Awesome Katanas

Given its softness, copper is not a great material for weaponry or tools – but it sure looks awesome. In this video from Mini Katana, they teamed up with a metalsmith to turn thousands of pennies into a unique sword. But hunting down enough vintage copper pennies was only the start of their problems.

After seeing an illustration of a mime wielding an invisible sword, maker Mike Shake was inspired to build one in real life. While his see-through katana isn’t completely invisible, it’s still an incredibly cool and effective weapon. Mike’s opponents will never see what hit them. After considering using a glass blade, he went with a clear and strong polycarbonate.

What’s cooler than a regular katana? One that hides in its handle and extends like a lightsaber. After seeing an example of this awesome collapsible katana design at a convention, Maker David Miao printed a copy of it at home on his Prusa XL 3D printer. He made it look even better by printing it with Fixdry’s tri-color PLA, which gives it a rainbow sheen.

A while back, How Ridiculous built a helicopter with baseball bat rotor blades. After putting that machine through its paces, they fitted it with metal fly swatters. Now they’ve retrofitted their high-speed spinner with katanas. After a scary incident with a loose blade, they tightened things up and played some Fruit Ninja.

Blacksmith Denis Tyrell of Tyrell Knifeworks shows off the build process for one of the most beautiful bladed weapons we’ve seen. He created this cumai katana with a Damascus blade comprised of twisted layers of steel and copper. He finished it with a copper blade collar and a stingray skin and leather-wrapped wood handle.

We always enjoy watching rusty metal objects being reworked into new ones. In this satisfying blacksmithing video from Faraway Forge, they start off with a big old industrial hook, get it fiery hot, and hammer it into a bar shape. From there, it takes huge amounts of handwork to shape and hone it into a blade for a katana.

Wootz steel is a tough high-carbon metal that’s been used to make swords since the 5th century BC. FZ – Making Knives used the technique to create a beautiful and strong katana by melting down an ingot made from ball bearings, forging it into a blade, then honing it to an incredibly sharp zero-point edge.

We love watching rusty old objects get turned into shiny new ones. In this video from Random Hands, they transforming a weathered railroad track into an elegant Japanese weapon. The process starts by cutting off a hunk of steel, forging it into a bar shape, then gradually shaping and grinding it into its final form.

The Slow Mo Guys decided to steal a page from the guys at Corridor and used a katana to slice an arrow in half. But in their clip, they captured the feat in front of the lens of an ultra high-speed camera. We have no idea how Gav manages to connect with such ease.

Wielded by samurai (and The Walking Dead’s Michonne), the katana is one of the ultimate bladed weapons. Now learn to make your own mini razor-sharp katana thanks to BrainfooTV, who show us how to craft one with household tools. Take that, strawberry!