What is Tang? here is how it goes...

One of the major things to look for not just in a katana but in any sword is what kind of "tang" it has. Tang is the metal of the sword that goes into the handle. there are few different types of tang and it will decide what good the sword is. if your looking for a working sword that you would be ready to take into battle with then you want a sword that is "full tang". full tang is when the tang actually goes almost or all the way through the sword. when it comes to a katana there is an easy way to tell if it is full tang or not and that is by looking for "pegs" in the handle. for a katana and many other weapons out there, if it is full tang then it will have pegs inside of the handle and that is when there are little dowel shaped items going through the tang and is visible on the outside of the handle. they come in mainly two different materials and those are metals and bamboo. 90% of the time a full tang katana will have bamboo pegs because people like to keep to tradition. also when your looking for full tang then look for 2 pegs cause that means it is held in place in the higher and lower parts of the handle to keep it secure. there are some rare occasions when the tang will have 3 pegs but that's not a problem cause it still means its nearly impossible for the blade to come flying out of the handle. there are also some half tang katana's when there is only 1 peg because the tang only goes half way into the handle but that is not a very common thing. Also a lot of times when it comes to European swords the tang will actually be the but of handle so you can automatically know its a good sword. the other main thing to look out for is the wall hanger stamp of swords known as "rat tail tang". this is when the tang is literally just a welded on strip of metal on the bottom of the blade that goes to the end of the handle and on the end is just a nut that hass been put on at the end of the handle to keep it in place. these are only meant for display because if you were to swing that sword and that nut is loose then the blade could fly out of the handle and possible injure or even kill someone. There are few cases where even though its rat tail tang it could still be a decent swinger. for example i have a basic saber bought from trueswords.com and it is rat tail tang but it has better construction so its not going fly out and you can actually use it to a certain extent. So when it comes to tang, when you want a battle ready sword then you want full tang but when you want a wall hanger that will be left there and never touched then one could say its fine.