If you can’t have a firearm, you might consider a Japanese Katana, Roman sword, Kukri or Bowie knife as your home defense weapon of choice.
First up in my review of home defense weapons is the Japanese Katana
My “Japanese Katana is a Chinese made replica of the real thing made by Japanese sword smiths over the last few hundred years. It’s made by Cheness Cutlery. And it costs me about $300. It’s heavy and it’s got a 28 inch blade. So it’s obviously more than capable of destroying an opponent in short order.
Keep in mind that I did this review in 2013, so my thoughts about the ideal home defense blade has changed. Much later in 2022 in my review of the Tora Blades new model Mark II kukri, I denigrate Chinese replicas of real Katanas created with loving care by Japanese swords smiths.
Next up is the Roman gladius
As a potential home defense Weapon. Mine is as close to the actual Roman shorts sword as it gets. Mark Morrow created my masterpiece. My Mark Morrow gladius is the Mainz style. Later, the Pompei style gladius replaced the Mainz. Because it was cheaper to produce and designed expressly for stabbing and thrusting For me the Mainz leaf style blade is far more beautiful than the Pompei Roman shorts sword. While it could cut and thrust equally well.
I had to wait six months for Mark to ship me my Gladius. And it cost me almost $1000.00 including its sheath Mark made for me.
Mine has a double edge 20 inch blade. Which is typical for Roman shorts swords the Roman legionnaires used from 100 b.c. to 200 ad. Both edges are razor sharp.
Next is the Cold Steel Trailmaster survival knife, one of the best home defense weapons but primarily designed for outdoor survival
It has an 11 inch blade. But it’s more of a survival knife than many other home defense weapons that are more suitable for combat. Which I can learn a lot more about in my new bowie knife review, “Fighting bowie knives.” I have two Cold Steel Trailmasters, one using Carbon V steel. The other Trailmaster is the San Mai Trail Master. Which is very expensive because it uses three layers of steel sandwiched together. To give it extreme sharpness without sacrificing durability.
The Cold Steel Trailmasters are essentially bowie knives. But unlike my Mark Morrow Arkansas fighting bowie they have uncommonly thick blades that can stand the punishment from splitting logs, Or cutting the limbs off trees for making shelters in the wilderness.
The next four blades suitable for home defense are four kukri’s I bought from Khukuri House.
Kurkri’s are some of the most lethal bladed weapons you can buy. Although Cold Steel sells some incredibly well designed Kukri’s, Nepalese kamis create the real thing entirely by hand.
I now own eleven kukris. All of them made by hand by Nepalese craftsmen representing three companies. Kuhkuri House, Himilayan Imports and Tora Blades.
But back in 2013 when I created this video, I only owned four kukri’s. All of them from Kuhkuri House.
The first one I reviewed here it the Kuhkuri House Extreme. The Extreme model impressed me so much that I later bought three more kukri’s from Kuhkuri House. All four are awesome home defense weapons.
I bought my second and third kukris from Kuhkuri House at the same time. Back in 2013, I thought that Nepalese Gurkha soldiers commonly used extremely heavy kukri’s during both world wars. So I decided to replicate what I thought the Gurkas actually used to behead their Japanese and German opponents. So I had Kuhkuri House design my very own World War II kukri.
Thing about Kuhkuri House is they will hand make just about any type of kuhkuri you desire. So I ordered a custom designed kukri that was exactly like the Extreme model I had already purchased. But I specified a 13 inch blade. Which essentially was the Extreme model’s bigger brother. As I final touch, I had Kuhkuri House engrave my name on its blade.
I also bought the Victor model from Kuhkuri House, which I might call the Extreme model’s cousin.
The Victor is slightly different from the Extreme model kukri from Kukri House and the custom kukri I got that was like an Extreme on steroid. For one thing it has a 15 inch blade. And it has three finger grooves cut into its even more massive handle. As you can see in this video it comes razor sharp.
In 2013 I equated which is the most lethal kukri with massiveness. So the Victor was the most lethal Kukri I could get. And did. Although it easily hold its own compared to other home defense weapons you might consider, it is so massive that you wouldn’t carry it around with you on any type of offensive mission. It is as I pointed out in this video even more heavy than my Chinese made Japanese Katana. So if an enraged Grizzly bear attacked you while you were out camping: it just might stop him.
But in my second novel, “Welcome to the Fun House”, I have my group of vigilantes use custom designed kukri’s that are short enough to fit in the storage spaces underneath their motor scooter seats.
So in the novel, they buy several Extreme models. While specifying a blade that is one centimeter thick.
So I ordered a custom Extreme model from Kuhkuri House that would be exactly what I envisioned while I was writing Welcome to the Fun House.
Again, I did this video back in 2013. Since then I found that a lot of customers buying kukri’s felt that Himalayan Imports sold the finest kukri’s that money can buy. So I bought three kukris from Himalayan Imports. All of them would make fine Home Defense weapons.
Then I bought three more Kukri’s from Tora Blades.
Which is owned by Simon Henkle who insists that his kamis make only kukri’s that are historically authentic. And, I found out that Tora Blades had quality standards that were at least equal to Himalayan Imports.
The four kukris I had bought from Kuhkuri House had been designed to be essentially utilitarian. And therefore not the exquisitely finished masterpieces you can buy from Himalayan Imports and Tora Blades. But I found that my Kuhkuri House kukri’s typically had sharper blades than I was getting from Himalayan Imports.
By this time I was wanting to buy a Japanese Katana that would represent my Alpha Productions web site. But I certainly didn’t want to be spending between $5000 and $10000 for a real Katana created by a Japanese sword smith.
While I had read that even $2000 to $3000 Chinese copies of real Japanese Katanas usually came with flaws.
From what I know and have experienced Tora Blades does not do custom jobs. And I don’t think Himalayan Imports does either.
Whereas Khukuri House already lists over 100 kukris and fighting knives in its online catalog. I already knew from personal experience that Kuhkuri House will make exactly what i want. According to whatever specifications I provide. While looking at the Khurkuri House web site I found that they would provide any type of engraving you desire for free.
So I bought the Khukuri House interwar officer’s model. And had Khukuri House engrave my alpha wolf insignia representing my web site right on its blade. The end result was the handiest, most compact, and light kurki that I own. Which is simply gorgeous in every way.
Related Links
Tora Blades early model Mark II Review, Battle Blades
Latest model Tora Blades Mark II Kurkri Review