My Cold Steel Story

by John Kurfis
(US)

To start I will say that I am excited for this new site. It was a good idea and gives a lot of great information that has helped me and will help many other noob sword buyers. I have become a more experienced sword buyer!atleast i like to think so ;) and its all thanks to Paul :)

Anyway back to my Cold Steel 88BKW katana. Cold Steel has had reported problems with their hilts...

"The quality of some models of Cold Steel swords can be something of a hit and miss affair – notably with regards to the structural integrity of their hilts." (from Paul under the cold steel section).

Everything seemed fine at first the ito wrap was very tight so I figured it was all good..and it was.. But after a couple cutting sessions the knot of the ito near the kashira started to become undone.(the big knot part where the ito is tied, i am not sure what its called) I tried to tighten/tie it and I thought I did. But later I was cutting and didnt even notice that the whole bottom end of the ito fell apart! The kashira fell off and I never found it after a lot of wasted time looking :( It was a total bummer. Everything else was fine. The handle randomly unwrapped on me

I tried hard to fix it and tie myself. I had another crappy kashira from another katana so i used that. The tie is very complicated and i could never get it right and tight enough it always becomes loose again. The kashira doesnt really fit and now the wood shows. A very big disappointment. Everytime I look at my katana its a disapointment. It looks really bad

Cold steel does make very durable cutters..I am not saying don't buy from them. The blade of my sword is extremly sharp and durable. It cuts very well. It is just a good thing to remember that the handle could have problems like mine. Just remember this if you ever think about buying from Cold Steel. this doesnt happen with every sword but it does happen more than it should.

John.