Starting and Poor

Hello Darkdove, welcome to SBG !

Don't feel bad for your first swords man, all of us started somewhere and didn't know about everything the first day they shopped for a blade.

Feel free to hang out here, and have fun doing so

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Yeah....didn't know I'd end up with so many replies already. Yeah....I'm probably looking around that under 100 dollar range. And yeah, I too was at a gun show....and found a set of katana's and some pocket knifes. My first gun show too. But hey, that Texas for ya. Here is a picture of what my set some what looks like.

amkinindustries.com/blog/2010/04 ... katana-wt/


Anyway, the only true difference between that set and mine, is that mine has carving in the wood of the sheathe....and mine has no stand...So yeah...That's the best idea I can give you as to my current set. My blades....are....umm....Dull....in the greatest sense of the word.....as well as the previous owner that used it...Hell....I don't even know what he did to them but the first few times I un-sheathed the sword, the blade came out super oily (I read here that I just need to air out the blade), AND covered in grass or dried grass and dirt. So I need to find a way to clean the inside of the sheath out, but have no idea as to how to go about doing that. Thankfully its only the Katana (which doesn't make it that much better) but means that I only have to clean one....So yeah...Help please.

Hello. I too am relatively new and exceedingly poor. For under $100, look into Musashi Swords brand. They can be found on any of the sites I list, and have swords from about $50 up. Their 1060 line is supposedly a great deal, starting at about $80. Also, the Munetoshi 1065 Beater, had at Swordnarmory.com( a great site,) for under $100. I'd look at Swordnarmory. com and the above mentioned Kult of Athena.com. Both have a large array of swords, and great prices to boot. Also, there is handmadesword.com. They have some katanas for about $100, but I have read some fairly negative reviews, and do not know how good of service they supply. This doesn't mean they are bad, I just am not sure. So welcome, and have fun.

Hi Darkdove-We all have had experiances from buying our 1st sword when we didnt know what we were doing-you can also check out Wiwingtswordsupply.com

So yeah....I went to sleep (because it was 2 am here) woke up and finally took some pictures.....so yeah....feel free to point out things you notice about my blades....or just go "ew gross" to them if you must But yeah. None the less here they are.



















The reason I only have 2 of the 3 is because I gave my girlfriend the middle one (pretty much a short sword version of these two) because I wanted her to have part of the set and would have felt bad for giving her the smaller one, and would have regretted giving her the Katana (she'll probably only hang it up)....so yeah...No pictures for that one. Anyway, I showed my friend who is interested in getting a sword and who has done quite some research but doesn't truely know much and he had these comments.

The wave on the blade (not sure the technical name) was faked on (I can see that being true)

The blade would snap if I truely use it on anything because the nut at the end is actually holding a thinner part of the blade to the grip (its big at top but then thins and slides into the handle).

The inside of the sheath is made out of plywood and that's the "grass" I keep getting on my blade....which means every time I put it in, I'll get ply wood out. And that it also has a poorly done plastic area at the front of the sheath so that I don't scrape as much as the ply wood as if it wasn't there (kind of a guide that can absorb the stab of sheath-ing at the wrong angle.

And I noticed that the blade on the Katana's bladeis a bit wobbably in its attachment to the rest of the sword.

So any comments about this would be helpful and you guys are great, I'm going to check those sites out as soon as I can.....Or as soon as I get some money.....Currently I'm sitting on $8....And I doubt I could get anything better then the ones I have now with that money.......Anyway. Thanks again.

The wave on the blade is called a hamon(pronounced "ha-moan."). The hand guard is the tsuba(soo-buh,) the blade thins out to the tang, which is called the nakago. The handle is called the tsuka(ska.) The little brass or copper spacers on either side of the tsuba are the seppa. The brass collar at the base of the blade where it comes out of the tsuba is the habiki. You may already know these terms, but I thought they may be useful to you if you didn't, as there will be a lot of these terms thrown at you when you look for swords or ask advise. There are a lot more, but those are the most common. It would be a good idea for you to peruse the sword review section of this forum, which also has a link to the older reviews that contain reviews of many of the brands of swords mentioned to you.

Welcome to the forum Darkdove.

First off let me say (as others have said) that I know all too well what its like to get started on this addiction. My first sword was also a stainless steel SLO. It wasn't till my sensei opened my eyes to real swords that I realized just what to look for in a sword.

Second I also want to say I know exactly what its like to be low on cash. At the moment I'm sitting on a total of $14 (in checking and what's in my pocket). Its rare that I have much more than $20 to spare at any moment in time lately... in fact having $20 to spare is already pretty rare in itself.

That all being said - if you can scrape together enough money (around $65) you can get yourself a functional blade with fairly low quality fittings but hey for that money the blade is all you really should be concerned about. At that price you can get a Musashi hand forged katana shipped to your home. While the ito (wrap around the hilt), same (ray skin), and sageo (cord around the scabbard) will be fake and probably look and feel pretty poor quality (compared to a more expensive functional sword) you'll probably find that it feels similar to what you'd find on your $25 set of SLOs. The biggest difference really will be the blade - it'll be made of 1045 high carbon steel rather than 440SS. This means that the blade will have a proper heat treatment and be usable in cutting practice without severe danger of the sword suffering a catastrophic failure. The sword will also be assembled at least somewhat correctly - as in full or 3/4 tang with pegs holding the hilt onto the tang. It'll be stronger than the rat tail tang of your $25 set and be more functional.

You can find these swords at any fine retailer that carries Musashi's line of katana. I personally would suggest Kult of Athena. Just click the banner at the bottom of this page and search for Musashi katana. They've built up a good reputation and a very solid return policy for their products.

I started my collection with similar stainless steel blade. I was enlightened to not swing them, though. It appears you were ignorant of that information until you came here, and that's ok. The important thing is that you know now,a nd have learned before injuring yourself. You mentioned you don't have a lot of cash at your disposal. If that is the case, I highly recommend you go to true swords.com, and purchase a musashi katana. Any of them. They are all amazing for their price, which is normally between $50 and $70. When buying swords to swing, you want carbon steel. Stainless just looks pretty.

other things you may want to pick up are some rags(or use old shirts alternatively) and some 3 in 1 oil to keep your sword from rusting. Welcome to the forums. I've learned a lot from these guys, and I think you will too.

Also, the middle sized of those 3 swords is called a wakizashi, and the one you called a dagger is a tanto.