Ronin Katana Euro #9 Arming Sword - Leather Wrapped Grip

I recieved my first RK sword -- a Euro #9 over two years ago. It is a tough sword-- and I believe a 12th century knight or Crusader would have been pleased to carry one of these into battle. The sword is sharp, stout, and well-built -- nothing loose, no rattles. The price alone is attractive, but once you receive your sword, you'll unbox it to find that it's a real beauty! The blade is sold and fairly stiff, but it is made of spring steel and so it holds up well to rough cutting -- also notable is that it holds a sharp edge rather well. If you check out some of the YouTube videos by people like Matthew Jensen -- who has tested several RK swords -- you'll cringe as he puts these beautiful RK swords through "destructive testing" -- but you'll see that these swords truly are "Battle Ready". When you get your hands on one of these swords and put it through it's paces, you'll find out how tough they are for yourself. So . . . order one and have fun with it!

Excellent quality, very happy !

Beautiful sword, the 1075 spring steel gives it the perfect balance between strength and flexibility. The edge came sharp enough to easily cut if your not careful enough when you polish the blade. With a full tang peened it is an extremely durable and respectable piece for practice cutting or display.

This is my first Ronin Katana product and on the whole, I am extremely impressed -- the steel, design, balance, construction, and appearance are all very well executed. I will note several secondary weaknesses in the hopes that these might be addressed in the future. First, synthetic leather replaces the real stuff (would be nice to make this clearer in the description). This is no problem on the scabbard (looks good enough and keeps it thin), but was a poor choice for the belts. The belt was a significant disappointment (especially as the basic idea of including it as part of the product was certainly a good one). But the execution was very poor. The belts are thin, flimsy, and, the prong of the buckles don't seem to fit the grommets. On my first attempt to attach the scabbard to the belt, one of the grommet/eyelets popped out, never to be seen again. That's not a satisfying start. The placement of the buckle also seemed like an odd distance from the attachment point for the scabbard. Finally, it looks like the grip has been redesigned with the same synthetic leather wrapping. I haven't held the previous design, but this new one doesn't feel like an improvement. The seam has to run along the side of the grip and creates noticeable abrasion if you are handling the sword with an ungloved hand. Not a huge deal but seems like a dubious decision and I can certainly imagine it being an irritant in the long term. Again, I note the things that seem like they could and should be fixed, because the sword itself is a very fine product.