review by Serge Winckelmans

This summer I was on vacation in Spain. Been there, my eye felt down to a ornamental katana set, and I bought it. Once I came back in Belgium I searched the web for a real katana and I found a site (in Belgium) who would deliver me a real (low budget) katana. When I saw the testings of this katana, my mind was sold to swords in general.

The next thing I did was ordering a KONRON 9260 katana at samoerai sword shop (dot com). A few days later I found a site on the internet which claims helping people finding decent swords for a reasonable price, this site was sword buyers guide. From that moment on I learned a lot of things about swords and what they can do. I own a few swords now so I can see the difference between the different suppliers. All I can say is that this katana is a decent backyard-cutting sword with nice fittings. The review will tell you the rest.

The katana is through hardened, which means that the traditional clay process wasn’t used so you won’t find a hamon on this blade. This katana is great for frequent cutting exercises (tameshigiri) . Cutting multiple rolls of beach mats or Tatami omote , goza, or even bamboo and other medium hard targets are no problem for this sword (see later in this review). This katana doesn’t has a real hamon but on the other hand it uses real Japanese fittings, Japanese cotton ito, signature on tang and a unique serial number. Dry handling of the blade revealed that it is quick and light, the fittings seemed at first glance to be tight and well placed. I’ll get into details later on.

DESIGN, FIT and FINISH

The Blade

A deep bo-hi runs the length of this curved blade. The blade came sharp. No Hamon.

The kissaki is well defined and attractive, coming to a razor sharp point that would be useful for stabbing. More on the blade when we get to the cutting tests.
The Tsuka

The tsuka is wood wrapped with real rayskin and wrapped with real Japanese cotton ito. The fuchi is a beautiful flower pattern which is gold plated painted.

The menuki are real Japanese gold plated fittings. As you can see, the rayskin is very attractive.
The Kashira

Has a beautiful flower patern, which is subtile gold plated painted. No plastic fittings!

The Tsuba

This is the Japanese “sunburst” design. This is a classic known tsuba but still a beauty on each kind of katana.

The Saya

Black lacquered wood, no scratches, no defects. Not much else to add there, it looks really good.

The sageo is a high quality, thick cord and very tightly wrapped.

A nice touch is the golden colored shitidome, which gives the saya that dash of color and character.

The Konron katana fits very well in the saya. I prefer to have a snug fit and not have the katana fall out if turned upside down. I feel this is safer. One thing I noticed is that the koiguchi (saya opening) is completely lacquered like the saya.

TESTING

I first tested the sword on plastic bottles (different kinds) filled with water.

Then I hung up a bottle on a cord

As you can see, NICE clean cuts!

On the last one I used a tatami mat.

My last touch against the tatami mat.

And again, nice clean cuts. This katana is a real bone-breaker.

5 minutes of pleasure….

CONCLUSION
Is the Konron a decent cutter? Of course it is! The Konron katana seems to be a very well built beautiful looking sword. As it is a weapon, functionality is as important, if not more important, than aesthetics. The Konron 9260 katana definitely does not disappoint in the functionality category.

THE VERDICT

Historical Accuracy: N/A
Fit and Finish: 4/5
Handling: 5/5
Structural Integrity: 5/5
Value for Money: 4/5
OVERALL: 4/5 (Excellent)

Recently I tested the Kiku Katana. The version I’ve got is without bo-hi.
I will start with this review with the looks, fit and finish of this katana. Then I’ll tell you
what kind of tests I performed with it, and my conclusions about the Kiku katana.

The Looks

The Kiku is delivered in a blue sword bag, which is suitable for full Koshirae ( the katana fully equipped with tsuba etc. )

The first thing which strikes me when I see this Kiku katana is the sori ( the curvature of the blade ). Even with the blade in the saya it is obvious that this katana is unlike the average katana. The sori is prominent and gives it quite a different look ( and feel, but that is for later in this review ).

The Kiku katana in his saya.

The katana has a tight fit is his saya and doesn’t rattle. It all feels very sturdy. The saya is painted in shining black. The paint work is tight and can withstand some abuse.

The sageo is nicely wrapped and is made of woven cotton. The ito is tightly wrapped on the tsuka and it’s made of imported Japanese cotton. The same is of real ray skin. The menuki is a koi Carp. The fuchi is simple but has a good finish. The tsuba resembles a “water theme”

The menuki. Fuchi, seppa and tsuba.

The tsuka is attached to the nakago with two mekugi. The entire tsuka etc. can be dismounted for maintenance of the katana.
The blade has a fine polish, and its yokote is clearly visible. The Kissaki is nicely shaped.
As the katana is thru-hardened there is no hamon line present.

Yokote and Kissaki. The Kiku katana in full.

The Specifications:

Total length : 103,5 cm
Tsuka : 27,5 cm
Nagasa : 75,5 cm
Thickness tsuba : 0,5 cm
Point of balance : 14,0 cm van de tsuba
Steel : 1060 spring steel

The Tests

Of course I’ve tested this katana. For this testing I’ve done several cutting tests.
For starters I have been cutting some paper. Just to see how sharp the edge would be.
This was no problem for the katana. To make it more of a challenge I’ve tried to cut
some pieces from a telephone book. This is also quite easy to do. After this I tried to
cut the telephone book in two with a single blow. It worked, but because of the sori
I couldn’t cut entirely through the length of it. Just half an inch stays together.

Cutting paper is easy. Even a telephone book isn’t a match for the Kiku katana.

I also tried the katana on some bottles, including a double cut on two bottles on top of each other. The Kiku is quick and manoeuvrable enough for this kind of action. A container from the orange juice is so nicely cut with the first stroke, that the top stays on while cutting it a second time. This shows U how sharp the Kiku katana really is.

The telephone book, cut in pieces. Second slash through the container, the
top stays on.

For my last two tests I first take a rubber boot and stick a hard plastic bottle in it. The katana
slices through this without any delay. Than I got an old sneaker which I tried to cut in two.
The Kiku gets through this as if it wasn’t there. But again I made a mistake with the sori of this katana. Because of this the last centimetre of the sneaker stays together.

You can watch al those tests here :

Conclusion:

This Kiku katana is a nicely finished katana. Suitable for dojo exercise but also for many fun filled hours of backyard tameshigiri.
I really had to get used to the sori of this katana, as it is much more prominent then with any other katana I owned. But once you get used to it, it cuts like a hot knife through butter.

It’s definitely worth its money.

Hans

Today I can announce a first new toy…I’m not sure if you remember the 9260 steel samurai swords we got in from the Konron forge. They were a huge success and the first and second delivery did sold out within a few weeks. At this moment, the forge need to re-locate and it will still take a few weeks before they can start producing. So patience is the message here

On the other hand, we have a second forge we’re working with who will supply us the more higher end stuff….but…the last months we were also working with that forge on an very affordable yet high quality katana and well here it is :

The KIKU Katana !

The blade is made of 1060 through hardened spring steel, very sharp and very durable. The blade (from tip to tsuba) measure around 75cm, which is between 2,45 and 2,50 Shaku. The tsuka measure 27,5cm and the whole ‘toy’ weight 945gram and balance at 12cm from the tsuba..speaking of a good balanced sword my friends

The Fuchi & kashira and Tsuba are made of iron. Now.. I do know that they’re not the finest pieces of art but were looking at a low budget katana remember. Don’t be scared when hearing the word ‘low budget’ because it doesn’t mean this sword is a little more than a wallhanger !

The biggest problem with the cheaper swords are mostly , the quality of the blade and the tsuka. This blade does come with a manufacturer guarantee against breaking ! So how about that my friends ! Just to clear things up, the guarantee is valid when using the katana under normal circumstances. So don’t even think about chopping a tree, bricks or iron objects. It’s still a sword, not an axe or a hammer… What we understand under normal circumstances are cutting tatami and bamboo. For bamboo we do highly recommend the non hi version of this katana !

As for the tsuka, you can check the pictures yourself..does that look like a cheap, tiny tsuka with cracks ? And what about the menuki and ito. This baby has imported Japanese cotton ito on the handle and the wrap is very, very thight…

Anyway…we’re very happy with the end result and at this point you’re probably asking :”What about the price..?” We will offer this katana at the introduction price of 185 euro..The price will go up in the near future, that’s for sure but since it’s a new product in our line, we’re making a special price for the first one’s..

People who are willing to buy and are prepared to write a good useful review (with pics and perhaps video) of this katana are getting an extra 10% discount .

Don’t look at the site yet because you can’t find it there yet…send me a mail at dave@samurai-sword-shop.com or be patience until it appear on the site

A few days ago Dave asked me if I was interested in testing and writing a review about the 9260 Konron Katana. I gladly accepted to enjoy the “feel” of an other katana and to review it, have fun reading this review!

The Review
Looks
While removing the packaging, I got a smile on my face, at First sight the sword looks and feels nice and sturdy.
Fuchi en de Kashira – The fuchi and the kashira are decorated with a decorating that looks nice, and is not too much over-the-top. The kashira also has the usual golden accent that fits nice with the rest of the fittings.
Menuki – The menuki looks nice as well, although it’s a bit harder to recognize the flower motive. They are made out of copper.

The Tsuba
This is more a matter of personal taste; personally I prefer a less open model because you can’t scratch your thumb on tsuba with no edges in it.
The Konron has a nice, thick and solid tsuba, at first I could make up any pictures in it, but having a closer look, I recognized that the small circle is the eye of a bird.

The Saya
The saya also looks good, flawless black and again with the usual gold ornamentation.
My first impression of the sageo wasn’t good, actually it was pretty bad because I was used to the smooth synthetic sageo of my practical katana:

Later on however, I learned that this type of woven sageo is more authentic and actually is pretty common, so a nice sageo after all!

Thickness of the blade
After this, it was time to unsheathe the sword for the first time. I was surprised by the thickness of the blade, I felt no real noticeable difference in terms of weight with my practical katana (the practical is even slightly heavier), but the blade of the Konron is much thicker!

This is because the Konron features a nice, deep bo’hi, making the blade much lighter. About the rest of the Konron blade I can be nothing but positive, great polishing and it just feels like a functional katana should feel, excellent!

The quality of the fittings, ito etc.
The quality of the fuchi, kashira and menuki is as far as I can tell great, it all looks solid.
The ito was a bit poor, a little too lose and on a close look I could spot some of the wood of the tsuka. The loose end could have been better as well, those small details really matter for the total look.

NOTE ADMIN. : We’re aware of this problem and this will be resolved with the new generation that is expected within 8 weeks.

The Functionality
Now it’s time for the tests that really matter; is this functional katana really a functional katana? I did a few tests that the average user of this sword might use it on.

Test 1, sharpness
A functional katana should of course be pretty sharp, a sharp sword requires less force and cuts cleaner.
To test this I tried to cut a piece of paper, cardboard and leather by running it along the blade.

It seems to have some problems with the cardboard, this is only because the blade is so thick, it forces the cardboard while running along the back of the blade

Test 2, single cuts on single milk bottles
Of course I was confident that this test would be no problem for the sword, but I thought it was important to feel how the blade handles during use.
A new thing for me was the whoosh sound, made by the Bo’Hi.

Test 3, Combination Cut
The blade is sharp, light and handles ok, next up was a combination cut to feel how the blade reacts during quick strokes and moves.

Yet again, it performed great.

Test 4, Big Plastic Bottle
Something heavier than milk bottles and the average “backyard cutter” might face is a plastic bottle, leading to the next test, a plastic, 1,5Liter bottle.

Test 4, Small Cola Cola Bottle
For the last test, I got a small Cola bottle. This might sound a little silly after the big bottle in test 3, but as most of you probably know is that the coca cola bottles are way more thick and solid than the average water bottle. Combined with the low weight of a small bottle it could go flying around if hit with a sword that is not optimised for cutting.
I was anxious to find out.

The Verdict
With the Konron Katana you’ll get an awesome functional katana.
The blade is thick, solid, neatly polished and has a good sharpness.
The fittings look good and so does the saya.
But if you want a functional katana just to use it as a display katana you might want to skip this one because of the quality of the Ito.
But for the practitioner this won’t be a problem.

8,5 out of 10

The Looks
My first impression of the Konron is a good one. It has a serious and sturdy feel.The saya is painted in shining black. The paint work is tight and doesn’t chip easily when you accidentally hit something. The sageo is tightly wrapped and is made of firmly woven cotton. This gives the katana a bit more authenticity then the synthetic version that you can find on many other brands these days.

Konron katana Nicely tight sageo

The katana fits tightly in his saya. Nothing will rattle when you shake it. Yet he is easily drawn from his saya. As well on the traditional way (first pushing it open with your thumb) as on the normal way.

The tsuka offers your hand a great grip, and both the menuki are well placed. Also the shape of the tsuka is fine, not to round and not to oval. The rest of the fittings are just fine and adequate enough.

The itto is a different story. The fabric is fine, no problems with moisture, doesn’t slide or gets lose. But the way it is wrapped around the tsuka is sloppy. At some places you can see the wood of the tsuka. This may be disturbing for people who want to use this katana for display purposes. When using the katana for cutting, one doesn’t notice this shortcoming.
Note: This little problem will be resolved with the 2e generation of these swords….

The tsuba is a simple, somewhat open model. The finish of the tsuba may be lifted to a higher level. The rims of the openings aren’t smoothly polished, therefore bruising your thumb during cutting exercises

The blade has a nice polish and fortunate enough no fake hamon. The sharpness looks good and the kissaki is nicely shaped. In my personal opinion is a version without the bo-hi nicer than with a bo-hi. It looks better and is sturdier. The blade is through hardened

The tests

This is my favorite part of the review, the test what this Konron katana can take. Dave himself had already tested the Konron that I received. He used it on Tatami omote and for chopping wood as you can see in this video

Since this katana has proven to be able to cut some simple items, I didn’t use it on a single milk bottle or lemonade container. My first simple test was chopping up a Christmas tree. First I removed his branches, after that I chopped him up. There was no problem what’s however. Living wood is easily chopped with this katana.

My second test were some lemonade containers of 1.5 liter each. As I practice this on a regular basis with my Hanwei Practicals I decided to make it harder for the Konron than usual. With the Hanwei’s I use 10 ore 12 containers.

But now for the Konron I used 16 containers, two rows of each 8 containers. All of them filled with water. I’m fully confident that the katana can handle this. My trust in the Konron wasn’t misplaced. It slices the containers without any hesitation just like a hot knife through butter.
As my first cut was quite high I just cut the containers a second time.

The first cut The second cut

Now the time has come for a what greater challenge. This time I use 10 milk bottles of 2 liter each. Turns out to be no problem for the Konron. To make it somewhat more difficult, I add 4 more bottles to the row. Even these 14 bottles aren’t a challenge for the katana. It’s just a walk in the park.

First cut with 10 containers Second cut with 14 containers.

For my next test I try to cut through an old broomstick. This doesn’t work because my workmate can’t withstand the forces of the impact. The wood of the workmate breaks in two, before the strength of the blow can cleave the broomstick.

My workmate is history The backbones of a cow

I take a backbone of a cow as a last and final test for the Konron. This will be quite a chunk for the katana to cut. As I’m note sure if the katana can take this kind of abuse, I already had put on some protected clothing ( for fencing ) under my normal outfit.

I places the bone in my second workmate. I take a deep breath, assume a correct position and swing..

The effect is greater than I anticipated. With a nice singing sound the blade snaps into two pieces. I’m glad I wore protected clothing, due to the direction in which the separated peace of the katana came.

The Konron breaks in two pieces The remains of the katana

When I look at the result of this blow on to the bone it’s quite something. A chip of the katana has been stuck in the bone.

The carve in the bone The fracture of the blade

The fracture is almost straight. The blade has really been broken and hasn’t splintered. By doing so, you can see the quality of the Konron. A poorly hardened katana had splintered in multiple pieces. Because of his good through hardened blade, you get a neat almost straight fracture. This increases the safety of the user.

The blade is broken on the spot were the chip is stuck in the bone. Furthermore there are some minor chips in the blade. This is where it has hit the bone. The force of the impact made the piece of the blade that was without any resistance breaks and flies away.

Naturally I want to know how thick this bone is. For this I put it on a chopping block and I take an heavy medieval axe.

Cleaving with an axe Thickness of the bone

After a firm blow with the axe the bone has been chopped in to two pieces. The bone was so strong that even the axe head has been damaged.
After measuring the thickness of the bone it appears to be 6 to 7 mm thick all around, with in the middle a firm piece of marl.

It’s time for the vids
Note: The cutting test with the bone was an experiment to see how far the sword could go. A katana isn’t made to chop bones or trees in the first place. Just buy an axe or a chainsaw in case you’re looking for a tool that can take care of that stuff so no need to say–> DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME !!

Different angle

The results of a afternoon chopping an cutting are:

A broken Konron katana, a broken workmate, an axe with a dent in it, a chopped cow bone ,16 chopped lemonade containers, 14 chopped milk bottles, 70 liter of water in the garden and a truckload of fun.

The dent in the axe The remains of the bottles and containers

Conclusion

What do you get for the € 175,00 that this Konron katana costs ?

Really quit a lot. He is well balanced, has a great finish, extremely sharp, and he is superb for tameshigiri. In my opinion this Konron katana is better than the Practical from Hanwei.

The Konron costs less and gives much more for the money. For every backyard cutter this katana is an asset for live. It’s pure without any compromises. Its through hardened blade has proven itself during the tests. Especially in the way the fracture occurred.

A part from the sloppy tsuka and tsuba, you will get a fully functional katana which can withstand a whole lot of abuse. When the tsuka and tsuba are improved you will have a winner..

The ratings I give this katana are:

Finish of the saya, sageo, tsuka and tsuba : 7.5
Finish of the blade regarding polish, sharpness and shape : 9
Functionality of the katana : 10
Fun you can have with it : 10

Total Average rating : 9

Besides the traditional forged carbon steel swords(more on those one later) we also have to 9260 spring steel swords in stock now. These blades are known as flexible and very strong. Since they are through hardened, there’s no hamonline to be found.

The katana with bo-hi is black ‘themed’. A black ito over a white rayskin and a black saya. The iron tsuba does feature a crane where the fushi & kashira and the menuki (all made of copper) have a flower theme. It’s a very light and fast katana with a very good cutting ability.

Our katana without bo-hi in the 9260 serie does come with a black rayskin and a darkbrown ito. The tsuba is made of blackened iron and the fuchi & kashira and menuki are the same as on the one with hi (flower themed). Cutting with this sword is like cutting through butter, we did some cutting tests as you can see on the video below here and 4 tatami is a piece of a cake for this big boy. If we find a little more time this week, we will try to cut 8 tatami.

Although these are low budget katana, they do have a nice finish with a very tight tsukamaki and nicely shaped tsuka. For safety reasons , there are 2 bamboo pins (mekugi) holding the tsuka.

Don’t look in our shop because you won’t find them before the 22e of December (just come to visit our little sword show if you want to be the first)

The introducing price of these katana is 175 euro ! You think you can find a better deal for this money 