Siwode Katana,Quanshenglong Copper Tang, T10 Clay_Tempered, 40-Inchs

I have purchased 3 Siwode swords and have been pretty impressed at what I received for very reasonable prices. The thing that stands out most about their swords are the blades. They are sturdy and well forged. All three came quite sharp out of the box. All have clay tempered hamons. This is the least expensive of the three and has the lightest hamon as you might expect. The fittings are brass. The Ito of two are quite unusual and novel, but the samegawa is real on them all which I really appreciate. The Saya fits snugly and the Sageo is not the shoestring stuff. I really think the Siwode Forge is trying to produce a quality product. I can see more in my future.

This is a well constructed full tang sword. The braid (ito) over the rayskin (same) on the handle (tsuka) is nice and snug and evenly spaced. The artistic design of the blade guard (tsuba) is very attractive. The blade’s edge pattern (hamon) is really nice. All and all, I am impressed with this level of quality at this price point.

Awesome katana! Bought this sword for entry-level to katanas. I haven't disassembled it yet, but from holding and inspecting it is a really nice sword. The blade is sharp, not razor-sharp but sharp. The tsuka is also nifty too since the ray skin is real and the leather-like wrap looks good. Everything is tight nothing loose and after several cuts of random items, still is tight. The blade didn't suffer any extensive damage other than scratches and its edge is still sharp. I bought this one because I didn't see any reviews for this one so I bought to give it a review. I'm pleased with it will buy another sword from them again.

Sturdy, Nice Hardware, one (small) imperfection in clay temper, probably why the cheap(er) price than most others. Love the (faux?) leather stripping for handle, feels great and less movement than common cotton wraps. i put a decent beating to it on some palm fronds, also using a 1045 'beater' and my 1060 Clay Tempered, this Siwode T10 held up with nigh a scratch! Worth every penny!

Siwode is based in LongQuan ("Dragon Spring"), a town that can trace its sword-making heritage to the Warring States Period 2500 years ago. Ancient LongQuan swords were once prized for their strength and flexibility. In more recent times, LongQuan became a hub for industrial-scale sword-manufacturing in the 1950s, which saw considerable growth at the turn of the millennium thanks to global export. Search "hammertown" online if you wish to get some idea of how these things are turned out in such large quantities and affordable prices in LongQuan. The company that owns the Siwode trademark has been around for about a decade, and claims to have had three generations of experience in sword-making; which is not too hard to believe considering the environment. I don't collect Japanese-style swords, but was curious to see what I can get at this price point from a vendor who ticks all the right boxes. After going though the many listings here, I picked Siwode, and they delivered exactly what they promised: an affordable T10 sword with all the traditional features that one would look for in a Japanese sword. The 28" blade has a slightly head-heavy balance of 6", but falls right in the middle of the Goldilocks zone in terms of blade width and thickness from end to end. While there are tiny cosmetic imperfections here and there, none comes close to affecting the sword's functionally or being visually distracting. The fit between the components is very tight. I was not able to disassemble the grip using the wrist-tapping method, so I gave up trying. Even the fit of the blade in the scabbard is super tight over the final 1/4"; which also doesn't bother me the least. I don't know enough to appreciate the differences between a nice "hamon" temper line and a mediocre one, but it's there, and looks nice enough to me. If it does what it's supposed to, the blade will stay sharper and stronger because of it; which is all that matters. The grip is indeed wrapped in synthetic suede cords that feel good in the hand and won't become slippery when wet. As I did not disassemble the grip, the one remaining unknown is how far down the grip the tang goes. As the second bamboo peg is 4" from the bottom of the grip, my guess is that the unsupported part of the grip, if any, is no more than 3" long. It's quite interesting to me that in this product, the Chinese had used modern Western-developed steel and machinery to replicate a traditional Japanese sword, created using methods and technologies that originated in ancient China in the first place, which were later neglected and virtually lost in China itself but kept alive and further refined in Japan, producing something that caters exclusively to Western customers, which neither the Chinese nor (especially) the Japanese are allowed to buy and own today! It would not shock me if this inexpensive modern recreation could handily best many mythical antique originals in a head-to-head functional contest, the way that a modern family car can easily crush an antique racer in a performance competition. In the end, while some aficionados chase after "souls" that can only be hammered into blades by hand, under a microscope, forged steel is still just forged steel, whether it is hammered by muscle power or compressed air and hydraulics.

Beautiful Katana... Just as described and even more beautiful in person.