Buying swords online for Canadians

Buying swords has two basic areas to consider. First you need to know exactly what you want and second where they are going to purchase it from. There are many different styles of swords such as samurai katanas, claymores, rapiers, roman swords, greek swords, movie swords, fantasy swords to mention a few. These swords will be further divided into three groups:

1. Inexpensive swords will look good but not be battle ready. They may not look like a historical piece. Due to high chromium levels they may not need any maintenance. A common manufacturer of these swords would be United Cutlery.

2. The moderately expensive swords will look good and will be strong enough for battle. They can look like a historical piece. However, they will be heavier swords possibly using forged steel and they will require some maintenance like degreasing and re-oiling. Manufacturers of swords in this range would be Cold Steel and Casiberia.

3. The most expensive swords will look great and will be strong enough for any battle. They will very much look like a historical piece. However, due to high performance steels like Damascus steel they will need maintenance like degreasing and re-oiling after each use. Manufacturers of swords in this range would be Paul Chen and Cold Steel.

A note worth mentioning the term "battle ready" means different things to different people. Battle ready for medieval re-enactors means the blade is unsharpened so as not to injure their opponents. Yet, battle ready for a japanese katana sword means it will easily cut mats, rope or green bamboo.

Once you´ve chosen your sword style, how much you wish to spend and whether the blade will be sharp or not, it´s time to pick an online sword store. There are thousands of sword stores in North America and most of them are in the United States. This is where it becomes more difficult as a Canadian consumer. The problem is when the sword crosses the Canada/USA border. Surprisingly the problem is NOT from Canada Customs. Unlike Canadian knife laws, all swords regardless of length or sharpness are LEGAL in Canada. Problems with shipping a sword across the border are as follows:

1. High cost of international couriers. Within the U.S. ,courier costs are very low. However shipping to Canada that figure can easily go to 3 to 10 times the normal U.S. rate. Some courier companies will flatly refuse to transport a sword across international borders. Not to mention additional brokerage admin fees charged by some couriers on top of normal brokerage costs.

2. Its a fact of life that the courier company which delivers your sword in Canada will likely refuse to ship it back to the US if you need to do a return. Shipping into Canada is considered normal but shipping into the U.S. a sword is considered "dangerous goods". Therefore, couriers will ship swords into Canada but NOT back into the U.S. This makes returns rather difficult.

3. There"s a risk of being sent a factory second sword (a flawed sword) when you pay for a sword without flaws. Factory seconds are less than half the price of normal swords. This is especially difficult to deal with when return shipping is so difficult.

4. Naturally there is always a risk of fraud. Canada"s consumer laws protect Canadians against fraud but only from Canadian companies. They are unable to protect against companies outside of Canada.

5. Some Canadians have reported that some companies outside of Canada, have even ground down a sword edge in order to guarantee no problems at the Canadian border. As they wrongly believe a sharpened sword will be seized. This in turn makes the sword almost worthless.

I recommend that all Canadians looking to purchase a sword refer to a Canadian dealer first. The seemingly low price for a sword in the U.S. may turn out to be more expensive than you bargained for.

When picking a sword dealer find out how long they have been in business. Check to see if they list a real mailing address and not just a box number. Also, do they have a toll free 800 number ? Do they answer emails ? Are they knowledgeable ? Are they committed to good customer service. If you can say yes to these questions, about a sword dealer, then you"ve made a wise choice.

Pauline Favreau, President and Owner of KnifeZone.ca