CAS Hanwei Tinker Bastard Sharp Sword

Straight out of the box, this is my new favorite sword - and I own some 25 - katanas, gladii and European types. Everything about this this sword is top quality. Everything is straight and tight. I can't believe how light it feels in hand while still giving a impression of great sturdiness. The scabbard is great and holds the sword snugly without any rattle. The grip is a bit skinny for my hands (YMMV) but that's what a rewrap is for, right? The only shortcoming is that while the blade is sold as a sharp it's actually pretty dull - not as blunt as a trainer version but dull. I'll sharpen it slowly and carefully to preserve the nice brushed finish. I'm really happy with this sword and look forward to some test cutting.

I bought this as a replacement of the Cold Steel Norman Sword  Cold Steel Norman Sword  which I returned because the scabbard was damaged, the blade was bent, and I didn't like the grip. This sword was essentially the same price, and to my eyes (I am NOT an expert in this field by any means) this is a significantly better product in many respects. First, it was packaged much more securely - fit into foam padding at three separate points (as opposed to a useless paper wrap for the Norman Sword - but I blame Amazon for that). So, the sword and scabbard arrived in good condition. I will say however that the base of the blade itself did arrive with some speckles of rust towards the hilt, and I would wager it had been in storage for some time. It had been well oiled prior to initial delivery from the factory I'm sure, but long enough storage in bad enough conditions and any steel will rust. Despite that, it was only in a small area at the base of the blade, and it's nothing that can't be removed with a little work.As for the rest of the product; the scabbard is nice, attractive, well-made. However the design of the throat is such that the metal (it FEELS like plastic, but you can tell by the sound it makes in contact with the blade that it must be metal of some sort) of the throat makes contact with the blade as it is drawn and re-sheathed. (Compare to an item like the Cold Steel Hand-and-a-Half Dagger  Cold Steel Hand And A Half Dagger  where the wooden scabbard core comes flush to the top of the throat.) As a result it makes a satisfying "shhhhing!!" sound like in the movies when drawn, but it scratches the flats and dulls/damages the sharpened edges of the blade. I will have to take a Dremel to the inside of the throat to make this anything approaching a functional scabbard. Even assuming this can be fixed though, the core of the scabbard is fiberglass, and this also has its downsides. The fiber is very loose and flaky, and leaves all kinds of debris on the blade when it is sheathed after oiling. Also the tip of the blade can snag in the fiber while being sheathed, making it difficult to use (and damaging the interior of the scabbard, I imagine). A well-fitting wooden core would have been preferable, in my opinion. I will do what I can to fix this scabbard up for display and long-term storage use, but I plan to order a custom-made leather scabbard with integral frog from Kult of Athena for actual practical use. If this scabbard was made to the same standards as that which came with my Cold Steel Hand-and-a-Half Dagger, I would be thrilled to use it as a functional piece. So the fact that it is not is disappointing.The sword itself; this is where the product makes up for those shortcomings. The design (thanks Tinker) of this blade and grip makes this sword just feel AWESOME in-hand. It is EXTREMELY long, but the grip affords an excellent purchase with either one or two hands (a la Bastard), and the mass is balanced to favor thrusting somewhat over cutting. I've not tested it extensively, but I have seen detailed video reviews of this sword in both cutting and thrusting, and from my own impression in-hand I am sure it is highly competent at both. It just begs to be whipped in tight S-curves with the flick of a wrist, and it feels like a dagger when used to thrust. Very light and nimble, sturdy, and easy to control. It feels VERY light considering its length, due to the thin blade and low center of mass. I'd wager the fullered version, while maybe a bit lighter, might FEEL a bit heavier and favor cutting motion slightly more than this diamond-cut version, shifting the center of mass slightly towards the tip. Either way, well-sharpened and aggressively wielded, I am sure both are fully capable of cutting things. :)Which leads me to the edge - the sword came with an 'edge', but not much of one. The tip was also bent over (about two or three millimeters maybe). Not sure how that happened. I've filed down the tip over the course of trying to put an edge on the blade enough that it isn't noticeably bent anymore, and it definitely has a good piercing tip. I don't have the luxury of a belt sander or such equipment for sharpening, so I'm just going over the edges with an Accusharp  AccuSharp Knife Sharpener With Replacement Blades  for a little while each day to gradually get it sharper and sharper in a way that I can afford to manage and maintain. No, it's by no means traditional and it doesn't give an attractive edge (compared, again, to the Cold Steel dagger, which has an almost razor-edge and a mirror finish edge-to-edge), but it is a decent way to edge a blade of this length without access to a workshop. Once I've got a satisfactory edge on the blade (which will take a while to obtain on this forged, high-carbon steel, apparently, with this dinky little sharpener) I'll use a Dremel to polish the blade and smooth things over. It does NOT come cutting-sharp from the factory though, or at least mine did not.I could go on with some detail of the hilt, pommel, and fittings, but I'll cut things short by saying they are all "good". This is a bare-bones, functional weapon (which I prefer), so its beauty is in its simplicity, not ornament. The leather on the grip, which is the most important detail in this area IMHO, seems thick and pretty high-grade. I've applied some moisturizer and water-repellant wax (on the scabbard as well, FWIW) to help keep from wearing as fast due to sweat and oil from my hands.Finally, the ridge of the blade, on close inspection, does not run true down the center all the way to the tip. It terminates on one side, about half an inch or so down from the very tip. This probably won't matter in the grand scheme, but it's some evidence that the forge just wasn't quite up to the task of detailing this sword to match the caliber of its original design. A design which by the way, is absolutely awesome. A design that makes this weapon well-worth the $200 you pay, despite all the little shortcomings in workmanship (some of which can be overcome with detail work of your own).

Bought this for myself as a kind of anniversary gift and overall I’m delighted it’s an excellent backyard cutter I’ve put the sword through a series of stress tests and so far it’s come out just fine the edge is very sharp and the alignment between edge and handle seems great to me as someone new to the sport. I was envisioning a slightly heavier blade but I’ve found that I enjoy the weight and balance of this sword immensely.

Perfect. A piece to be proud of, handles great and looks wonderful. I will be ready for the zombies.

Wonderful balance, perfect edge geometry and center ridge. Great fit and finish. That being said, I know their are swords that will out perform this in nearly all categories. For the quality to price ratio, you're not likely to come even close to beating it.