light katana?

so i need a lighter katana.
preferably around a pound...
i have been told that this is unreasonable.
"a one pound blade, at 38 inches?"
i don't suppose this is possible, is it?

ugh...i need to start practicing again. i mostly stopped after my last legend blade broke. *sob*
and a friend bought me a new katana to replace it. however, not knowing anything about it, i got a...chrome-plated blade with the hardness of butter.

...so, what kind of blades would you guys suggest for me? i can't say i've much practice, or rather i'm out of practice. we don't have any legit (define legit, actually) places to learn, but that's beside the point.

any suggestions for light, strong blades?

How much are you realy willing to pay? because most real katana's are pritty light but if you want to lame it up get a repoed sabre and bust the handle up to a blank style for a slightly straight light katana for a low price but if you got a few grand get a real katana well good luck

How certain are you that you know what you're asking for? Blades are usually measured in grams. 1 pound is less than 500 grams, and about the lightest iaito you're gonna find is in the 700 grams. Most are between 800 and 900 grams. And iaito are generally lighter than the real thing.

Two pound katana are reasonably common, but one pound is just too light. The lightest I've ever seen is an angelsword 1 lb 4 oz, but it isn't traditionally mounted and is rather expensive. However, the wootz steel certainly would hold up to most anything you could throw at it.

Aside from that one piece, I cannot think of anything nearly that light which I would trust, besides, you probably don't want to spend that kind of cash.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kichigai-han:
so i need a lighter katana.
preferably around a pound...
i have been told that this is unreasonable.
"a one pound blade, at 38 inches?"
i don't suppose this is possible, is it?

any suggestions for light, strong blades?[/QUOTE]

I don't know the weight of their Katanas but Hanwei makes string, light blades.

There right, I use a Two pound kanta myself for practice, and it works just fine for me, It's about as hard as you can get it but light as well, You may LIKE light swords, but heavier ones hit harder. But I cant swing very fast with a hevey one so yeah, but why dont you try this site??
http://www.firebloodarms.com/index.php

good prices and thats the types i use, yes they dont look sharp or real but they are..some of them anywayXP

If you buy a single blade from that site, you are more foolish than I thought. Some are stage swords, but most are wallhangers. However, all are marketed as usable weapons. Therefore, they are marked by me as a dishonest broker with whom to never do business with. Anyone who sells a stainless blade without a warning doesn't respect their customers enough to earn any respect from our side.

yeah, i've had to use a stainless once...bleh.
with a *gasp* plastic handle!

oh, the horrors!!
actually, it sucked horribly.
and i saw some at angel swords (or something like that) that were around a pound. probably crap tho, aren't they?

*sigh* i'm just looking at my *gag* chrome-plated one.
i don't suppose i can temper or harden it a bit? :P

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kichigai-han:
just looking at my *gag* chrome-plated one.
i don't suppose i can temper or harden it a bit? :P[/QUOTE]

No.

There are always those aluminum twigs the sword twirlers seem to favor. They're probably around a pound. Do a google search for XMA and sword. You'll probably turn something up.

ugh. hope i don't offend anybody, but i hate XMA.
completely pompous showoffs.

yeah, and my vertical-grain white-oak bokken broke the other day...after 2 years of use!
i've broken at least ten with it, it broke about 13 inches below the tip.
*sob*

oh well, thanks for the advice guys.
i'll see what i can turn up.

Hey, I'm a newbie in these parts and I'm just recently getting to know the workings of a sword. Right now, I have a katana, a shorter one, and a reverse-blade katana. Plus a couple of throwing knives. ANyone know what I could learn to do with them? I'd like to learn some kind of art or technique, but I don't know who to ask...

First I would recommend not ever admitting to owning a reverse-blade sword again. It rubs a lot of serious folks the wrong way. There have been entirely too many kenshin obsessed fanboys online in the last couple of years. It's got some of the old timers a bit frazzled. They'll read that in one of your posts and tune you out immediately if not outright ridicule you.

As for the swords you have now, there's a better than average chance that they are mostly of stainless steel construction. If so they are not good for anything beyond hanging on a wall and looking... well I'd say pretty, but the word doesn't apply to most wallhangers that I've seen. Perhaps yours are nicer.

The usual way to look for sword dojos is to search your local area via the yellow pages and asking around. Then bring what you've found online and ask for opinions about those dojo and advice on other possible training options in your area.

Swordforum.com is one of your best options for this kind of query at the moment. (Is E-budo ever coming back?)