PST Editor’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars
Cold Steel is a company which has been out there for quite sometime, and has been one of the original modern producers of high-quality swords in the United States. Of all the products Cold Steel produces, the definite king of them all is their top of the line 88BKW katana. being a swordsman myself (editor’s note: author was an actual competitive fencer) I drool over this weapon.
This piece of deadly art is one of their best sellers and is probably one of the products which made the Cold Steel company famous. They made several less expensive versions of their katanas, but this one if fully decked out with a ray skin handle, and a wooden scabbard.
What’s a ray skin handle?
A ray skin handle is handle which is covered with strip of of the skin of a ray (ray as in stingray, the marine fish). A rays and their close relatives of sharks have skin that is covered in lots of tiny bony little nodules which makes their skin very rough. (In fact, shark skin used to be used as kind of sand paper.) This rough skin gives the wielder of the katana a firm grip which is essential in fighting.
What is a scabbard?
The scabbard is the sheath where you put in the sword. A wooden scabbard will last much longer than a leather scabbard or a scabbard made of synthetic materials.
Cold Steel Company
While there are a number of companies which produce swords which can be used in an actual combat situation, Cold Steel which emphasizes their products slicing ability through its highly-convincing promotional videos. While Cold Steel produces a variety of swords and other weapons, such as Two-handed Viking Great Swords, Cavalry Sabers, War Hammers , Tomahawks and the like, of their long bladed weapons the one which has widest number of actual combat applications and emotional appeal is their katana.
Cold Steel Katana, Ray Skin Handle, Wood Scabbard
Advantages: Strong emotional appeal, value for money, visually intimidating
Disadvantages: Difficult to carry in public, practice required to use effectively