Honshu / Shikoto / Sokojikara swords

Hi, great that you're here for interacting with the forum community!
I have a Honshu Boshin Katana and am waiting for a double edged sword. 
Honshu is indeed the brand that finds most interest here. 
It's a good thing when representatives of vendors, brands etc. are here not just for advertising their products but also for listening to the customers. 

Hi Drew. Nice to have you here. Glad to see sword and knife companies interacting with potential buyers, and seeking their feedback. I've bought knives, military surplus, camping gear, and novelty items from Bud K in the past. As for bigger blades, I did buy a Honshu Tactital Wakizashi. I haven't put it through any rigorous cutting, but I like it a lot.

As for future possible products, I have a few basic ideas/suggestions. I actually think traditional Chinese arms could use some more representation. Affordable dao and jian that don't look cheap would be welcome.

Japanese katana are always a hot item. If you can keep them affordable but not cheap, that would be great. I like having different options, especially in ito color. Blades with bo-hi seem to be all the rage, but I actually prefer them without.

As for European arms, I think most of us here know about the Oakeshott Typology. Getting representation of the lesser known/least produced Types would be awesome!

Whether its Euro or Asian swords, I prefer historically based weapons as compared to fantasy.  

Just some ideas. Thanks for becoming a member, and I hope to hear more from you in the future.

I think the Honshu line is somerhing unique in the sword market, functional swords in a somehow SciFi design, not just pure tactical.
I like this.

The other two katana brands compete with too many other makers, on first sight with just some more blingbling.

I like the Boshin swords for their futuristic-tactical design.
The idea with modern grip materials is a good one, but it would be better some softer grippy rubber-like material (f.e. Gerber Gator) than just some hard plastic.

PS:
The guard ring on the new Honshu Grosses Messer seems to be on the wrong side, at least on the picture

I will be reviewing the new Honshu Grosse Messer soon, courtesy of Drew. I was impressed by the Shikoto sword. Many of the new Honshu designs look great and I hope to get my hands on more of them. Especially the Karito axe and the khopesh that was teased on Facebook.

I second the soft rubber grip idea. Something like the Hogue rubber gun grips would seriously up the perceived quality of the Honshu blades for me. So would nylon, kydex or similar plastic scabbards with mounting slots/holes for MOLLE compatibility and the ability to make a clean draw without breaking more than one retention strap open.

That's good to know, most of us have bought Windlass swords, so we'll know what to expect in terms of temper, tang construction, etc.

Ah, cool. I think I've read people describing Honshu grips as hard plastic but that sounds good.

Another random thought... holes in the blade. Most blade breaks I've seen happened a few inches above the tang, if not the tang itself. Holes in the forte of the blade make me nervous, even if the design survived your testing during the R&D phase.

The weight reduction aspect is trivial. We know you need to make the designs visually memorable.

Suggestion: if you're doing holes, put them in the last half or third of the blade. I'm pretty sure the holes trend started with Denzel Washington's bolo in the Book of Eli, and if you take a look, that prop has its holes farther down the blade with an apparent effect of bringing the point of balance closer to the user's hand.

Thanks a ton for joining in. I'm sure it will only be a good thing.