Howard Clark L6 Bainite Katana

HOLD PENDING PAYMENT

The Bainite L6 swords Howard Clark produces offer remarkable performance with simple elegance. They are a completely modern sword from both a metallurgical and heat treating standpoint. Howard forges them to shape, and heat treats them in a proprietary method to produce the paradox of a bainite body with a martinsitic edge. Many of these swords are used in competition by martial artists with great success and efficiency. Others have them as part of their contemporary collections. They are tough, reliable, resilient blades made to handle the extremes of heavy cutting. There is nothing magical about these blades. They won’t make you leap tall buildings, nor will they cut tanks in half. They also do not display the characteristics associated with Japanese swords in the hada because there isn’t any, or hamon which is attractive yet distinctly different due to the materials and methods of its production. But they are the pinnacle of available performance blades; and stand on their own merits as a beautiful work of contemporary sword craft using modern metallurgy.

There are other swords made from L6 which is merely a form of industrial steel. There are also manufacturers producing what they claim to be L6 swords in Bainite. Howard is the one that brought the L6 Bainite to fruition through his own sweat equity. As the old saying goes; “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Though I can neither confirm nor deny the claims or performance of the others, I have personal, up front experience with Howard’s L6 Bainite swords, having both tested them personally, and seen them put to extremes I never would have imagined any blade could survive. I don’t need to see the lab tests to tell me what they’re capable of, or to build trust that Howard knows what the hell he’s doing. He does.

This blade is Shinogi zukuri with a cutting edge of 31 inches. It has a slightly high shinogi with a kasane of 7 mm. It is unpolished, in the rough finish as it left Howard’s shop.

Offered on consignment as is: $4600.00 ON HOLD