How do single piece swords stack up?

Obviously there's an apparent advantage to having no possibility of loosening peens, rattling crosses, failed menuki and the like, but I seriously doubt it would be enough to offset the inherent difficulty in crafting a sword like this in the first place.

How do you forge a sword like this? You can use huge manufacturing equipment with multi-ton forging dies--the way one-piece modern axes are made (and likely the way hanwei makes these swords), or you can use absurd amounts of hand labor to work over one piece of steel when it would be much easier to control and shape separate ones. Neither seems very attractive to me when I romancticize the process of sword-making in my mind.

And how do you properly heat-treat a sword with a tang that abruptly switches from 5 or 6 millimeters in thickness to the better part of an inch or (with the jian) more than two inches thick? Hanwei has enough resources at its disposal to test and manage, but I just wouldn't trust this construction with a smaller company or craftsmen.

There's so many problems to overcome with this construction, it just doesn't seem worth it in the end. I'm not going to be putting my swords through anything where traditional construction isn't more than sufficient, and at least with traditional construction I know exactly how the elements are controlled for quality. This "one-piece" construction seems like it caters to nervous or paranoid customers or those who are chasing after the "ooh, nifty-- Wow!" factor in their purchases.

The Qi Jian is cool-looking, though.

True, but tactical swords still have an added grip element (be it layered paracord or grip slabs) over a reasonable-sized tang, which I see as knife construction. That, of course, has been used successfully for hundreds of years.





We're talking about swords that have full-sized complex pommels, guards, and grips forged as part of the tang. THAT seems like an unnecessary complication and risk for very little practical payoff. Besides the "ooh, nifty-- Wow!" factor, of course.

I sharpened one of those Qi Jians for a fella a while back. As I remember it was a nice enough sword for the type. I remember thinking I'd like a Euro sword made like that.


I've wondered if some of Jody Sampson's swords were made like that, one piece with a leather wrap for a grip.

I believe that's the afore mentioned Trondheim, Sean.

I have some doubts as to the heat treat on the trondheim, I would think that with real use it would fail at the hilt.....SanMarc.

Yep.



The tacticals don't have complex thick guards or pommels, which is why I trust them more than these hanwei offerings. Also, being made by Gus Trim helps.