my paul chen orchid katana review

[Michael Devera]

hello there everyone, i just want to give a review on the rather neglected(in my opinon) paul chen orchid katana. In other posts regarding this blade, i have seen comments referring to it as being too thin, and only suitable for kata usage. Niku, or rather a lack of, was apparently another problem with the sword as well.
Being the ever stubborn individual that I am, I went to my sensei's store and requested to see the blade for myself. Upon first sight, I do say that I instantly fell in love with it. By no means is the sword and saya harsh upon the eyes. I inspected the tapered saya closely and fell in love with the shiny deep blue laquer. The koiguich was made of horn as well as the kurigata. (pardon the spelling if I screw up on the japanese words heheh)the tsuka ito was made of a material that I believe is silk even though on many web pages it is stated as cotton. The same is real however it is unfortunately of 2 piece construction. The tsuba is steel i believe and it is so smooth and shiny that u would think that it is made of black hematite stone. Drawing the blade, i saw the folds and it is with a true hamon. The balance of the blade was beautiful and I found that I could manuever it with ease one handed. Is the blade light? yes the blade was indeed light however, I have held real nihonto that was the same weight as the orchid. looking at the mune towards the habaki, I saw that the blade was thin as well. It however was not so thin as to make it aplicable to kata usage only. The niku of some of the nihonto was as thick as the orchid. the kissaki of the blade was well shaped and not long like many koto era blades. there was also a clean pronunced yokote as well. I held the blade at arms length and noted that the curvature was good (zori i believe the term is called)
After much consideration, i bit the bullet and decided that the orchid would be my first blade. (it simply felt right for me to get it) Aproximately 4 months later, i was permitted to use the blade in tameshigiri. Nervously, i aimed at the mat and in kesa kesa,i let the blade fly. The first blow cut through the target however, the target frayed excessively due to over soaking cutting again, i messed up with the haseugi slightly and the blade got cauht up halfway in the target knocking the stand in the process. worried, i pulled it out and to my surprise, contrary to the beliefs on the blades frailty, there was no bend at all. Now with more confidence in the blade, i sliced again and this time it went through the target with that beautiful whisper swishing sound of a good cut. the edge of the blade was still the factory one and therefore is not ideal, but through the proper technique satisfactory cutting is possible. After cutting through at least 10 wada some with good messups, i have not seen a bend once and all that i have fer the blade is praise