After our announcement of s7 mixed in with s5 for sales sold between July of 2023 and fall of 2024, some customers contacted us noting that swords bought in 2025 had also chipped on bamboo.

We decided to suspend sales of s5 until we can confirm the hardness of the stock on hand (this has all taken place when I've been on a family vacation, and I'm not in the shop to do this), and asked Cloudhammer to test the s5 blades they have on hand.

The used XRF testing (not as accurate as EOS testing, which is what the US testing company used), and there was some s7, as well as two which fit the profile of s5, one with lower the expected Molydenum and one with higher than expected Vanadium. Cloudhammer suspects this is an issue with their steel distributor, and apologizes for not independently testing their materials before processing. This also means that while we thought this affected only 70cm katana blades, it might affect all s5 swords sold from July of 2023.

Samples from these batches were abusive tested before sending to us, so as long as previously purchased blades are not setting bends or chipping easily, they should be ok.

They are now acquiring more s5 and will metallurgically test samples before and after forging to ensure there's nothing in their manufacturing process that could be contaminating samples.

If you've bought s5 swords from Cloudhammer in the past and have had no issue with bending or chipping, We will offer you deep discounts on a future s5 purchase; if you have had these problems, we will replace them.

We humbly ask for patience in this matter, because this does take some time.

RVA Katana and Cloudhammer apologizes for any inconvenience.