The first time I ever laid eyes on a Katana (or at least a representation of it), was in the Cartoon Network show Samurai Jack. Now I’m not an anime or manga person, so this cartoon, and Kill Bill, formed what became my formative body of knowledge around the Japanese warrior’s most prized tool. The Katana was considered one of the ultimate weapons – if wielded with expertise and honor, it could achieve all your goals, slicing through enemies like a knife through butter.
Now a good katana can cost upwards of a thousand dollars if you go for one that’s forged by a swordsmith, but a good katana isn’t really EDC. You can mount it on your wall and occasionally swing it around in your backyard, but you can’t carry it around with you, and you certainly can’t use it to open Amazon parcels or envelopes. For that task, may I present to you a tinier nihonto (Japanese blade), made to capture the beauty of the legendary Japanese sword, but on a smaller scale. The Treszen Stainless Steel Knife (I’m not a fan of the name, btw) or the Micro Katana as I like to call it, is a tinier, more portable, EDC-worthy alternative that costs less than $10. It comes with an all-metal design, has graphics etched onto the Tanto-style blade, and measures a mere 9.5 inches long and 0.48 inches wide.
Designer: Treszen
Before all the purists jump for my throat, this isn’t technically a Katana. Katanas have curved bellies, and this one, for the sake of manufacturing feasibility, comes with a straight blade design. That saves material, and makes CNC-machining the straight sheathe a lot easier too. The all-metal knife’s design looks larger than life, but is perfectly dagger-sized, making it perfect for indoor and outdoor tasks. It still has the personality of a sword, which is what I really love.
That personality comes from the Micro Katana’s proportions. It’s long and slender, so your mind almost imagines it to feel ‘larger’ than most stout pocket blades. It measures an impressive 9.5 inches long, with a fixed blade that’s an impressive 5.8 inches in length and crafted from carbon steel. The narrow American Tanto-style blade comes with two edges – the long and obvious one, but also the smaller edge on the front, created because of the sharp transition. This gives you two edges and two tips for a variety of tasks from piercing to slicing, scraping, carving, whittling, etc. Again, the carbon steel comes in handy here, holding its edge to wear and tear.
The knife weighs approximately 5 ounces or 142 grams (including the sheath). When closed, you’re left with this metal baton that is fun to fidget with or spin in your hands. To access the blade inside, unscrew the top and slide the knife out with confidence. The sheath and grip are fairly plain in their design (barring some CNC ridges on the ends), which is why the blade’s laser-etched pattern really gives the Micro Katana some character.
Now this ‘katana’ isn’t forged by some famous or reputed katana kaji (Japanese swordsmith). It’s manufactured the way most EDC are, using machines that ensure sharpness, precision, and consistency. It’s also why the knife can cost just under $10, making it sort of a no-brainer purchase if you want a fun, functional pen-sized EDC with a sword-sized appeal. Sure, the pen may be more powerful than the sword, so why not just combine the two, right?!
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