So, Cold Steel presumably got its Emperor O Tanto back, and Amazon issued me a full refund. It was absurdly terrible craftsmanship for a blade with a $600 MSRP, and still entirely unacceptable at 50% off (which was what I paid).

I decided it was time to give Hanwei a chance, and their "Tactical Tanto" attracted me with its synthetic saya/scabbard and handle scales, solely due to the inherent moisture-resistant properties, which was the entire aim of this build in the first place. Not to mention, the price point seemed pretty reasonable. I only have two major gripes with it. 

One- I'm not even sure what's going on with the inside of the saya, but it's kind of a horror show in there right now. Also, the blade retention is weirdly unpredictable and potentially a safety hazard. I will address this issue later down the line. 

Two- the handle scales and tsuba/guard are permanently attached to the nakago/tang with some kind of adhesive, making disassembly impossible without causing permanent damage. After a few discussions with Hanwei, Kult of Athena support, and another individual who had successfully removed the scales from the katana version of this "tactical" line, I decided to leave it as it is. It may prove to be a blessing in disguise for rust prevention, so long as I can take care of that exposed tang, which I will.

Here are the modifications: 

* Removed the horrible stock paracord situation from the tsuka and saya
* Massively improved sharpness of the blade via Shapton 1000/5000 whetstones
* Polished the blade with 1000-grit sandpaper, will likely improve it via 2k, 3k, 5k, and 7k paper.
* Covered the handle scales and exposed tang with multiple layers of renaissance wax
* Covered the fiberglass exterior of the saya with renaissance wax
* Tightly wrapped the handle and scabbard in quality beeswax-reinforced 550 paracord
* Applied a layer of beeswax to the (authentic) leather sword frog and tied it to the saya

I'll be keeping the blade protected with a light coating of food-grade mineral oil for the meantime. I'm still debating whether to swap out the lacing of the sword frog with red, purple, olive drab, or tan paracord to add some contrast and give it a bit more personality. What do you guys think?

You may ask- why did I do any of this at all? Well, I wanted something that treads the line between "knife" and "sword" while theoretically having some practical application- particularly in a wet climate- and not being some type of bowie, machete, kukri, and the like. So, I chose a "tanto" long enough to almost be called a "wakizashi" but with a blade that remains just shy of one "shaku" in length. 

After getting a full refund on the previous disaster... here's the new, custom, modernized, moisture-resistant tanto project.