First, most shuriken you see in martial arts catalogs & at gun shows are too big or bulky. They should be no larger than the palm of your hand 3" - 4" across and between 1/16" - 1/8" think. Any bigger than this and they will become heavy and unwieldy. Smaller than this and they will not be accurate past a few feet due to outside forces such as the wind. Shuriken should be light enough that they don't weigh you down even in quantity but heavy enough to fly far and stick well with as little effect from wind as possible.
Second, many shuriken are made of cheap foreign stainless. Whilst stainless is hard, it is also brittle and more likely to shatter on a bad impact. Mild carbon steel is a better choice. It is more likely to bend rather than break and can easily be bent back into shape and resharpened. If a hard but brittle stainless shuriken gets damaged you might end up needing special tools to repair or resharpen it. On mild carbon steel you can usually use any common file (available at any hardware store for very cheap) to resharpen it. We don't recommend using a grinder to sharpen/resharpen shuriken as they can take off too much metal and if they grab and yank a shuriken from your hand they can be dangerous.
Lastly, shuriken should be as flat as possible. This is so you can stack and carry multiples. Traditionally most ninja carried 9 shuriken at a time. If they are not flat they will be more difficult to carry in quantity and throw in rapid succession since they won't stack symmetrically.
Surprisingly many styles of shuriken intentionally do not have sharpened edges. This is because a lot of shurikenjutsu ryu (shuriken schools) also use the shuriken in hand to hand/melee combat. If the star is sharp on the edges, you are likely to cut yourself while using them in this manner. These ryu still retain the sharp tips but do away with the bladed edges. This also allows shuriken to remain legal in virtually all cases since without a bladed edge, they are effectively no more than a decorative washer as far as law enforcement is concerned.
Second, many shuriken are made of cheap foreign stainless. Whilst stainless is hard, it is also brittle and more likely to shatter on a bad impact. Mild carbon steel is a better choice. It is more likely to bend rather than break and can easily be bent back into shape and resharpened. If a hard but brittle stainless shuriken gets damaged you might end up needing special tools to repair or resharpen it. On mild carbon steel you can usually use any common file (available at any hardware store for very cheap) to resharpen it. We don't recommend using a grinder to sharpen/resharpen shuriken as they can take off too much metal and if they grab and yank a shuriken from your hand they can be dangerous.
Lastly, shuriken should be as flat as possible. This is so you can stack and carry multiples. Traditionally most ninja carried 9 shuriken at a time. If they are not flat they will be more difficult to carry in quantity and throw in rapid succession since they won't stack symmetrically.
Surprisingly many styles of shuriken intentionally do not have sharpened edges. This is because a lot of shurikenjutsu ryu (shuriken schools) also use the shuriken in hand to hand/melee combat. If the star is sharp on the edges, you are likely to cut yourself while using them in this manner. These ryu still retain the sharp tips but do away with the bladed edges. This also allows shuriken to remain legal in virtually all cases since without a bladed edge, they are effectively no more than a decorative washer as far as law enforcement is concerned.
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