Munetoshi 1095 Clay Tempered Steel Handmade Samurai Katana Sword Musashi Tsuba

Everything is perfect tight fittings quality is excellent exceeds my expectations for the price I would recommend buying this sword before buying more expensive swords of the same make. I will definitely be buying another one. Extremely satisfied.

The katana I ordered was received in a very timely fashion. SwordnArmory provided a tracking number that allowed me to see exactly where it was at each step in the shipping process. The katana arrived in a double boxed container, well supported by internal styrofoam holders. The sheathed sword was held in a cloth presentation bag that looked very nice. The saya was very well done in a beautiful gloss black finish. The katana fit the saya like a glove, tight enough to hold the blade in place when inverted, but loose enough to be released easily with nothing but thumb pressure on the tsuba. I looked to see whether horn lining had been employed, but this was apparently not the case, nor was it expected at this price. The blade proved to be straight and true, appeared to be coated in either vaseline or cosmolene, and wrapped in celophane wrap, apparently to preserve the blade from rust while being shipped from China. This coating was easily removed and cleaned off prior to oiling. The ito wrapping was tight, and diamonds were pretty evenly sized as well. All fittings were tight and a quick check with a magnet confirmed that they were either steel or iron. They were well made and attractive. The balance felt good, and all in all I was quite pleased with the purchase. There were only two negative points that I noted. First, the certificate of authenticity was missing, which verifies the katana is made of T10 steel. This is a minor issue, because it is only a piece of paper, and actual verification of the type of steel used in the blade is more a matter of trust in the supply chain and manufacturer. Munetoshi has a good reputation and so does SwordnArmory. The second issue had to do with the sharpness of the blade. It was not dull, but it was not sharp either. In part this may have been due to the steel itself. T10 has a nearly 1% carbon content which makes it very hard, then the addition of tungsten makes the steel even tougher, so this steel can't be easy to sharpen. I have examined a number of shinken over the years, and I am not talking about the NCO swords that were manufactured by Japan for use in WW II, but old blades that were made several hundred years ago, and ALL of them were significantly sharper than the Munetoshi. Since I don't want to spend several hundred dollars having a professional katana polisher bring the blade up to a satisfactory edge, I will have to try to do this myself and hope that I don't ruin the blade in the process. If it weren't for these two issues, I would have given the katana 5 stars instead of 4.

Everything was in good condition and the quality of the sword is very nice. Only complaint is the cracked tsuka. Sent an email if they could send me a new one. So far, I am pleased.