All over the internet I could not find a review about the Paper Crane katana from Hanwei and this really is a High-End Katana so the time is now and here to spend some time on it and show some real clear pictures. They are sold against relatively high prices for a modern production katana so we will see what we get for it.
The blades are made from Tamahagane iron sand, the traditional ingredient of the real Japanese Sword. You can definitely say it is very unusual to use this material for a katana outside Japan. The Tamahagane Paper Crane Katana is sourced and made in China and due to those aspects Hanwei can make a Katana with a relatively low price. I understand the controversy if you may call this Samurai Sword made from Tamahagane because it is made in china but can surely admit it is made from the same raw material. They are using modern techniques like a powerhamer and less rituals. They made this functional sword with a Chinese Tatara (Japanese Steel smelter). This charcoal fired furnace produced this raw steel from iron stand and this is broken in parts and sorted in High and Low carbon pieces. They used the low carbon pieces for a shock absorbing mune (back – core steel) and the High Carbon pieces for a hard ha (edge- skin steel ) for functional use. The skinsteel is forged and folded 8 till 12 times, to remove slag inclusions, voids and make the steel more homogeneous. The Skin steel is wrapped around the Core steel and this is forged into a blade. Paul Chen’s ambition to make a traditional samurai sword for the lower and middle class are clearly in his range of products and it something I can appreciate.
But now let us see this tamahagane from the Hanwei Forge.
Overall look, Tsuka following the nagasa.
Here you can see the nice and excellent finished Tsuba. You can see the Paper Cranes flying on it
Tightly wrapped black silk Tsuka Ito.
Hanwei used Japanese stones for a traditional hand-polished blade.
Nagasa (blade) with a gunome midare hamon in my opinion. You can see the hada (folded layers aka grain) in the hamon.
Geometric kissaki.
Menuki shows thespian masks.
Overall look
Fittings i.c. kashira.
Tamahagane Paper Crane katana: video
You can check this nice paper crane tamahagane katana in my webshop.