Cold Steel Katana

[Phil Elmore]

I've submitted a review of the Cold Steel katana to KnifeForums: The Magazine.

Overall, this isn't a bad sword, at least judging by the sample sent to me. The attention to detail where the furniture is concerned is pretty good; the black iron guard, collar, and pommel are nice, the furniture under the wrap is pretty, and the rayskin handle is deeply pebbled (as opposed to the fake-looking plastic imitations one sees on the market).

Both my sifu and our senior student at my Wing Chun school commented that the sword felt heavy, something I did not think in handling it. It's a long sword, sized for a large person (which I am, so that part worked out well). I thought it handled fairly well but wished the handle wrapping -- which was comfortable -- had been tighter.

The sword comes with a nice cloth carrying bag. The heavily laquered scabbard is of pretty good quality and the fit of sword to scabbard is snug.

Out of the box, the convex edge was nice and sharp and cut easily. The blade flexes and returns to shape; just how much flex is desirable is a matter of a little debate, I suppose.

Manufacturer's suggested retail is a little over 800 USD.

 

[arnisador]

That's an expensive sword! Just how long is it by the way?

 

[TLH3rdDan]

have you done any test cutting with it? i was wondering how well it held up... im a fan of cold steel knives but i prefer bugie trading company for my swords...

 

[Phil Elmore]

The blade is 29 and 3/8 inches long. I've done a little test cutting with it, but nothing terribly demanding. It carved several cardboard boxes to ribbons, for example. Cold Steel's website, http://www.coldsteel.com , contains some more information, but not as much as I'd like to see.

 

[Cryozombie]

Im dredging this thread back up because I have seen several of the Cold Steel Katana's on Ebay recently for just over 200 bucks...

Does anyone have more info or experience with them since Phil wrote this back in '02?

 

[Walter Wong]

Cold steel series of Katana - Warrior and Imperial, are ok. Not my first pick. But if I had to find an inexpensive way to arm an infrantry with Japanese swords, I'd give them all a Cold Steel.

 

[Swordlady]

I owned a Cold Steel Chisa for a few months. It was a beefy little sword, and handled more like a machete than a katana. I've also handled the Warrior katana and the O-Katana (the LONG one). I actually preferred the balance of the O-Katana than to the standard Warrior katana, which also handled like a machete.

Cold Steel make sturdy weapons (yes, I've seen the Cold Steel demonstration video), but they are a bit too heavy for my tastes. Oh yeah...the fittings on their kats kinda suck, and the tsuka are a bit too wide.

 

[pgsmith]

I did not like the ones I have handled at all. The tsuka felt strange, as if the dimensions were off somehow. The wrap was poor, and the fittings were cruder than expected, even for a cheap sword. None of the ones I tried cut well. Although they were pretty forgiving of a bad cut, they just didn't seem to be properly sharpened. I wasn't impressed.

 

[brad]

I have a Cold Steel Warrior, as well as a Cheness Mokko, a Mokko ko katana and a Masters Cutlery Bushido. The Warrior is a tough workhorse of a cutter. I have cut 100 - 150 bamboo poles with it, with no problems and no damage to the blade. It is 5 oz. heavier than my other swords, though, and heavier than the standard jingums (korean katana-like swords) that our federation sells. Consequently I would not want to do forms with it, as it's recovery time is slower due to the weight. And for me, the length is such that i cannot cut on the draw with it (it's an inch too long for me to do that). It's not an elegant, pretty katana, but when i want to cut bamboo, I know the Warrior will do the job.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I am not a fan of the Cold Steel katana's they are just a little to heavy for my tastes. Wrappings were not up to the quality that I like, etc, etc. Overall not the best sword. I would recommend waiting and saving your money for something of better quality.

 

[brad]

In the end it comes down to:

What do you want the sword for?
How much can you afford?
If you are in an organized school, do you have a restriction on what you can use in class?

For instance, in about a year and a half i will need a sword that's gonna cost me $1200. I cannot afford that right now. I cannot afford that six months from now. Maybe in a year or so i can afford it. But do i wait an entire year to start practicing cutting techniques? Or do i acquire a basic tool now to start with, and the better tool later....because the techniques won't change just because the tool does. Bad technique is bad technique, it does not get better with a more expensive sword. Practice is what is required, and in this case it means having something to practice cutting with for the next year while I save up for the nicer sword.

In the end it all comes down to the three questions.

 

[onequiks2k]

I did some reasearch on Katanas before I actually purchased 3 of them (just wanted to have a nice collection). Here is a great manufacturer that makes top quality work! These blades are amazing for the $$$ http://www.swordarmory.com/05kat/05kat.htm Last Legends "lower line" is the same quality as an Imperial (Cold Steel's top of the line next to the Drangonfly series). I purchased 1 4000 series & 2 3000 series Katanas (all are "folded" blades). The Cold Steel versions are 1060 or 1090 steel if I am not mistaken.