Katana

Tamahagane, which in Japanese literally means "jewel steel" or "precious steel", is a type of steel made in the Japanese traditional way. Tamahagane is made by smelting iron sand in a clay furnace called "tatara" and mixing it with charcoal to produce steel with various carbon content. This very laborious process takes as much as 3 days. After the smelting process, the tatara is broken and the steel bloom or "kera" is broken and swordsmiths segregate and collect the steels with various carbon contents.

Making a blade from tamahagane requires high level of expertise from the swordsmith. Swordsmiths will laminate the different types of steel collected from the kera to create a sword which has a hard edge, soft core and springy sides.

Ryan1277 is a katana with a blade made of Chinese tamahagane. The blade of this sword is hazuya-jizuya polished to bring out the beauty of the blade. It takes a polisher several weeks to do the entire polishing process. The tsuka is made of hardwood and fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin and real leather ito. The tsuba, fuchi, menuki and kashira are made of copper and with silver plating. The saya is made of hardwood with dragon engraving. Black buffalo horns are used as koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri.  The sword is fully customizable.

Tamahagane, which in Japanese literally means "jewel steel" or "precious steel", is a type of steel made in the Japanese traditional way. Tamahagane is made by smelting iron sand in a clay furnace called "tatara" and mixing it with charcoal to produce steel with various carbon content. This very laborious process takes as much as 3 days. After the smelting process, the tatara is broken and the steel bloom or "kera" is broken and swordsmiths segregate and collect the steels with various carbon contents.

Making a blade from tamahagane requires high level of expertise from the swordsmith. Swordsmiths will laminate the different types of steel collected from the kera to create a sword which has a hard edge, soft core and springy sides.

Ryan1273 is a katana with a blade made of Chinese tamahagane. The blade of this sword is hazuya-jizuya polished to bring out the beauty of the blade. It takes a polisher several weeks to do the entire polishing process. It has a sugu or straight hamon and the hada of the blade can be clearly seen.The tsuka is made of hardwood and fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito. The tsuba, fuchi, menuki and kashira are made of iron and with dragon pattern. The saya is made of hardwood, wrapped with bamboo. Black buffalo horns are used as koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri.  The sword is fully customizable.

Ryan1256 is an entry-level katana. The blade is made of folded 1060 carbon steel which was through-hardened. Being through-hardened means that the blade does not have a natural hamon but the folding process during the forging of the blade means that it has a beautiful grain pattern which is highlighted by its oxidized, blue coating. The coating also adds corrosion protection on the blade. Through-hardened blades are suited for novice practitioners or backyard cutters as they can take botched cuts better.

This blade has a shinogi zukuri geometry with a bohi. The tsuba is made of blackened iron while the habaki and seppa are blackened brass. The fuchi, kashira and menuki are also plain black. The tsuka has rayskin panels painted with blue lacquer. The saya is made of wood with smooth, metallic, blue lacquer.

Ryan1226 is a katana whose blade is of the unokubi-zukuri geometry. This blade type is usually common in shorter blades like tanto. The blade of this sword is made of through-hardened, folded 1060 steel with bluish-red, oxidized coating. This coating adds corrosion resistance to the blade. It has two grooves, a bo-hi (wide groove) and a so-hi (narrow groove) which terminates in the middle portion of the blade. The black fuchi, kashira and tsuba are made of iron. The tsuka is hardwood with black rayskin panels and blue, synthetic leather ito in katatemaki wrap. The saya has a partial wrap of green rayskin with polished, buffalo horn koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri. 

The black mamba is a highly venomous snake endemic to Africa. It got its name from its dark coloration and black mouth which gives it a very deadly look. Ryan1210 is a katana with a black theme and with a lethal look as the snake from which it is named after. The tsuba, fuchi and kashira are made of blackened brass with a snake design. The habaki and seppa are also blackened brass. The tsuka is hardwood wrapped with black rayskin and black suede ito. Suede is a tough material which helps make an excellent grip on the handle of the sword. The saya is matte black with a partial wrap of unpolished black rayskin. It also has black buffalo horn koiguchi, kojiri and kurikata.

The blade is made of differentially-hardened 9260 spring steel with kissaki moroha zukuri geometry. This unique blade form is a rare and old style of sword and may be a transition between the Japanese double-edged sword and the tachi. One of the famous swords with the kissaki moroha zukuri style is the Kogarasu Maru or "Little Crow" which was forged sometime in the early Heian or late Nara period. The Kogarasu Maru is a treasure of the Taira Clan and now a part of the Japanese imperial collection.

Ryan1168 is one of our midlevel swords. The blade is of a shinogi-zukuri geometry and in a gyaku kobuse style of lamination. The edge is made of 1095 high carbon steel while the core is made of a softer steel. The blade is differentially-hardened with a natural hamon and can take on hard targets. The tsuka is made of hardwood, wrapped with genuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito. The tsuba, fuchi and kashira are all made of copper inlayed with silver and feature an intricate flower theme. The menuki is a silver praying mantis while the habaki and seppa are also made of brass. The saya is made of hardwood with black buffalo horn koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri. It has a smooth, black lacquer finish and has grooves along its length. The sageo is black synthetic silk.

The blade is made of 1095 high carbon steel and darkened, the area under hamon presents different color. It's unokubi zukuri, the thickness on the back becomes thinner from the half of the blade towards the tip, but the back turns to thick near the kissaki. There's no yokote. The tsuka is made of hardwood and wrapped with geneuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito. The tsuba is made of iron, fuchi and kashira are made of brass.

The blade is honsanmai lamination, 1095 high carbon steel is the cutting edge, folded steel is used as jacket steel. It is clay-tempered with a natural hamon. Besides the hamon, the boundary lines between different steels are also visible. The tsuka is made of hardwood, it's wrapped with genuine rayskin and synthetic leather ito. The saya is made of hardwood, it is covered in polished mother-of-pearl and shells and give a unique glow of random colors. The koiguchi, kurigata and kojiri are polished buffalo horns. The tsuba, fuchi, kashira are made of iron. The sword is fully customisable.

Reverse-edged (sakabato) katana did not historically exist in Japan. It was an idea that was popularized in the anime by the character Rurouni Kenshin who used a reversed-edged sword to avoid killing his opponents.

This sakabato is made of 1095 high carbon steel, full tang. The tsuba, fuchi, kashira and menuki is made of brass. The tsuka is made of hardwood with genuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito.  

The sword comes with a free sword bag and spare bamboo pins or mekugi and is fully customizable.

Tamahagane, which in Japanese literally means "jewel steel" or "precious steel", is a type of steel made in the Japanese traditional way. Tamahagane is made by smelting iron sand in a clay furnace called "tatara" and mixing it with charcoal to produce steel with various carbon content. This very laborious process takes as much as 3 days. After the smelting process, the tatara is broken and the steel bloom or "kera" is broken and swordsmiths segregate and collect the steels with various carbon contents.

Making a katana from tamahagane requires high level of expertise from the swordsmith. Swordsmiths will laminate the different types of steel collected from the kera to create a sword which has a hard edge, soft core and springy sides.

Ryan1180 is a katana or more specifically a handachi with a blade made of Chinese tamahagane. A handachi or "half-tachi" is a blade with tachi style fittings on the tsuka but has a saya that of a katana. The blade of this sword is hazuya-jizuya polished to bring out the beauty of the blade. It has a sugu or straight hamon and the hada of the blade can be clearly seen. The habaki, seppa, fuchi, menuki and kabuto-gane are all made of chromed brass while the tsuba is silver-plated. The tsuka is made of hardwood and fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin. The saya is made of hardwood and painted with high quality black piano painting. Black buffalo horns are used as koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri.  The sword is fully customizable.