Japanese Tanto Swords: Decorative or Battle Ready

Here are a few qualities to look for in a quality tanto sword. We suggest battle ready swords over wall hangers. Why, because the quality will always be better on a battle ready tanto sword than one that’s just for show. If a sword is to be used to cutting exercises it absolutely has have a blade that is full tang and have a blade that is made from high carbon steel or Sweedish folded steel.

If the blade is not made from at high carbon forged steel or folded steel then it’s most likely just stainless steel. Stainless steel is just fine for most knives but just won’t cut it (no pun intended) when it comes to a tanto sword that’s going to be used in the dojo.

Two very popular brands of tanto swords are Paul Chen and Cold Steel. Cold Steel, although an American company has most of their swords forged in China by trained smiths. Paul Chen blades are very popular in American and all over the world right now. Most of the Paul Chen swords are forged using a technique called differential tempering. It means that the back of the blade is more flexible than the edge of the blade.

At Japanese Swords 4 Samurai we have a wide selection Japanese Tanto Swords, many of which are battle ready sharpened swords.