The Raptor series is designed for the sword practitioner who wants to practice and perfect his cutting techniques. The blades of these swords are hand-forged in 5160 carbon steel and specially heat-treated to achieve a very high resilience. The raptor swords also have a greater tolerance for less clean cuts than a conventional differential hardened blade. The properties of this type of steel also ensure that these swords are all easy to handle because the design is not excessively thick. During tameshigiri you will notice that these blades have an edge configured for a wide application so that many materials can be used as possible targets. These full-tang sharp blades (shinken) are optimized for modern Japanese swordsmanship practitioners. Each batte ready katana in this raptor series has a unique design, also called sugata, with its origins in the history of Japanese sword forging, giving the practitioner choices in both aesthetics and handling properties.