Hanwei Song Sword
Mar 3, 2011 10:50:50 GMT
Post by SwordFan on Mar 3, 2011 10:50:50 GMT
Introduction
For a while now I have found myself more and more interested in Chinese swords and after receiving the Hanwei Beile Dao a while back I decided to order the Hanwei Song Sword .This was a bit of a “blind” buy as I could find no reviews or any other real info on it besides what I saw (and liked) in the pictures over at KOA . So I decided to hope for the best and ordered one and am I ever glad that I did so !
Initial Impressions
After a bit of a long wait the box from KOA finally arrived at our Customs section ,there were some large delays with it arriving here purely because of all the bad weather abroad which resulted in delayed flights etc etc . So once it had arrived at our Customs department I was quick to jump in the Car and go and collect it as delivery to me would have taken another couple of days as Customs were sitting with a backlog of items to process .After collecting it and paying the 38% in Customs and taxes I was on my way home to “play with my new toys” as my wife likes to put it .
The swords (Song Sword , Qi Jian and CS Jade Lion Dagger ) inside the 42” box were well packaged (as always from KOA) .At this point I would just like to make mention of the excellent service I always receive from Ryan at KOA . Their service and help has been nothing short of excellent with us over the years .So much so that I will only buy from them .I love that they always inspect my swords carefully (at my request) for any faults before packaging especially with me being an international buyer as trying to return a damaged item is nothing short of a huge headache and a very expensive .
After removing the brown packaging from the Hanwei Song Sword and taking it out of the maroon sword bag I was blown away immediately before even drawing the blade !The fittings and rayskin wrapped scabbard are simply stunning !The blade does not let the package down either with a very nice shape and look to it . So lets get into some of the finer details .
Statistics
Taken from Kultofathena :
The exquisite Song Sword from the craftsmen of Hanwei features a beautifully patterned folded K120C powder steel blade in a traditional willow-leaf design with deep fullers and top quality fittings. The Full Moon guard has a ''flying goose'' motif on the grip side and traditional ''good fortune'' patterning on the blade side, repeated on the pommel and scabbard fittings. The grip is leather-wrapped over sharkskin, which also covers the scabbard. The beauty of this sword belies the fact that it is fully functional, with great inherent strength, balance, and cutting ability.
Blade Length: 24 1/2” Long
Handle Length: 4” Long
Overall Length: 32” Long
Weight: 2lb
Thickness: 6.5mm – 4.3mm
Width: 33.6mm - 39mm
Pommel : Threaded
Components
The Blade:
The blade is well polished patterned folded K120C powder steel blade in a traditional willow-leaf design with deep fullers with a distinct pattern on the blade which looks rather nice on this sword .It surprisingly came paper cutting sharp which was not what I was expecting after hearing so many stories of the Hanwei Chinese swords having rather “dull” edges .The willow-leaf blade is something I really like and when handling the sword it just gives you the impression that its ready for war (so bring on the zombies,ha ha ) . The pictures can do so much more to describe this stunning blade so here they are :
The Handle
The handle features a wooden core wrapped in black rayskin (looks like a full wrap to me) and a black suede/leather wrap .The wrap has been done extremely tightly and is very comfortable in hand .The downward curve of the handle is also surprisingly very comfortable and makes swinging this beauty around a true pleasure .
The Guard:
It has a Full Moon guard that has a ''flying goose'' motif on the grip side and traditional ''good fortune'' patterning on the blade side.The Guard is extremely well done and highly detailed as you will see in the pictures .
The Pommel:
The pommel features the traditional “good fortune” patterning on it which is well done and is a theme found throughout on this sword .
It also has a threaded pommel which has shown no signs of play or loosening with any dry handling and some light cutting .
The Scabbard:
The matching scabbard is covered in Rayskin which is very well done and polished to a very smooth finish . The fittings on the scabbard are very detailed following the “good fortune” patterning found on the guard and pommel.No rattle inside at all with the blade fitting snugly inside .
Handling Characteristics
This is my first chinese sword of this type so I have nothing to compare it with per say .So all Ill say is that it is very quick in hand and effortless to wield . It is really a fun sword to handle and is one of my all time favourite Hanwei pieces .
Cutting
Well unfortunately the weather has been really poor of late here ,so Iv not had a chance to do too much cutting other than a couple of water bottles which the Song Sword handled with ease .I cant wait to give it a longer cutting session ,but ill have to wait for the weather to improve as space is limited in my garage .I doubt ill ever cut anything more than some bottles or pool noodles with it though purely due to the high cost and not wanting to ruin the blade . I would rather use one of my Raptors for some heavy cutting ,though I am sure that the Song Sword would be able to hold its own .
Conclusions
Overall I really love this sword and it is one of my favourite pieces . My only gripe is the price at $999 its a little steep ( ok more than a little) .Is it a nice sword ?No its a great sword !Is it worth the $999 price point ,well I guess that would be open to debate .I think the fact that there is not much out there with regards to quality chinese swords (when compared to the katana market) has meant less competition and steeper price points on Chinese swords ,well this is my opinion anyway .Am I happy with the sword ?Yes most definitely the quality is really great with very good fit and finish , great fittings great scabbard and a very nice sharp blade . I tried to find some faults (and be objective) ,but honestly I could find nothing wrong .A well put together quality piece which Is what you would expect at this price point I should think .As a comparison I compared the quality of the Song Sword to some of my high end Hanwei Katana (Kami ,Tiger Elite,Bushido and Fuku Riu) and the Song sword on quality ,fit and finish and fittings beats them hands down in my opinion .
Pros
Very Sharp blade with a great shape to it and very nice detail
Full Rayskin wrap on scabbard which has been very well polished
Quality fittings throughout that are very detailed and look great
Very tight wrap and lovely curved handle
Great handling – Very fast and agile blade
Cons
Honestly the only fault I could find was the price point ,but this I suppose is debatable
The Bottom Line
Apart from the pricing I would definitely recommend the Hanwei Song sword for anyone looking for a very high quality piece .
For a while now I have found myself more and more interested in Chinese swords and after receiving the Hanwei Beile Dao a while back I decided to order the Hanwei Song Sword .This was a bit of a “blind” buy as I could find no reviews or any other real info on it besides what I saw (and liked) in the pictures over at KOA . So I decided to hope for the best and ordered one and am I ever glad that I did so !
Initial Impressions
After a bit of a long wait the box from KOA finally arrived at our Customs section ,there were some large delays with it arriving here purely because of all the bad weather abroad which resulted in delayed flights etc etc . So once it had arrived at our Customs department I was quick to jump in the Car and go and collect it as delivery to me would have taken another couple of days as Customs were sitting with a backlog of items to process .After collecting it and paying the 38% in Customs and taxes I was on my way home to “play with my new toys” as my wife likes to put it .
The swords (Song Sword , Qi Jian and CS Jade Lion Dagger ) inside the 42” box were well packaged (as always from KOA) .At this point I would just like to make mention of the excellent service I always receive from Ryan at KOA . Their service and help has been nothing short of excellent with us over the years .So much so that I will only buy from them .I love that they always inspect my swords carefully (at my request) for any faults before packaging especially with me being an international buyer as trying to return a damaged item is nothing short of a huge headache and a very expensive .
After removing the brown packaging from the Hanwei Song Sword and taking it out of the maroon sword bag I was blown away immediately before even drawing the blade !The fittings and rayskin wrapped scabbard are simply stunning !The blade does not let the package down either with a very nice shape and look to it . So lets get into some of the finer details .
Statistics
Taken from Kultofathena :
The exquisite Song Sword from the craftsmen of Hanwei features a beautifully patterned folded K120C powder steel blade in a traditional willow-leaf design with deep fullers and top quality fittings. The Full Moon guard has a ''flying goose'' motif on the grip side and traditional ''good fortune'' patterning on the blade side, repeated on the pommel and scabbard fittings. The grip is leather-wrapped over sharkskin, which also covers the scabbard. The beauty of this sword belies the fact that it is fully functional, with great inherent strength, balance, and cutting ability.
Blade Length: 24 1/2” Long
Handle Length: 4” Long
Overall Length: 32” Long
Weight: 2lb
Thickness: 6.5mm – 4.3mm
Width: 33.6mm - 39mm
Pommel : Threaded
Components
The Blade:
The blade is well polished patterned folded K120C powder steel blade in a traditional willow-leaf design with deep fullers with a distinct pattern on the blade which looks rather nice on this sword .It surprisingly came paper cutting sharp which was not what I was expecting after hearing so many stories of the Hanwei Chinese swords having rather “dull” edges .The willow-leaf blade is something I really like and when handling the sword it just gives you the impression that its ready for war (so bring on the zombies,ha ha ) . The pictures can do so much more to describe this stunning blade so here they are :
The Handle
The handle features a wooden core wrapped in black rayskin (looks like a full wrap to me) and a black suede/leather wrap .The wrap has been done extremely tightly and is very comfortable in hand .The downward curve of the handle is also surprisingly very comfortable and makes swinging this beauty around a true pleasure .
The Guard:
It has a Full Moon guard that has a ''flying goose'' motif on the grip side and traditional ''good fortune'' patterning on the blade side.The Guard is extremely well done and highly detailed as you will see in the pictures .
The Pommel:
The pommel features the traditional “good fortune” patterning on it which is well done and is a theme found throughout on this sword .
It also has a threaded pommel which has shown no signs of play or loosening with any dry handling and some light cutting .
The Scabbard:
The matching scabbard is covered in Rayskin which is very well done and polished to a very smooth finish . The fittings on the scabbard are very detailed following the “good fortune” patterning found on the guard and pommel.No rattle inside at all with the blade fitting snugly inside .
Handling Characteristics
This is my first chinese sword of this type so I have nothing to compare it with per say .So all Ill say is that it is very quick in hand and effortless to wield . It is really a fun sword to handle and is one of my all time favourite Hanwei pieces .
Cutting
Well unfortunately the weather has been really poor of late here ,so Iv not had a chance to do too much cutting other than a couple of water bottles which the Song Sword handled with ease .I cant wait to give it a longer cutting session ,but ill have to wait for the weather to improve as space is limited in my garage .I doubt ill ever cut anything more than some bottles or pool noodles with it though purely due to the high cost and not wanting to ruin the blade . I would rather use one of my Raptors for some heavy cutting ,though I am sure that the Song Sword would be able to hold its own .
Conclusions
Overall I really love this sword and it is one of my favourite pieces . My only gripe is the price at $999 its a little steep ( ok more than a little) .Is it a nice sword ?No its a great sword !Is it worth the $999 price point ,well I guess that would be open to debate .I think the fact that there is not much out there with regards to quality chinese swords (when compared to the katana market) has meant less competition and steeper price points on Chinese swords ,well this is my opinion anyway .Am I happy with the sword ?Yes most definitely the quality is really great with very good fit and finish , great fittings great scabbard and a very nice sharp blade . I tried to find some faults (and be objective) ,but honestly I could find nothing wrong .A well put together quality piece which Is what you would expect at this price point I should think .As a comparison I compared the quality of the Song Sword to some of my high end Hanwei Katana (Kami ,Tiger Elite,Bushido and Fuku Riu) and the Song sword on quality ,fit and finish and fittings beats them hands down in my opinion .
Pros
Very Sharp blade with a great shape to it and very nice detail
Full Rayskin wrap on scabbard which has been very well polished
Quality fittings throughout that are very detailed and look great
Very tight wrap and lovely curved handle
Great handling – Very fast and agile blade
Cons
Honestly the only fault I could find was the price point ,but this I suppose is debatable
The Bottom Line
Apart from the pricing I would definitely recommend the Hanwei Song sword for anyone looking for a very high quality piece .
Baskethilt probably. 
