Will This $3500 Katana 'Auto-Correct'? - Cutting Test

Testing the Sōdai katana by Battle Blades, traditionally made of iron sand, pattern-welded, and differentially hardened with real hamon.

The most expensive swords I've tested and reviewed so far are medieval European ones, mostly by Albion and Lockwood. I was curious how a high-end katana reproduction would perform, so I borrowed one. Special thanks to Kult of Athena and Battle Blades for lending me the Sōdai!

For warmup we cut the usual water bottles (just because they're free), some with a hardwood dowel inside for more resistance. Afterwards moving on to soaked tatami mats, both single and double rolls, most of them with hardwood dowels.

Lots of silly jokes about the katana's meme status in this video, but all lighthearted, with no ill intent. ;)

Also giving you my opinion of the idea that curved blades "auto-align" and help direct the edge during a cut.

The longsword I used for quick comparison:

What Makes Swords & Knives Cut Well (Sharpness, Blade Geometry, Etc)

*** Credits ***

"Why Curved Swords Are Better Than Straight Swords" and "Indian Talwar VS Katana! What Slices Better??" by MiniKatanaStore

“Imminent Threat” by Matthew Pablo
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

“Samurai” by TAD
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

"RPG Exploration Level 1" by Hitctrl
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

**** Time Stamps ***

00:00 - 00:37 Fun 'n memes
00:37 - 01:24 First impression of the handling & first cuts
01:24 - 03:32 Does the edge self-align?
03:32 - 04:46 Cutting warmup (water bottles)
04:46 - 08:23 Tameshigiri
08:23 - 09:34 Attacking from the scabbard
09:34 Outtakes

*** Merch ***

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*** Social media ***

#skallagrim #katana #sword

[No_Man_Is_An_Island]

Katana may not do the "Auto-Align, " but have you ever considered the ability of Katana to *teleport you behind your opponent?*

[outragequitter]

I love how you can tell Skall doesn’t favor Japanese swords, and even gets to the point of mockery, but you can also see the genuine interest come through. Always fun videos

[tiacho]

People that have never tried this: That looks so easy a child could do it.
People that actually do this: Done it hundreds and hundreds of times and I'm still not satisfied with my technique.

[ArifRWinandar]

Here's a way to test the auto-align hypothesis: make a curved sword analog, but replace the handle with a freely rotating round handle. Swing it around, see which way the blade aligns.

[markzuckerberg]

"Will it destroy the planet?" lmao

[josueroberto]

8:04 I like the way the sword shines along the edge after the cut lol. Very cinematic.

[ping-a-ling]

this is one of the best videos of "x sword vs y sword" that really demonstrates the point people just don't take into consideration

a sword is a sword, it doesn't matter what it is, the only thing that matters is how well you use it

[williambreazeal]

Your practice has really paid off. Some of those cuts were just beautiful.

[RadicalLinguisticDescriptivism]

I needed these katana based shenanigans today. especially the outtakes.

[artsy_dragon_creations]

Every instance I see of people showing the auto-alignment of curved sword they’re holding each end of the sword and the weight then shifts downward and aligns, but both ends have to be supported because otherwise the tip of the sword being off center makes the tip want to point down when you only hold the handle

[trumpetwizard]

It's not a humongous effect but having a curved blade puts the blade slightly backwards and it acts in a similar way to rocket fins (but the resistance comes from the target instead of the air) stabilizing the blade in the target and making it a little harder to "scoop".

[kasnitch]

Nice Katana . Excellent choice of background music ... soothing and not distracting .

[stampsu]

Every time I see the "auto-alligment" shown I do a little inner face palm. Because sure if you drop the sword down without holding it the blade does allign but who in their right mind would throw a cut like that?

[pazitor]

So satisfying to watch tatamis being sword-sliced.

[gameragodzilla]

One thing I was actually wondering from the "attacking from the scabbard" section was whether there were any "speed draw" techniques in HEMA for western swords. The reason is because everyone typically compares swords to handguns since they fulfill the same niche (sidearms in combat and self defense weapons in civilian life), and speed drawing a handgun is a very important skill. Usually when you need a handgun, it's still going to be in your holster so drawing the pistol is a core part of pistol shooting skill, whether it's pistol transitions from your long gun in combat or drawing from concealment during a defensive situation.

I always figured a sword would be in a similar situation where the times you'd need a sword, it's still probably starting out in its scabbard, so drawing the sword quickly and smoothly to confront the threat would be important. There were a lot of techniques I saw with the katana for that (iaijutsu), but wondered if there were HEMA equivalents since most techniques I saw seem to assume you have the sword drawn already.

[letssee]

It was really nice seeing you enjoy yourself with good, competent friends who know what they're doing - I really enjoyed this review for their skill as yours and the social interactions

[nate-otero]

I like how skall doesn’t just use his arms to cut but his whole body and it definitely shows in the consistency of his cuts.

[Ozai]

It's almost like both military weapons were designed for the needs of the fighters during both the time period and location. Shocking that they're both effective at what they're made for! /s

[MercenaryJames]

This looked like a blast to do.
Was also wondering when initially where you got the money to blow on a $3500 katana, until you said it was "borrowed". Very nice of that person to let you use it. I'm nervous just using my $800 sword, let alone someone else.

[Heulerado]

I always thought that the "gravity" version of auto-alignment was for illustrative purposes only, and that the gravity is supposed to represent the force of the hands on the handle. If you push a curved enough sword against a target, it would auto-align, because the point of blade contact is behind the "straight continuation" of the handle. If you push a pool noodle against a target, it would curve back in such a way.
This would also apply for straight blades that are tilted back with respect to the handle, and it would apply in reverse for forward-curved blades and forward-tilted straight blades.
Now, I have never held a sword in my life, but that's what I thought was meant by the auto-alignment. I don't know how much it affects sword-cutting in practice, because it assumes that the only relevant force is the hands on the handle. But of course, sword inertia is way more important, so I can see this effect being negligible, but I don't think it's 100% nonsense.