Shirasaya

Ryan1244 is a katana in shirasaya mount. The blade has a shinogi zukuri geometry with a mild 1.3 cm sori or curvature. It has a laminated blade with an edge made of 1095 carbon steel and sides made of folded steel with a beautiful hada. It is clay-tempered with a natural hamon and with a bohi that starts above the habaki and terminates at the yokote. The saya and tsuka of this sword is made of a light-colored hardwood and the blade is secured to the handle with a single bamboo peg or menuki. Though the blade is made of durable steel, this sword is not really intended for cutting as a shirasaya furniture is only intended as a storage for a blade which will not be used for a considerable time.

Historically, there are no records of reverse-edged katanas in medieval Japan. The reverse-edged katana was popularized by the manga Samurai-X where the main character Rurouni Kenshin uses a reverse-edge katana to avoid killing opponents in a swordfight.

Ryan1218 is a katana in shirasaya case. The blade is made of differentially-hardened 1095 carbon steel with a visible, natural hamon. The saya and tsuka is made of beautiful, light-colored wood with brown buffalo horn.  Blades in shirasaya casing are not really intended to be used for cutting as the handle is prone to break without the support of the rayskin and ito wrap and the fuchi and kashira. When a katana is not to be used for a considerable time, the blade was usually mounted in shirasaya case to prevent rusting.

The saya is made of hardwood with varnish coating. The saya is octahedral, the fuchi and koiguchi are made of buffalo horn, the mekugis are also made of buffalo horn. The blade is honsanmai lamination, 1095 high carbon steel is the cutting edge, folded steel is used as jacket steel. The blade is clay tempered, hamon is clearly visible.

The blade is made of 1095 high carbon steel, it's differentially hardened, beautiful hamon is clearly visible and runs along the cutting edge. The tsuka and saya are octahedral, made of hardwood with clear varnish coating. Fuchi and koiguchi are made of black polished buffalo horn. The mekugis are also made of bufflo horn. The sword is suitable to light cutting.

The chokuto is a straight, single-edged sword and is one of the earliest sword forms in Japanese history. It apparently bears the strong influence of the Chinese sword designs. The chokuto was used by foot soldiers for stabbing and slashing. The Japanese sword would eventually develop from being straight bladed to the curved design as warriors experienced and realized the lethal effectiveness of curved blades whether used by foot soldiers or cavalry.

Ryan710 is a straight-bladed sword in shirasaya mount. The blade has a shinogi zukuri geometry in honsanmai lamination. Its edge is made of 1095 high carbon steel and sides made of folded steel with a nice hada or grain pattern. This blade is differentially-hardened with a hand-abrasived hamon. The handle and scabbard are made of ebony, a dark-colored hardwood with polished, black, buffalo horn.