Prop katana needed.

[seantree]

Does anyone know where i could buy some prop katanas? I am prepping to shoot a Samurai series and am starting to gather props. I've bought my hakama, and geta etc.. but need the weapons now. I'm not sure i want to use the real deal because of the risk of injury. I was even thinking of taking the last samurai route and just using the hilt(or Tsuka i think) and tracking a CG blade to it. If anyone knows of a store that sells katana props please toss me a link. it would be appreciated. thanks

[Neil Rowe]

the hand guard is called a tsuba. * *i order all of my real and prop martial arts gear from

http://www.martialartssupermarket.com

theyve got good prices, and good gear. you could just buy some unsharpend alloy blades, and use them.. they would still hurt ..bad.. just take my word for it.. if you got hit though. * the site does sell alo t of rubber weapons too though some of them are very real looking, but not nearly s shiney as the real thing. you can of course use a better unsharpened replica for when the blade is hidden in the scabbard. .. be sure to get a replica that has a kogai and kozuka in the scabbard.. they are cool to use for suprise attaks and special "save your butt" moves in samurai films. .. the kogai and kozuka are 2 small utinsils that slide into the top of the scabbard by the tsuba,. one is a little knife and the other is like a little flat stake with emblem. without getting into their real uses and all.. you can probably see how you could script in somthing cool to happen when a samurai has a small hidden knife and stake in the top of the scabbard..

[Shaw]

Are your actors going to be wearing armor?

Unless you are going to be purchasing cutstom made weapons I would NOT use them in any sort of impact conditions (ie a fight). Most commercial swords are not designed for the stresses of combat (not that many people go out and hit things with a sword these days!) and will either bend or snap depending on the heat treatment. This is THE MOST DEADLY issue involved with using metal weapons. Sure getting hit by one sucks but have a blade snap and impale an actor is much worse! So again do not use metal weapons unless you have been involved with their creation.

You can easily, however, make a polyurethane weapon. Search the web for some of this stuff. It's not too hard to find. All you would need to do is buy a cheap Katana, remove the blade, and make a cast from it. Once you had a polyurethane cast complete you could finish it with polish/color and remount it in the weapon.