CAS HanweiSwords Bushido Katana, Brown

Hanwei's folded swords are some of the most attractive and well done in the sub $1,000 price point. The Bushido is a well balanced sword that feels rather nice in the hand (aside from the somewhat too wide handle) and features a blade that is suited to cut any sort of traditional target with ease (and can easily handle non-traditional targets as well if you don't mind scratching or lightly chipping the blade). The handling dynamics and performance of my first Bushido katana were so nice that I bought a second one. Sadly, the second one, which I purchased from Amazon, was significantly flawed.While the blade was absolutely gorgeous and the details in everything from the koshirae (although the tsuba seemed somewhat blemished) to the saya was a step above the norm, the saya was horrendously fitted and had such horrible rattle that it was no wonder the blade's polish was blemished from saya rub (which likely would only get worse with time, especially if the sword accompanied one during travel). Even worse, the tsuka creaked as the tang was not properly fitted to the wood core of the handle. Disassembly was absurdly difficult as the mekugi were poorly fitted to the tsuka and disassembly revealed a whole suite of flaws. The fuchi was not even remotely fitted correctly and had several millimeters of space on either side of it that would have required shimming and the sword's tang was already developing red rust. Even worse, the wood of the handle was cracked and the seam undone on both the ha (edge) and spine (mune) sides of the handle. This split went for a good inch down on each side and was incredibly noticeable, which clearly attributed to the horrible creaking noise which indicated a severe problem with the handle assembly. This is pretty much a fatal flaw as far as handle construction goes, as the wood will only continue to split and worsen with time; significant creaking is a dead giveaway that there's a serious problem afoot. So sadly, despite the blade being impeccably gorgeous, the defective tsuka makes this product too dangerous to keep and such a problem is unacceptable on a new sword, regardless of what it costs.The Bushido is a great sword, just be wary of the hit or miss nature of Hanwei's products, as some just aren't assembled properly. If you order a Hanwei, please inspect it closely to note any defects while you're within the return/exchange window. If you get lucky, it's hard to find a better sword for the price of what Hanwei swords sell for, but if you get unlucky the defects can truly be awful as is the case here. So here's to hoping this is a rare fluke and the next go round has a better turn out, as my other Hanwei's are some of the best swords I've had the pleasure of owning.