I had always been interested in swords, but it wasn't until I had watched the Kenshin OVA that I had become fascinated with Samurai and the Katana enough to buy a sword for myself. Like most people, I knew nothing about swords, and purchased several "wall hangers" off ebay. Wall hangers are objects that look like swords, but are purely for decorative purposes. Any 'Katana' made of 440 stainless steel and a rat-tail tang is a wall hanger. Usually, the seller will tell you it's stainless steel, or the blade itself will have it stamped on it's side. While stainless steel is good for knives, it is too brittle for objects as large as swords. A rat-tail tang means that the part where the blade goes into the handle is thin very thin and shaped like the tail of a rat. If you were to actually swing it, chances are the tang would snap and your stainless steel blade would become an airborne projectile.

Real swords are full tang and made of carbon steel, which is much stronger and can hold it's edge better than stainless steel. Traditional nihonto (Japanese Katana) were made of carbon steel that was folded multiples times in order to get rid of impurities. The blade was then differentially hardened so that the edge of the blade was harder than the spine. This allowed the blade to be sharper with better edge retention, while the softer spine would allow the sword to absorb strong impacts without breaking. The hardened edge is called the Hamon, and can take the form of many different patterns. While I would love to own a nihonto, a good one would cost about as much as a new car.

Luckily, modern day metallurgy has improved to the point where it is very easy to produce high carbon steel that is pure. The recent high demand for Katana means that there are many forges pumping out quality production Katana these days. It is pretty common to find decent Katana from $100-$300 USD, making it actually affordable to build up a collection of good swords.

Masahiro Bamboo - ~$80 USD Retail

This was my first real Katana, and it was such an awesome sword that it kind of spoiled me in terms of my expectations towards other Katana. The blade was very sharp and well polished high carbon steel. There is a fake hamon, but it still looked great because it was acid-etched instead of wirebrushed on. The fittings were simple and elegant, and made of some sort of darkened alloy that looked great. The handle came with real same (rayskin), which was wrapped with black cotton ito. The handle is longer than normal swords, at about 12 inches, with the menuki arranged so that they go under the palms, enhancing grip. There is a bo-hi (blood groove) along the blade, which makes the sword lighter and produces a whooshing sound whenever it is swung. This sword handles like a dream, cuts well, and looks awesome. It is still my favourite sword, but it is no longer being produced.

Cheness Delux Iaito - $200 USD Retail

After getting the Bamboo, I wanted to get a blunt sword that I could swing around without the risk of cutting or dismembering myself. The blade construction and bo-hi are of higher quality than the Bamboo, but the fitting were very plain and poor quality. My tsuba (hand guard) has cracked in several places, because of the weak alloy and delicate design. For over twice the price of the Bamboo, I was expecting a bit more.