in your price-range, and so far most of the feedback has been positive.

What else? Well, go through this thread for answers:
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=75467

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## H Ong

[QUOTE=Kenny H.;956548]  300$ or less *beater* katana from for the past few days. I have come to love Oni Forge's "Kenshi Katana" and Cheness cutlery's "Tenchi Katana." However this will be my first functional katana ive owned in four years, is there a better company to buy from in the 300$ range. 

QUOTE]

If it is a beater you want, go Cold steel, you should be a able to find the cheaper ones (I think the cheapest one is called warrior or something) just under $300 on e-bay. Despite being not very bling bling 1050 steel, it is extremely tough. The problem is the Kat is way overbuilt, bad polish (what polish?). Well I guess that makes it the perfect beater..... 

As for cheness 9260 blades, very tough if not a bit too springy. As Timo pointed out the tuska is bad. I have 3 Cheness sowrds and the tuska are really bad, the cut out for the rayskin is just too deep. I have put up a few pics of the Cheness on the forum a while ago so you might wnat to check it out (I am sure a ton of other memebers have done likewise). If it wasn't for the tsuka, even their $99 (on e-bay or 140-ish off their site) 1045 katana aint too bad a deal... I may be shot for this but you might want to consider sticking the tang into the tsuka with epoxy, problem sloved, afterall it is a beater not a nihonto and if you really need to make a new tsuka at a later stage, just break the old core off, no great lost.... BTW, As a beater, I wouldn't go for the SGC...

But maybe you should consider saving up just for a little longer. you start to get decent stuff beyond $500-600 and the resale value of those are usually higher....

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## H Ong

[QUOTE=Timo Qvintus;956968]
 I wouldn't buy from either one right now (well, maybe a Cheness bare-blade for a project).


[QUOTE]

I know people have been talking about buying the Cheness Bare blade for project (I did too, got a 9260 wak in shirasaya). Many of them think that way because of the bad tsuka. BUT, I have realised that you might as well buy the full mounted stuff and only replace the tuska. It is only $50 or so more and you score the tsuba, seppa and saya. If you are into DIY, all you need is same, ito and wood. If you are lucky you might even be able to save the rayskin (unlikely). On the other hand, I noticed the tuska on MY (no promise all other are like that) shirasaya fitted blade is of much better fit. They say it is "hardwood" on their site, I wonder if it will be worth while to just reshape the tuska....

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## Jennifer Yabut

Welcome to SFI.   :Smilie:   May I ask what *exactly* you're going to be doing with a "beater" katana?  Is it for training purposes?  Because the style you're taking will also dictate the specs of your sword (i.e., tsuka and blade length).

In any case, I also own a Hanwei/Paul Chen pactical plus katana (also known as a PPK on these boards) and a practical wakizashi.  Nothing to write home about, since they are bare-basic, low-cost, "entry level" katana (the practical wak doesn't even have real same), but still servicable.  I've also owned a Cold Steel Chisa katana in the past.  It was the right blade length for me, but much too beefy and heavy for solo kata.  I ended up selling that sword to a fellow forumite.

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