Special thanks to Kult of Athena and Battle Blades for lending me the Sōdai Tamahagane katana!
The full test cutting video: https://youtu.be/G9bpjGzFrqw
Where to find it:
https://www.kultofathena.com/product/battleblades-sodai-tamahagane-katana/?koa=259
Making Tamahagane is a laborious traditional method of extracting iron sand from silt and smelting it in a clay tub furnace. It's difficult and time consuming but yields no practical advantage (other than the ability to make steel from limited resources). That in itself of course has some value, especially in today's world of quick 'n dirty mass production.
The blade has a straight Suguha-hamon and is remarkably precisely shaped, with crisp lines and even surfaces. The tsuba and fittings are made of blackened copper with 24K gold plated decorations, which make for a beautiful contrast. Fit & finish are excellent, and it's visually impressive.
In terms of handling it's different from what I'm used to, lightweight but balanced more toward the tip. Cutting with it wasn't as easy as you might think, but it did well during the tests. Very well in fact, just not as much of a jump in performance as I imagined compared to a sword that costs about a third of the price (which isn't going to be as fancy looking, of course).
Definitely an interesting experience, I appreciate having had a chance to test this katana, which would normally be way outside of what I can justify spending.
By the way, because a number of people have asked about what this microphone is that was able to brave the coastal storm:
https://amzn.to/3Ofrn8K
*** Credits ***
https://www.boxkatana.com/en-fr/pages/ktana-guide
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=tamahagane&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image
“Dark Winds” by Zefz
https://opengameart.org/content/orchestral-epic-fantasy-music
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
https://theslantedroom.github.io/steve.yee/
Used with artist's permission
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