I already bought my son's katana Christmas present, but this is a great list. I see there are only 30 likes on this video, but I REALLY appreciate this series and putting this together in an easy to understand video. There are SO many budget katanas it is very difficult to know what is good vs. crap.
Very detailed video, thank you. I'm looking at a t-10 hardened real clay tempered not wire brushed or acid etched hamon katana. I have a hand Forged folded high carbon steel katana which is not bad for the price. It stands up to heavy cutting while keeping a edge with no damage not a perfect polish and a fake hamon line. Thankfully it was just over 100 dollars so what do you expect. But I'm willing to spend upwards of $800 to $1,000 but I've seen a handful of reviews yours being the best that shows the more money you spend does not necessarily get you a flawless katana. In other videos I've seen katanas around the $200 price range that both in fit finish and function exceed ones at 3 - 4 times the price. Again thank you for taking the time as this is one of the best videos I have watched when it comes to comparisons.
Excellent conclusion of the series. It's been a fun ride. Some of these brands have terrible brandings and marketing and they are definitely lesser known not for their quality. "Yari No Hanzo" seems to mean "Hanzo's Spear", could be a catchier name. Hope you can do a similar series on affordable longswords/hand-and-a-half swords in the future, with some of your recent acquisitions of sub-800 longswords.
As you know, I'm just not into Katanas, and I know absolutely nothing about them.. but I still enjoyed this video. I always watch your videos on European swords (especially Albions haha) several times!
So there’re good Katanas between the range of 150$ to 300$ mark , I have seen so many videos speaking down on katanas within this budget range and that it would only be display Katana which really was disappointing to me as the only Katanas I can buy where I live are like these one and the other videos really discouraged me from trying to get one but you really gave me another perspective so thank you sir.
dont know if you already got a katana but here's an opinion of an iaido and kobudo practitioner. if you just want something you can do some backyard cutting with, pretty much anything aside wallhangers will do. with budget katanas, you will usually have poor fit and finish. unless you actually train katana martial arts, though, poor fit and finish wont really matter if the construction is good enough to take a hit. you also wont be too bummed about it if you mess up a cut and damge the blade. if you can find cutting videos with the weapon, that's usually a good enough sign that you can buy it for cutting. I have never seen a good western katana under ~800 euros, but my standard for katanas is different to your average backyard cutter. to me these arent really even katana as they literally do not fill the japanese standard to be called a katana. this is a whole another discussion though and you can definitely get a worth while cutter for very cheap. it just comes down to what you want, need and appreciate.
As someone who is extremely familiar with pocket knives and their steels...what would you rate as the best sword steels. I'm unfamiliar with many of them. For example, for me, my overall favorite steels for pocket knives are Magnacut & s110v. Obviously, a lot goes into steel quality like heat treat and edge geometry but to keep it simple: *what do you consider the best sword steels in the low, mid and high price ranges/quality. **for example, to me, it would be: Low: s30v Mid: Magnacut High: s110v, elmax What are your recommendations for swords?
So that's quite the loaded question, actually. The short answer is that the specific steel matters far, far less than the proper heat treat. While there are minor gains that can theoretically be had by using advanced alloys, the more simple and "common" ones such as 1060, 1075, 5160, and 6150 are generally quite good for swords. One of the primary reasons there's a lot more tech and steel types involved in knives is that they don't tend to have the same requirements as swords. With your typical sword blade being somewhere between 2 and 4 feet long, there's a lot more need for swords to be able to handle greater degrees of vibration in the blade. Knife steels, as I understand it, tend to be optimizing for hardness and corrosion resistance. A sword needs a degree of hardness, particularly at the edge, but as the steel gets harder, it also gets more brittle, so a sword that is very hard is likely to break due to the vibrations sending shock through the steel. Corrosion resistance is related - the alloys that tend to be resistant to corrosion typically do not have the toughness needed to handle flexibility. That's not to say there isn't room for those kinds of alloys to make it into swords, but the reality is, the knife market is much, much larger than the sword market. Sword collecting is a niche within a niche within a niche. I'm not sure there's enough money to be made to justify the expense of the R&D. So, all that being said, if I had to choose one steel for a katana above all others, it would probably be L6, specifically done by Howard Clark, who pioneered and mastered the heat treatment that turns L6 into a bainite edge with martensite body, which makes for a very hard edge but also incredibly tough body behind the edge.
@alientude appreciate the detailed answer! Yeah, I kinda figured it'd be along those lines but wanted a starting point with a piece of steel required for swords and their purpose as opposed to knives and their purpose. I really appreciate you giving me an index point to start with as I learn about sword steels! Thank you!
You shouldn't really need to clean it if you properly maintain it, unless you're cutting certain targets. Mineral oil (or something similar) and wiping it with a lint free cloth. If you handle the sword, wipe it down with the above. If you cut with it, depending on what you cut, you mostly just need to dry it off, then again wipe it down with oil. If you cut something with acid, such as fruit or tatami, you will likely get some staining. To minimize the staining, you can clean the blade with some water immediately after cutting, then make sure it's completely dry before oiling again. If you do get some stains, you can use a simple metal polish like Mother's Mag. Just be aware that those can degrade the artistic polish on differentially hardened katana, so the hamon might not be as visible afterwards.
@@alientude I don't plan on bashing it against things I would treat it as a decorative piece, but now & then would I like to take the sheath out an admire it ya know
The HuaWei I have is their T10 unokubi, which cost $268 at the time I bought it ($298 now). It would easily rank #1 here - take everything good I said about YariNoHanzo, and add better polish, tighter ito, and a very clean nakago. I did a review of it here: th-cam.com/video/9H7Ck7lN8w0/w-d-xo.html. It's an older review, so it's kind of rough, but hopefully still useful. In terms of quality for price, you really can't beat HuaWei. Unfortunately, they have a very long backlog with a reputation for terrible customer service and communication.
Rippling is an uneveness in the surface. It can be very light and hardly noticeable, or deep enough to actually affect the structural integrity of the sword. It's usually caused by the grinding process on the blade, with uneven amounts of steel removed that keeps the surface from being smooth.
I wish people would do videos on steel. I’m willing to bet. Many of these are actually just 1045 or maybe 1060. And not really 9260 or T10 like so many places claim. You almost can’t make the steel for that price.
That's true, most online katana stores sell 1045 steel swords in $80-$150 ranges, however Romance of Men has springsteel and T10 katans in those ranges, I just ordered one recently, waiting for it to arrive.
Great video idea dude. How did you go about acquiring the Yari No Hanzo? Always wanted to get one, but once I figure in the exchange rate and shipping, the price always seems a bit too much.
I already bought my son's katana Christmas present, but this is a great list. I see there are only 30 likes on this video, but I REALLY appreciate this series and putting this together in an easy to understand video. There are SO many budget katanas it is very difficult to know what is good vs. crap.
Thanks! Really appreciate the kind words, and your son has the coolest parent in the world for buying him a sword for Christmas!
I second that
@@alientude I guess he liked it because now he is considering buying one for a friend!
@@alientudecorrect
Very detailed video, thank you. I'm looking at a t-10 hardened real clay tempered not wire brushed or acid etched hamon katana. I have a hand Forged folded high carbon steel katana which is not bad for the price. It stands up to heavy cutting while keeping a edge with no damage not a perfect polish and a fake hamon line. Thankfully it was just over 100 dollars so what do you expect. But I'm willing to spend upwards of $800 to $1,000 but I've seen a handful of reviews yours being the best that shows the more money you spend does not necessarily get you a flawless katana. In other videos I've seen katanas around the $200 price range that both in fit finish and function exceed ones at 3 - 4 times the price. Again thank you for taking the time as this is one of the best videos I have watched when it comes to comparisons.
Excellent conclusion of the series. It's been a fun ride. Some of these brands have terrible brandings and marketing and they are definitely lesser known not for their quality. "Yari No Hanzo" seems to mean "Hanzo's Spear", could be a catchier name.
Hope you can do a similar series on affordable longswords/hand-and-a-half swords in the future, with some of your recent acquisitions of sub-800 longswords.
As you know, I'm just not into Katanas, and I know absolutely nothing about them.. but I still enjoyed this video. I always watch your videos on European swords (especially Albions haha) several times!
Hey, great stuff. Was just thinking of getting my brother in law one since he like Ghost of Tsushima
Amazing vid thsnks
So there’re good Katanas between the range of 150$ to 300$ mark , I have seen so many videos speaking down on katanas within this budget range and that it would only be display Katana which really was disappointing to me as the only Katanas I can buy where I live are like these one and the other videos really discouraged me from trying to get one but you really gave me another perspective so thank you sir.
dont know if you already got a katana but here's an opinion of an iaido and kobudo practitioner. if you just want something you can do some backyard cutting with, pretty much anything aside wallhangers will do. with budget katanas, you will usually have poor fit and finish. unless you actually train katana martial arts, though, poor fit and finish wont really matter if the construction is good enough to take a hit. you also wont be too bummed about it if you mess up a cut and damge the blade. if you can find cutting videos with the weapon, that's usually a good enough sign that you can buy it for cutting.
I have never seen a good western katana under ~800 euros, but my standard for katanas is different to your average backyard cutter. to me these arent really even katana as they literally do not fill the japanese standard to be called a katana. this is a whole another discussion though and you can definitely get a worth while cutter for very cheap. it just comes down to what you want, need and appreciate.
Really helpful video, thanks 😁
Thank you for your time!!!
My pleasure!
That's not really click bait if your gana give a good break down on the swords.
Thanks! I'm just not much of a fan of this type of blatant attention grabs.
As someone who is extremely familiar with pocket knives and their steels...what would you rate as the best sword steels. I'm unfamiliar with many of them.
For example, for me, my overall favorite steels for pocket knives are Magnacut & s110v. Obviously, a lot goes into steel quality like heat treat and edge geometry but to keep it simple:
*what do you consider the best sword steels in the low, mid and high price ranges/quality.
**for example, to me, it would be:
Low: s30v
Mid: Magnacut
High: s110v, elmax
What are your recommendations for swords?
So that's quite the loaded question, actually. The short answer is that the specific steel matters far, far less than the proper heat treat. While there are minor gains that can theoretically be had by using advanced alloys, the more simple and "common" ones such as 1060, 1075, 5160, and 6150 are generally quite good for swords.
One of the primary reasons there's a lot more tech and steel types involved in knives is that they don't tend to have the same requirements as swords. With your typical sword blade being somewhere between 2 and 4 feet long, there's a lot more need for swords to be able to handle greater degrees of vibration in the blade. Knife steels, as I understand it, tend to be optimizing for hardness and corrosion resistance. A sword needs a degree of hardness, particularly at the edge, but as the steel gets harder, it also gets more brittle, so a sword that is very hard is likely to break due to the vibrations sending shock through the steel. Corrosion resistance is related - the alloys that tend to be resistant to corrosion typically do not have the toughness needed to handle flexibility.
That's not to say there isn't room for those kinds of alloys to make it into swords, but the reality is, the knife market is much, much larger than the sword market. Sword collecting is a niche within a niche within a niche. I'm not sure there's enough money to be made to justify the expense of the R&D.
So, all that being said, if I had to choose one steel for a katana above all others, it would probably be L6, specifically done by Howard Clark, who pioneered and mastered the heat treatment that turns L6 into a bainite edge with martensite body, which makes for a very hard edge but also incredibly tough body behind the edge.
@alientude appreciate the detailed answer!
Yeah, I kinda figured it'd be along those lines but wanted a starting point with a piece of steel required for swords and their purpose as opposed to knives and their purpose. I really appreciate you giving me an index point to start with as I learn about sword steels! Thank you!
Please do you know the practical katana fudoshin odoiro Naturell ? … is this a good katana ? … thx
Made it to the next level! Lets gooooooo🎉
How to order
Sincerely, I like unsharpened katanas for iaido and kenjutsu practices or ornament.
Didn't seem like click bait to me. Found out exactly what I wanted to know.
how do you clean a cheap blade without knowing the metal type an possibly damaging it just cleaning it?
You shouldn't really need to clean it if you properly maintain it, unless you're cutting certain targets. Mineral oil (or something similar) and wiping it with a lint free cloth. If you handle the sword, wipe it down with the above. If you cut with it, depending on what you cut, you mostly just need to dry it off, then again wipe it down with oil.
If you cut something with acid, such as fruit or tatami, you will likely get some staining. To minimize the staining, you can clean the blade with some water immediately after cutting, then make sure it's completely dry before oiling again.
If you do get some stains, you can use a simple metal polish like Mother's Mag. Just be aware that those can degrade the artistic polish on differentially hardened katana, so the hamon might not be as visible afterwards.
@@alientude I don't plan on bashing it against things I would treat it as a decorative piece, but now & then would I like to take the sheath out an admire it ya know
I clicked on the title!
How does Huawei compare to these?
The HuaWei I have is their T10 unokubi, which cost $268 at the time I bought it ($298 now). It would easily rank #1 here - take everything good I said about YariNoHanzo, and add better polish, tighter ito, and a very clean nakago. I did a review of it here: th-cam.com/video/9H7Ck7lN8w0/w-d-xo.html. It's an older review, so it's kind of rough, but hopefully still useful.
In terms of quality for price, you really can't beat HuaWei. Unfortunately, they have a very long backlog with a reputation for terrible customer service and communication.
Great video ! The mercenary albion review is coming out soon?
I have it scheduled for January 13th.
What do you mean by rippling?? Blade bending or the hamon?
Rippling is an uneveness in the surface. It can be very light and hardly noticeable, or deep enough to actually affect the structural integrity of the sword. It's usually caused by the grinding process on the blade, with uneven amounts of steel removed that keeps the surface from being smooth.
I have a original katana sword from Japanese military on 1940..
I've that exact cloud hammer Katana it is pretty nice but i also have a better cloud hammer that is beautiful i don't even want to cut with it😂
What a journey
I know the youtube algorithm struggle
I wish people would do videos on steel. I’m willing to bet. Many of these are actually just 1045 or maybe 1060. And not really 9260 or T10 like so many places claim. You almost can’t make the steel for that price.
That's true, most online katana stores sell 1045 steel swords in $80-$150 ranges, however Romance of Men has springsteel and T10 katans in those ranges, I just ordered one recently, waiting for it to arrive.
How do you feel about the Ronin entry level and the Dojo pro?
No experience with the entry level. I have one of their dojo pro ko-katana that I'm going to review at some point. Not sure exactly when though.
Great video idea dude.
How did you go about acquiring the Yari No Hanzo? Always wanted to get one, but once I figure in the exchange rate and shipping, the price always seems a bit too much.
I contacted them asking if they were interested in providing a review sample. They replied in the positive and sent it to me.
@alientude oh nice. I'll have to give that a whirl. Lol.
Katana would be a great zombies weapon
I know right, I would use a katana along with a pistol in a zombie apocalypse.
@@Sk8Nation exactly the best setup close range and some distance when needed
YariNoHanzo Musashi NoMore. Link goes to Iaito practice sword. 😢
They sell iaito by default, but you can contact them to get a shinken of this model.
Where is the clickbait?
Too bad your first two links are dead.
Thank you for pointing this out. I updated them.
Sorry your vidéo is good, but please STOP Touching the blade with your fingers!!!!!!