A Good Beginners Sword

Unless if you're looking for aethesics, in whcih case, VA would be a good choice, if a bit more expensive.

oh yeah, forgot that other h/t tinker

I just received my first battle ready medieval sword, the Hanwei Mercenary Sword - SH2368, $137 after shipping at Kult of Athena.

I'm impressed with it for as cheap as it was. It seems well balanced to me and sturdy. The grip seems pretty cheap and is a bit big for me, but I'll deal with it until I have the courage to customize it myself.

I just measured it. Mine is just over 4" circumference at the guard, 4.5" at the widest point, and 2 3/4" at the pommel.

..But...but the ricasso is so ugly. I just can't get past that, lol.

Especially when several of their blades purport to be reproductions of well-known and beautiful historical swords--->the grip rings and hideous ricasso blocks feel like a slap in the face.



Anyway, as far as "beginners" Swords are concerned, the Hanwei/Tinkers are a great value and quite affordable.
But there's still some lingering concern about the edges, and re-sharpening is usually not in the beginner repertoire. With a $250 budget I'd go with a Valiant Armoury offering as a starter blade, like the Practical Longsword. They've got great sharp edges and spectacular leather work--solid cutters right out of the box (and good-looking).

Congrats on taking the plunge. In the years to come, may you be taking down all your pictures to make more room for swords. Your first sword is going to be a matter of personal preference. It's not going to matter if us forumites like a particular sword but you don't. A bigger consideration is to buy from a good dealer and a good manufacturer. Read the reviews on this forum. Check out the link to the reviews on the old forum. Do your research and then go ahead and buy. I guarantee, it will not be your last. As you hold a few of these things in your hands and get the feel of them, you'll start to learn what everyone on this forum means when they use the terms they do. Sword collecting is a dynamic hobby. Asking what's a good beginner's sword is like asking what's a good beginner's girlfriend. Try one. Hold her. Get the feel of her. But the cool thing about swords, they don't get mad when you get another one. Well...there was that one time my two handed templar bit me after I brought home a cute little swept hilt rapier.

Get a bokken or a wooden waster of some stripe.

Purpleheart Armoury

They have European weapons: longswords, shortswords, staves, ... all kinds of fun stuff.


If your interest is japanese swordsmanship, you might try one of these:


Then find a dojo or a group in your area dedicated to the weapon art form.

Ahhh another fellow Canadian! Welcome! My first choice as a new collector was a Dark-Sword Armory Black Knight sword, as they are beautiful hand made Canadian pieces and stronger then most tanks!

If you order from Sword buyers Guide, you could have a DSA sword shipped directly from the forge (located in Montreal) shipped FREE to you! They are well made, "beater" swords that don't come sharp (unless you order it that way), is a good sword to swing around and can be self-sharpened later when the need arises. They also have upgraded their scabbards and added the option to include a sword suspension system to your scabbard as well. You can order any of the DSA swords through the SBG store even though they are not all shown on that site. If you want to see the whole collection here you go:

www.darksword-armory.com/


(Also, the owner/operator of the SBG store, Paul Southern, will take care of your order, with %110 satisfaction!)

well, I'm gonna stick my foot square in it here and say that I think anyone who is looking to learn how to use a sword and intends to cut things with their sword absolutely MUST learn at least the very basics of polishing and sharpening a sword.

when it comes to this Hanwei Mercenary sword what I don't understand is why not spend another $37 and get a good sword: kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SH2424

ok so Hanwei Tinker line swords probably aren't sharp, ANY Euro sword from them will likely not be sharp so you might as well get the sword that is a good sword even when it is as dull as a rock on the bottom of a river.

as for the idea that the ricasso does not effect the handling or performance of a sword I have to ask: what the heck gives you that idea? everything on a sword effects how it works. Ricassos do a lot of things, they change the mas distribution, effect balance points, change the length and frequency of the harmonics in the blade, and some other things that I am not aware of I'm quite sure. generally ricassos are good things but there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing. heck even the thickness and shape of the grip effects how a sword handles. when I first got my Antioch from Christian Fletcher it felt like it should be a really good sword but I just could not get the darned thing to work well for me. I kept thinking I must be doing something wrong because everything about the sword screamed "this is an awesome sword" so why couldn't I cut with it? eventually I sent it to Gus to see if he could figure out what was up. he told me it was his opinion that when I had Christian to add a riser to middle of the grip it really messed up the design of the grip and made it really hard to maintain edge alignment. Gus couldn't get it to cut either, so he pulled the leather off and gripped it on the wood core. immediately he was able to cut with it no problem. so we had the grip redone and now it is my favorite single hander. so what we have in this story is a tiny little ring of leather on the grip messing everything up. when I had the grip redone they didn't change the wood core, just wound it in glue and cord and then leather over the top. that's all.

I do not think this line is going to be the musashi of Euro swords, at least not this model. you see, musashis are actually pretty decent. most of them are really light and can seem kinda fragile and of course their details are a bit slopy most of the time compared to the higher cost swords, but they work. they are balanced properly, handle right, and cut well. what European sword makers need to do is study the historical swords more (or at least good copies of them) and figure out how to replicate the properties that make those swords good while keeping costs down. this is a harder job for Euros than Kats because Katana require much less distal taper than Euro swords do and distal taper is difficult and expensive to do right.

even when the Hanwei Tinker line first came out and they were about the same price as the Valiant Armory practicals I still thought there were good reasons to pick a Hanwei over a VA, at least for some people.now that the H/T line is so much cheaper they have become a much more reccomendable sword.

one last rant about edges:
I know I am a big proponant of good edges, but I'm here to tell you guys: you need to learn to do it yourself. even if you get a sword that has a great edge to begin with you will still need to be able to fix it up now and then. besides, there is an intimacy and understanding of a sword you will never get unless you spend many hours stroking every inch of it (ok guys no dirty comments here please, I'm having a serious moment)