Forum Newbie and recent Jin Shi customer

Hi everyone! I just joined this forum today, but actually I've been pouring over this forum over the past month in my search for a real Chinese sword. The name Jin Shi and Garret Chan kept coming up, and was always accompanied by good reviews about their swords and even better reviews of Garret's customer service. Their Han Jian looked beautiful, so I decided to check out their website. At first I was a bit skeptical about the very simple web design and how so many pages weren't even fully consctructed. However, when I got to reading their mission statement and their criterions for their products, I was struck by a sense of honesty and dedication coming from these sword makers. I emailed them immediately inquiring about their Han Jian. Garret's brother, Warren, responded promptly with details about the han jian and their custom options. I'm a complete newbie to real swords and the terms "folded", "t-10 tool steel", and "differentially hardened" meant absolutely nothing to me. Warren explained to me with great patience what everything meant and how their swords are made. I also put in a very complicated engraving request, and was constantly changing my mind about the lay out, but Warren was very patient and helpful throughout the entire process. The reputed customer service of Jin Shi does not dissapoint! In the end, I settled for a 31" folded, differentially hardened blade with a octogonal cross section, and an 8" hilt. And probably enough custom engravings to drive the blacksmiths a little crazy.

Anyways, I just sealed the deal a couple days ago with Warren and sent my paypal payment which came out to be 580 USD (the engravings cost me an extra 50, but only because mine were so complicated and abundant, usually engravings are complimentary. I would feel really guilty for making them engrave all my stuff for free though so now I have a clear conscience haha ). The waiting begins!

Since this is my introduction post on this forum, I guess I'll say a little about myself

I'm a Chinese American music student majoring in the violin, and at the same time part of a touring performing arts company. I've been practicing traditional northern longfist for the past 2 years, and have recently began studying the Wudang system of martial arts (including Wudang swordmanship). I've also dabbled a little bit in modern wushu before on my own, I know I know, what I can I say I was young and naive. When I met my longfist teacher 2 years ago he gave me a thorough lesson on how fail modern wushu is. But that was mostly in the open hand department. In terms of swords I was still kinda...lost I guess. There was a time when I thought chinese swordsmanship was doing 10 sword flowers per second and the sword has the make a loud pop every time you thrusted. And if you can't do an aerial with a sword in hand you were a bad swordsman. I guess I was a typical example of one fallen victim to modern wushu. Anyways, I'm saved now, so to speak

After I started practicing Wudang sword recently, the light wushu sword that I preferred for the modern wushu "drunken sword" routine just didn't feel right. Even the "traditional" competition tai chi sword I got, which is a lot heavier than the typical wushu sword, feels too light now. I know I needed a real sword if I was going to practice real Chinese swordsmanship. I asked a friend, who was also a fellow Wudang practitioner and my senior by a lot in terms of level and experience what type of sword I should use, and he suggested I try out the Han style. So here I am! Very excited to join the sword community and this forum, and to meeting new friends!