Buying My First Real Sword

Don't necessarily trust Kult of Athena when they say it's "sharp". That mostly means you can stick something and a hole will appear; it doesn't mean that the edge will cut things. Hanwei is notorious for blunt edges on their Euro swords.

That sword is part of the original "CAS Iberia" line of European swords, and they aren't the best out there. Most of the advice you'll get from this board is to save up and grab one of the Hanwei/Tinker line (the longsword, Early Medieval Single-Hand, Viking, Norman, Great Sword and Bastard), or go for the higher price point and get something from Valiant Armoury's Angus Trim Practical swords.

Good luck and do let us know what you end up with!

Thanks for the advice!
Hmm...this isn't going to be an easy decision. For my first sword, I was hoping not to spend more than $200-250. I'm not terribly worried about the weight, but I can see how that might be an issue.

When you mentioned Hanwei/Tinker, is this what you meant?
www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SH2408&name=Hanwei+Tinker+9th+Century+Viking+Sword+-+Sharp

I just bought that one last week. Fantastic first sword. Here is the review I wrote about it. forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2201

They are far more like the way a real sword should be. In handling, and historical accuracy.

Sorry for cutting in Lunaman and I apologize if this is incorrect or not enough.

The Norman would be a good choice as well. I love mine. Both the Norman and the viking would be good choices as far as fitting to the same time period as the River Witham. I may be mistaken but I am pretty sure that it was made around the same time that type X blades were in fashion. Though I may be wrong.

John's quite right, though admittedly the hilt construction on these is pretty contemporary.

In the spirit of providing a little more illumination, these swords are made by Hanwei's factory to the specifications and designs of Micheal "Tinker" Pearce, one of the foremost and most knowledgeable medieval swordmakers around (as Bloodwraith pointed out while I was typing this ). Tinker's personal pieces usually command prices of more than $1000-$1400.

Because of Micheal's involvement, these Hanwei/Tinker swords have mass distribution, handling, and engineering on-par with high-performance reproductions and custom pieces, but are offered at stupidly low prices because of their spartan finish and factory-mass-produced nature. The fittings are plain-jane and the grips and scabbards are bare-bones, but you cannot find a better quality blade for under $200. If you notice on the info pages, they used to retail for about $150 more than the current prices and were considered good buys even then-- at the current prices they are an absolute steal.

The huge jump in quality between the Iberia pieces and these more than justifies the $50-$60 price difference.

They aren't perfect by any means--the edges are notoriously finicky and nowhere near as good as the blades they have been ground onto and the fittings and leatherwork are quite bland. The scabbards are NOT good. But as a beginner sword for less than $200 dollars? These knock the pants off of anything else in that price range.


Now, I usually take it a step further and say that my personal recommendations for a beginner sword would be a Valiant Armoury practical, with superbly sharp edges and spectacular Leatherwork, and blades designed by another supreme swordmaker (Angus Trim) for less than $250. But the stretch from considering a $110 sword to a $150 sword is a bit less drastic than the stretch to looking at the next price bracket, and I meant to answer the OP's question about the Hanwei/Tinker swords directly first.

VA Arming sword (brown)
VA Longsword

congrats!

I agree completely with the fellows before me who recommend the Hanwei Tinker line swords. I have handled a few of them and they have all been very good. at the prices they are selling at right now it would almost be criminal to pass them up.

Windlass has decided to return some of their most famous swords to the market. so if you miss the end of this sale you can look up the Windlass Ulfbehrt and some of the other newly returned Windlass models but even at the higher prices the Hanwei Tinker swords are the best in the price range.