A SlickWins project

⚔️ Sword Friends

Buying your first katana shouldn't be a gamble — or a solo one. Sword Friends is a community of collectors who help each other find suppliers they can trust, inspect swords properly, and buy with real confidence.

Why Sword Friends?

Most online sword communities are walls of hype, affiliate links, and one-star horror stories with no one to tell you the truth. Sword Friends is the opposite: a vetted group of real collectors who share what they've actually tested — so you don't have to learn the hard way.

10+years of hands-on testing behind the steering
Hundredsof swords owned, cut, and broken — shared openly
46K+subscribers on the channel that started it
Foundingtier shapes what the community becomes

How we stay honest

No sponsors. No kickbacks. Nobody gets paid to push a brand. When a $50 wall hanger deserves to be called a wall hanger, we say so — that's the whole point of having each other.

What we do together

Sword Friends exists so the same questions stop being asked in the dark. When you join, you're not buying a product — you're walking into a room full of people who've already made (and learned from) the mistakes you're about to make.

  • 🛡️ Real talk on where to buy. Members compare notes on the suppliers worth your money — and the ones to steer clear of — so you don't get burned by a pretty listing.
  • 🔍 Second eyes on your new sword. Post your arrival photos and get honest read-backs: is that imperfection normal, or a problem you should send back?
  • 🚩 Scam-spotting together. The exact listings, labels, and phrasings bad sellers use — flagged and shared by the group before you lose money, not after.
  • 🗺️ Your first-katana roadmap. Budget, steel, tang, retailer, care — talked through with people who've walked the path, not a chatbot.
  • 🎟️ Events and cutting days. Meetups where collectors get hands-on, learn from each other, and have a good time.
  • 🗳️ A say in what we build. Founding members decide what the community becomes — not the other way around.

"The safest way to buy is from someone who's already been burned once and is willing to tell you about it."

— Matthew Jensen, Founding Member

Join the founding member waitlist — be in from day one

We're building the verified community the sword world has been asking for: sellers vetted before they're trusted, listings inspected by people who know, and buyers who never have to second-guess alone. It starts with the founding members on this list.

Founding member benefits

  • 🎟️ First access to events. Meetups, cutting days, and talks with the community — before they open to the public.
  • 💬 Early community access. Be in the room while we set the tone, the rules, and the standards.
  • 🗳️ A direct line into what we build. Tell us what you'd like to see — and what you'd like us to avoid. Your input shapes the community.

Join the founding member waitlist and reply to the welcome email with what you'd like to see — or avoid. Founding members get first access and a real say in what we build. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer email? support@swordfriends.com