Testing the Sōdai katana by Battle Blades, traditionally made of iron sand, pattern-welded, and differentially hardened with real hamon.
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The full review video of this sword: [ Ссылка ]

The most expensive swords I've tested and reviewed so far are medieval European ones, mostly by Albion and Lockwood. I was curious how a high-end katana reproduction would perform, so I borrowed one. Special thanks to Kult of Athena and Battle Blades for lending me the Sōdai!

For warmup we cut the usual water bottles (just because they're free), some with a hardwood dowel inside for more resistance. Afterwards moving on to soaked tatami mats, both single and double rolls, most of them with hardwood dowels.

Lots of silly jokes about the katana's meme status in this video, but all lighthearted, with no ill intent. ;)

Also giving you my opinion of the idea that curved blades "auto-align" and help direct the edge during a cut.

The longsword I used for quick comparison:
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What Makes Swords & Knives Cut Well (Sharpness, Blade Geometry, Etc)
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*** Credits ***

"Why Curved Swords Are Better Than Straight Swords" and "Indian Talwar VS Katana! What Slices Better??" by MiniKatanaStore
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“Imminent Threat” by Matthew Pablo
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Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

“Samurai” by TAD
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

"RPG Exploration Level 1" by Hitctrl
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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
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Used with artist's permission


**** Time Stamps ***

00:00 - 00:37 Fun 'n memes
00:37 - 01:24 First impression of the handling & first cuts
01:24 - 03:32 Does the edge self-align?
03:32 - 04:46 Cutting warmup (water bottles)
04:46 - 08:23 Tameshigiri
08:23 - 09:34 Attacking from the scabbard
09:34 Outtakes


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Kult of Athena, my favorite online store for reproductions of historical arms and armor, fantasy swords, etc:
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Where to get HEMA gear and practice swords:
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