Handmade Sword – Japanese Samurai Katana Sword, Practical, Hand Forged, 1060 Carbon Steel, Heat Tempered, Full Tang, Sharp, Black Wooden Scabbard

Great blade + fit and finish for $130 katana. Nice saya, real cotton, real rayskin, 1060 is tough yet flexible, BEAUTIFUL hamon (looks like stormy waves), I got with no hi so it is slightly heavier which I like. Handmade isn't joking about these swords being tough and functional. The tang is very slightly loose inside the tsuka, other than that all fittings are very tight and sturdy feeling. I have used this to cut through tatami and homemade palm frond rolls with relative ease. The sword arrived decently sharp, but gets much sharper if you know how to sharpen one. Great starting point for someone wanting a real usable katana without breaking the bank and/or being obsessively concerned about damaging a $500+ blade. I LOVE that there is no brand name or other words engraved onto the seppa, blade, etc. Keep up the great work Handmade.

I was pleasently suprised with this katana. I honestly had very little hope this would be an actual battle ready sword made of good quality because the price was so low and it being 1060 steel. But it is a beautiful sword that came quite sharp (not razor sharp). Everything was fitted together tightly. The saya is gorgeous and the katana fits it just snuggly enough to not fall out when tipped upside down. The handle and wrap are tight and comfortable when using.Also the packaging was very nice and secure. The katana was wrapped in a sword bag that had been slid down the middle of about 5-6 foam pieces, then placed inside a very thick cardboard tube with plastic end caps, that was in another long box that was then in a long Amazon box. By far the most secure packaging I've ever seen.

Mine had some damage to the scabbard and marks on the blade that won't clean off, also not very sharp

I had originally purchased the Cherry Blossom 1045 model (along with the matching wakizashi) because I liked the mitsutomoe theme, but when I realized that the thick, heavily-detailed brass tsuba was especially uncomfortable with a tight, high grip, I searched for a less-ostentatious alternative. I saw that this 1060 blade was somehow $20 less, and I jumped on the return, though it does puzzle me that the Musashi model lacking the bo-hi is $70 more. A more-thorough tempering on the other one, perhaps?Anyway: This sword arrived in a tube (in a box in an Amazon box) with a nice Japanese-themed design, compared to the plane brown paperboard tube of the lower-grade blade, but still no certificate as mentioned in reviews of other swords from the same company. I think such niceties may be reserved for the more expensive/higher-grade blades.The Musashi tsuba is aesthetic in its simplicity, and the blade is sharp enough to slice up bananas in my living room. The rayskin appears to be real (though from an ethical standpoint I would prefer a synthetic alternative) and the cotton ito is tightly-wrapped. There were some small rust spots on the spine of the blade and near the tip where the storage grease must have rubbed off inside the saya, but I can handle that. The saya itself has a mirror-like finish and looks great with the cotton sageo display knot.I also purchased the matching wakizashi and it's just as well-made (though I am again confused as to why the shoto was $20 more than the daito), along with a nice two-tier wall hanger, also from HMS, to display my daisho above the bureau in my living room. I am now seriously considering the purchase of the matching 1080 tanto to keep on my bedroom dresser, though there is also a lovely mistutomoe-themed tanto of the same grade and price which tempts me to break from the Musashi pattern. Dilemma!

Experienced unusual shipping delays for a domestic, in-stock item and eventually received the sword after close to a month-long wait. Found that the katana was in a Handmade Sword cardboard product tube enclosed within an outer rectangular carboard box. But I believe that there should have been some type of caps and Styrofoam sword holders at the ends of the cardboard tube but there were none. So, it seems that the sword had been battered around a bit during shipping and slid out of the box onto my living room floor when opened. No packing materials or identification documents were enclosed with the sword. The katana was in a plain cloth bag but the string on the bag was not wrapped or fastened with the bag left open.It could be that this sword is not entirely new and may have been handled a little prior to shipping. The Tsuka or handle was covered in dust and little threads and required cleaning. The blade was lightly coated with oil, but the coating was roughly spotted, and the oil was somewhat gunked. Worse yet, on one side of the Kissaki or blade point there were small specks of rust! I was able to remove these rust spots with some metal polish. However, the presence of rust leads me to believe that this sword may have been constructed a while ago and together with the dust film, might be an indication that the katana may have been improperly stored or left exposed to the elements for a while or possibly even used or on display.The blade has poor sharpness as is and would not cut a hand-held sheet of plain paper at all, not even a tear! Even shoddier is that there is about an inch-long flat spot on the upper Ha or cutting/striking portion of the blade. This katana cannot be used even for actual light cutting practice given the poor edge condition. I’ll need to work on honing an edge on this sword before attempting to use it.All these factors may be indications that this katana was possibly handled or operated prior to sale and rushed shipped. Due to this substandard experience, I would not purchase another sword from Handmade Sword.

I took a chance on getting this inexpensive sword. It was better than I expected it to be. All of the fittings were tight and solid. Most of all it was well balanced and swung very well. It was well worth its price and is a nice practice sword.