Last Legend Katanas

I've been looking for a good katana for a while now and I stumbled across Last Legend's Dragon Folded Blade katana.
I've been reading some of the other threads regarding Paul Chen swords and the like, and I was wondering if anyone can tell me anything about Last Legend's blades. I'm wanting a live blade and would prefer something mostly traditional in regards to production, fittings etc.
The one I'm looking at is this one:
http://www.imperialweapons.com/oriental/swords/ll400dragon.html

but as my sword knowledge is limited, and as I'm in New Zealand where it's difficult to find information on this kind of thing, I'm not sure if the one I've found is as good as the site says it is...anyways, any comments or info would be much appreciated, thanks.

if you have the money better get a bugei or a steel iaito from swordstore so i ve heard from swordforums but i like to ear from the other forums members too!!!

thanks

so bugei are definitely of a better quality than what last legend has??
I was mostly curious as to whether anyone here has had a last legend katana before and could tell me what they're like performance wise.

I'd recommend searching the archives over at http://www.swordforum.com There are several reviews on Last Legend swords there.

thanks Charles, will do.

I have been doing my homework and found this review in the Angelsword forums. I would suggest staying away if you can afford something better.

Take the review at the Angelsword site with a grain of salt. Keep in mind that they are a business and have their own interests in mind. Even the non-employees who post there will have a tendency to be pro-Angelsword in general.

And no it's not just because I've got a beef against Angelsword. I don't, although what I've seen from Angelsword falls way short of being suitable for the kind of training that MJER Iai calls for. Of course I haven't seen the entire line either. I would give the same warning for the Bugei forum site. That's why I suggested a non-affiliated forum in the previous post.

[This message has been edited by Charles Mahan (edited 12-28-2004).]

Charles, what about Angels fall short? I'm not being defensive, but I am curious about what you dislike about them.

I have seen two katana shaped objects in person that came out of Angelsword, one from a friend who had one in his possession temporarily and another at the Angelsword booth at Scarborough Faire. Both were far to thin and light, perhaps as little as half the weight of a more traditional katana. They appeared to my admittedly untrained eye to be made of a damascus spring steel, not exactly traditional.
The fittings and scabbard were not exactly traditional either. Plain wood saya stained rather than laquered. Plain wood handle with metal pegs which gave them the appearance of overgrown kitchen knives rather than traditional katanas.

Now I've heard they've gotten better in terms of the blades, but I have not seen an image of a properly mounted and fitted one yet.

Right, the damascus blades are suprisingly thin, but in the testing they've done, the steel has shown to be tremendously strong and durable. But, if all you have against them is that they aren't traditional, then that's alright. I have never been one to care much about the way things are supposed to be, and Master Daniel hasn't either, but if it's important to you, it's your choice. If you are interested, they are coming out with a new line of traditionally mounted and fitted katana, though the price is still Angelsword level.

But that's just what I'm getting at. Those swords aren't traditionally fitted. The saya is not laquered. The tsuka of neither sword is wrapped in same. The second one appears to have a leather tsukaito wrapped in a more or less traditional manner, but it tsuka wasn't wrapped in same before it was wrapped, so I'm guessing that grip will begin to loosen up before very long.

You are correct, they are not traditionally made and that is what bothers me. These swords will not perform the way they are supposed to because they are not traditionally mounted. That makes them unsuited to training, at least within the style that I practice.

I don't object to them except that they are not suitable as training weapons with the JSAs that I am familiar with. There are far better training tools available for considerably less money.

The traditional JSA community is not going to be an easy market for any sword manufacturer to crack. We're a picky lot with relatively high standards. If a manufacturer wants to market to us, then they need to make training tools which take the traditional design aesthetics to heart. Bugei and Swordstore do this well. Angelsword doesn't. Perhaps they will one day, but not yet.

[This message has been edited by Charles Mahan (edited 12-29-2004).]