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Ronin Katana Elite Line -- Review?

by Jim
(Tampa FL USA)

Hey!

Thank you so much for your informative website.

I recently purchased 2 Ronin Katana Dojo Pro's from your store as gifts, and I was looking at the Ronin Katana Elite line for myself.

I could not find a review on your site of the Elites and thought that was unusual. Have you done a review of these? If not, any thoughts on them?

Regards,

Jim

Comments for Ronin Katana Elite Line -- Review?

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We haven't done one yet but...
by: Paul

You can find some reviews of these swords online - one very detailed one can be found here and another of the bare blade in Shirasaya on YouTube here to get your started, but there are others on forums, YouTube, etc.

Hope this helps.

Ronin katana high end a no go
by: Anonymous

I would highly advise again any getting my the ronin katana elite line. Or any elite line from any maker. Elite doesn’t mean better just more money. Are they laminated? Sure. Does that make them better? Not at all. And they come with the myriad of ronins issues. Cracked tsuka cores, loose ito, Kashira will come loose, bad edge geometry, bad finishing polish. The hammer forged line is better and that is less. Ronin does sub 300 kats decent for the money but that’s it. The high end stuff is cosmetic and not at all worth the price. Why do I have this opinion? Because I have bought all lines from ronin and used them and after use, the dojo pro are the only well constructed ones even with all the issues. There are many others around that do more for less. Just browse.

by: Paul

The Dojo Pro line are most definitely the toughest of the lot and are practical, hard wearing blades with decent fittings. The fittings are fairly similar on the elite line, but the extra money is spent on the Soshu Kitae lamination and clay tempering to produce a blade as close as possible to Nihonto.

It is something I covered in our guide to Japanese swords, stating quite clearly that when it comes to raw cutting power and durability, the sub $300 swords are perfect. But there IS a difference in what the extra money can achieve, our Forge Direct line have truly visually stunning blades that can cut all traditional targets so much easier than a Dojo Pro - they don't have the same durability, but in terms of cutting ability, appearance and handling, they are worth the extra cost.

Just depends on what you want in a sword really.. The prices reflect the amount of time and effort made to produce a sword, they are not arbitrary - I can tell you that much is true across EVERY legitimate brand or manufacturer.

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