I love swords all swords whether roman gladius ,rapier or katana.
I have a few nice machetes and my pride and joy a katana.
It is a Cheness 9260 which is the toughest production blade except for the Busse's. The fact that Busse has the strongest sword on the market without really even trying says a heck of a lot about the skill and formula of Busse knives.
The only reason I got a Cheness instead of the Busse was looks. The AK and Ruck are just so unbelievably ugly. If you are used to busse knives and not swords they look fine but if you are a serious sword lover the experience is actual physical pain. Still for either combat or cutting practice the Busse's are so much better than the competitors.

There are a few good tactical sword makers like Angus Trim but the only one who has a steel anything close to infi is Howard Clark and his work is ten times what an AK47 costs.

I would love to see a Scrapyard sword of Sr77 which would be a nearly perfect blade steel. Full tang with a skeleton handle would be better than trying for a res c handle. Then all it would take is a para cord wrap to make it a modern and even atractive katana. Priced between 3 and 4 hundred $ depending on whether it is Ruck or AK sized it would rule the sword world. I would buy at least 2 ,one for use and one for my dream project of a traditional kat with a 21st century high quality steel blade. I do have that in my Cheness but would really like a Scrapyard Wak to go with it.

Since I am not a sword collector, the Busse swords look good to me. They look functional and tough. Cold Steel makes some pretty ones, but they are quite expensive. I don't know how good they are. I have a Windlass Viking sword for ritual purposes and LOR Sting, just because I thought it was pretty. One day, I may get a real sword. Museum replicas claims their swords are "battle ready" but I have never actually used the Viking sword. Edited: I forgot that I have two Condor Combat Machetes that I think could actually be used as short swords. They look gladius-like.

I think my tramontonia machete is a dead ringer for a chinese broadsword and a few moves designed for the Broadsword worked awesome with the machete.
It is getting better all the time for those of us who want a real combat capable sword. You can get a katana for 250$ that is better than a real one as far as fighting with one or practice cutting. For all the romance of antiques modern steel is a big improvement. The only problem is good steel is so cheap compared to how it used to be when every piece of steel was worth 100's of hours of craftsmens time. With my katana the blade was much cheaper than having the wrap done and the
tsuka(handle) made.

I really want a version of a viking sword as good as the Cheness is for the katana. The Cheness are made in china by hand in such huge numbers that they are very cheap for what you get.

This is the Shirasaya model which means "white scabbard". The plain wood handle and saya (scabbard) are designed just as blade storage but work fine with a bit of varnish on their own. It is the exact sword Forest Whitiker used in the awesome movie "Ghost Dog ,Way of the Samurai". The shirasaya was also very popular in old yakuza films. In the sheath it looks just like a piece of wood.
I had a new handle made but I am just going to sand the crap out of the saya and give it a coat of varnish.

I will take some photos today of my finished sword.

Vikings actually used axes much more than swords. I have a nice little homeade hawk but have had my eye on the one Justin from Ranger knives makes. It would do any modern viking proud.
Hail Odin.

It does sound interesting.

Let's see the Cheness.

Pics are always good.

A few modern sword pics.
This first one has an awesome carry system. I usually don't like american tantos but this is an exception.


From our recent bayonet thread this sawback is deadly ,practical and still an awesome deal but getting more expensive daily. So much steel so little cash.


Worlds biggest chute knife?


This is one of my favourites, possibly the most deadly dueling weapon they are still cheap enough for the average person to own a couple nice examples. A jap sword of similar craftsmaship and historical importance would cost 10 to 100 times the price of a similar euro. Blame Kill Bill and the Japanese trying to buy back all the swords they lost in WW2 and the Meiji restoration. Euro swords are the better weapon as well and at least as well made.


I prefer a real fighters weapon but their are some amazing works of art.


I know some of the people here like the older euro stuff.
Here is a 1000 year old Saxon seax with a replica to show what it might have looked like. The Dogfather feels like I would imagine this one would be like.
The europeans had pattern welding 500 years before the japanese so viking swords were actually very very good.

Unsub, you are right about Vikings mainly using axes- swords were a rich man's status symbol.. Your battle axe also chopped the wood back home!

A yard parang/waki' might be cool..

I like it!

Holy crap... I just spent over an hour writing a response here and when I hit submit. I received a message stating: "response no longer valid". I hit my back button and it was gone. I can't rewrite it right now. Wasted time and frustrated.

I had provided a lot detail about my own Cheness Kaze Katana which I love. It is gorgeous, but too big for any practical use. I also had some info about my Crizwell Wakizashi, and desire to have an SR77 Scrap-Ruck-Kizashi.

I really like the long tanto and sheath above. Would like more info.

Maybe some day I will learn to copy long posts before hitting submit....

Downer, bad luck mate! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Awesome.