Oh I wish I could practise ken do too.. :( Regrettably there are no much school here...

I used a chrome shader from a AW shader library. Its not diffucult to make though. YOu just need to pick up the proper reflection map. For my blade I used a picture of a BMW :)

No not Kendo.
I studied in Hai Dong Gum Do. Its a Korean sword art that ustilises the Katana and follows the way of the samurai.