Not that I don't have enough to do I decided to take up the katana sword. Strictly speaking its a sabre as a Japanese katana has one cutting edge.<br /><br />I am in a professional dojo, training twice per week. Going for grading in Feburary / March.<br /><br />If anyone is interested I am happy to post some pictures.<br /><br />I have quite a collection of swords. I have 4 'live blade' katana's.<br /><br />Paul Chen Practical Katana. I use this sword a lot for Tameshigiri (target cutting). Its not a bad sword and very cheap so its a good blade to start with.<br /><br />Paul Chen Practical Katana Plus. Same blade, but with traditional fittings. More robust for heavy work.<br /><br />Paul Chen Tsunami. Its the highest of the monofolded type of blades. Picked it up very cheap on ebay.<br /><br />Bugei Samurai. Treasure of my collection. Fully folded blade (4096 layers) and about the heaviest duty blade, designed for ultimate Tameshigiri. Can easily cut green bamboo. Custimsed to suit my style with 29.5 inch blade and 11 inch tsuka (handle).<br /><br />I have my regular practise sword Iaido which is an alluminium blade. Its been customised by me with a high chrome finish and a chrome tsuba (guard).<br /><br />You also have what is called a bokken, which is a wooden sword for partner exercises.<br /><br />Incase anyone is wondering, you never 'practise' with a live blade. These swords are rockwell 80 on the cutting edge (like a drill bit) and differentually tempered so the back edge is about a rockwell 60. This gives the blade some flexability but a tough cutting edge.<br /><br />If I hold up a piece of paper, I just lean the blade onto the paper and shave off strips of the paper, they are like scalpel. Even my Paul Chen Practical could cut paper out of the box, but with a little polish its razor sharp now.<br /><br />Anyway anyone interested in pictures of the swords or uniform just yell!