The Practical Special is a subtly modified version of the Practical Katana, made in response to requests for a quicker sword at the same economy price. The blade dimensions have been changed only slightly and the tsuba cutouts have been enlarged, and though this has resulted in a weight loss of only 3 ounces, the difference in handling is very noticeable. The Practical will remain the standard for hard, regular cutting, but for those needing a faster draw, multiple cut katana at an economy price, the Special is the answer.
Made by Hanwei.
Key Features:
- Lighter Than the Practical Katana
- Quicker on the Draw
- Truly A Great Japanese Katana
Materials:
- Made from 1566 high-carbon steel
Measurements:
- Overall Length: 39 Inches
- Blade Length: 27 Inches
- Handle Length: 11 Inches
- Weight: 2 lbs. 2 oz.
Frederick (verified owner) –
You may be wondering why you should buy this katana vs the gazillions of other options on the market at a comparable price. To be fair, there is a lot of competition on the market for katanas and if this is your first, I can think of a number of more affordable options out there. Plus, if you’re willing to pay a bit more money, there are sites that sell katanas which allow you to customize them and add more bells and whistles to you sword than simply buying a predetermined model from Hanwei. Why I bought this sword and what makes it unique is that I was looking for something that was light and handled really well. I was not disappointed. It is very light compared to other katanas I’ve owned due in large part to a small but very important detail that isn’t apparent when looking at pictures of swords online: the thickness of the blade. It is .24 inches thick at the base exiting the habaki/blade collar and tapers slightly to .19 inches a few inches from the tip. For reference, I have an old Cheness carbon steel iaito that is .33 inches at the base and tapers to .21 inches with a total weight of 2 lbs 6.9 ounces. The Hanwei Special handles like a lightsaber compared to my old clunky Cheness and is a sword that can be easily wielded comfortably in one hand or two. In addition, as much as some people like to complain about Hanwei and their at times spotty quality control, they are a well established producer of swords that have a history of delivering decent quality that can hold up and survive test cutting on a reasonable budget. Simply put, I trusted them enough to deliver on the product they were selling and they more or less didn’t disappoint.
I got this sword for test cutting and so far it has held up. Out of the box, it was sharp enough to cut hairs when run down the blade. But weirdly enough, it wasn’t sharp enough to cut a Kleenex or sheets of paper that were run down the blade and you can actually pretty safely run your fingers down the edge if you do it gently without cutting yourself. It also won’t dig into your fingernails if you do the so-called “fingernail test” that people do to test knife sharpness. With that said though, I was able to cut some pretty thick suspended cords fine using it in both one hand or two if I did it with proper technique. In other words, it isn’t as sharp as it could be, but it will get the job done if you know what you’re doing and you can probably sharpen it up even more if you want it to be razor sharp.
Dark Knight Armoury shipped the sword to me in a timely fashion as usual inside a cardboard box. Inside the box, the sword was contained in a Hanwei cardboard sleeve with a foam holder that held the sword; no problems there. However, in a strange sort of mix up, the outside cardboard sleeve was labelled as the normal Hanwei practical katana, “Hanwei Practical Katana SH1070,” and not the special model. I was at first a bit concerned that the wrong model was sent to me, but then looked at the inner label on the foam holder which clearly labelled it as the right model (SH2376) and also looked at the sword I got and compared it to pictures and stats of other Hanwei Specials on the internet. The right model of sword was shipped to me, it’s just the outside sleeve was wrong. If you order this sword and need to differentiate it from the normal Hanwei Practical just in case a mix-up like mine occurs, the Special model’s tsuba/disk guard has larger holes in it while the normal Hanwei practical has smaller holes. In addition, the weight of the sword without the scabbard should be approximately 2 lbs 2.7 oz. while the normal version is a bit heavier at about 2 lbs 4 oz.
Overall, despite the few hiccups regarding packaging and sharpening, I’m very satisfied with my purchase and I highly recommend this katana if you can get it on sale.