Chris Zhou Forge Folded Kobuse Katana Sword. The blade of the sword has been expertly forge folded using high carbon steel and a medium carbon steel inner core (kobuse lamination). The blade comes full tang and very sharp.

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Chris Zhou Forge Folded Kobuse Katana Sword

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Retail Price: $1,198.98

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Item Number: ZH-74312

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Description

Item Specs

Chris Zhou has become one of the of leading sword smiths in the world. Born in Longquan, the legendary city of sword makers for the last 2,500 years, Zhou learned the art of sword forging from his father. Renowned for his ability Zhou has created swords for some of China's top officials including Wu Lan Fu (the former vice president), and Xi Zhongxun (the Deputy Prime Minister). Currently Zhou is the curator of the Longquan Zheng Wu Sword Forging Institute and for the Longquan Sword Museum.

In 2005 Chris Zhou won the Masters of Fire Contemporary Sword Smiths Competition. Top blade smiths from around the world entered this competition, but it was Chris Zhou's Han Wu sword that won.

From China's master smith comes yet another master piece. The blade of the sword has been meticulously constructed using the forge folding method and a kobuse lamination. The hamon of the sword has been authentically created using the traditional clay method. This ensures a hard cutting edge and impact resistant spine. The tsuba comes in a tachi style.

The katana is fully functional and capable of medium to heavy tameshigiri.

Features

Blade: The blade of the sword has been expertly forge folded using high carbon steel and a medium carbon steel inner core (kobuse lamination). The grain pattern is itame-hada (wood grain pattern).
To further reinforce the hard cutting edge, but still allow the sword to flex under impact, the blade has been differentially heat treated using the traditional clay process to create a hamon. By covering the entire blade of the sword, except for the ha (cutting edge), with a special mixture of clay. The blade has then been heated and quenched in water. Since the ha has been left exposed it cools much more rapidly than the rest of the blade. The molecules of the ha expand and bend back the rest of the blade (this is what gives the katana its signature curve). The molecules of the ha become crystalline and very hard while the mune remains soft. The hamon features a gunome pattern.
The medium niku and excellent heat treat make the sword capable of medium to heavy tameshigiri.
The blade comes full tang and very sharp.
Saya: The saya is wooden with a glossy dark green metallic finish and gold flecks. The koiguchi has been constructed from bull horn. The kurigata is wooden with bright shitodome and a dark brown cotton sageo.
Tsuka: The tsuba features a tachi style design with inome cut outs (boar's eye) and hoke feather mon. A single smoked bamboo mekugi is fitted to the tsuka. The ito is brown cotton wrapped in a hinerimaki style over the ray skin samegawa. The menuki are a baku design. The fuchigashira are antiqued steel.

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