Kris Cutlery: a plug for quality swords

Here's a nod to an often overlooked company making superb quality martial arts weapons: Kris Cutlery.

Kris specializes in authentic Filipino weapons: bolos, barongs, kris, karambits, etc. While there are many reproductions of these interesting edged weapons out there, Kris Cutlery puts a premium on mixing tradition and quality in equal amounts.

Kris also has a respectable array of Japanese weapons. The emphasis in this line has been more on durability and quality, with historical authenticity being a secondary consideration. Their weapons however, are very, very well made. Anyone looking for a katana to use for actual cutting practice would be well advised to consider a Kris Cutlery sword as an option.

There have worked towards producing more visually accurate katanas and their newest top-of-the-line sword is comparable to many other company's offerings. I own a Kris Cutlery Tanto II (see the first picture), which is an aikuchi mounted knife. It is a superb piece with an accurate traditional blade shape with a visible hamon temper line. There are only a few production knives of this style, and fewer of this quality.
Kris does have two other assortments; a Chinese sword line and a line of European weapons. The Chinese swords look very good and all of the major blade shapes are well represented. The European swords range is more limited but includes Celtic leaf swords, a Roman Gladius, and a High Middle Ages long sword. This last line should maintain the same quality of workmanship, but is severely lacking in variety. Still, this shouldn't be a black mark against the company. Kris Cutlery has so many excellent pieces, I could hardly expect them to provide a full assortment of Western reproduction weapons as well.