26" Katana

by Gregg
(Los Angeles, CA)

My Kris cutlery sword is the original 26" Katana, with cord wrapped tsuka (well, handle, as this is not at all in the traditional Japanese style - it is cemented to the tang).

I bought the sword shortly before obtaining the Paul Chen Orchid Katana. (I dumped that...ahem...item about 5 years ago; the blade had a really bad blemish from the moment I received it from 888knivesrus). I kept the right sword.

Since it is of simple design, and a sword is, after all, a tool, I recently used it to trim the low palm trees on my patio.

I have practiced form with this sword for years, but I had never used it to test cut at all. Imagine my surprise when it performed razor sharp cuts (allowing even for my crude technique, no less) and with little to no real muscle power on my part. Admittedly, palm fronds are not exactly a hard target, not even on par with Tatami rolled mats.

I was even able to perform a "Water Cut" with it, slicing through the frond on the way up (with the draw) and again on the return (back down again) before the frond had fallen too far to cut the second time.

I have considered having Fred Lohman of Seattle rip off the old "furniture" such as it is, and create a new, more traditional mounting for this simple but excellent quality blade. When the budget is in hand, I am all over it.