Practical Tai Chi Sword

It's okay, unsharpened, but the fittings are mediocre, you would be better off with the Adam Hsu jian, same blade, much better fittings.

I can assure you it's not. I have actually used it before, the reviewer might have self sharpened it. Or had it sharpened by the retailer he bought it from.

Actually, the one I got was slightly sharp. I wouldn't put it in the category of a properly sharpened sword mind you, but it did have a bit of an edge to it; my wife had actually cut herself on the blade. Granted, I got one of the older models, the ones made with the wood handles and scabbard... the ones that were made before the Adam Hsu swords showed up. I don't know if they have dulled the blades since then, since I haven't bought the newer versions (I probably should, since they have the better designed handles that are on the Adam Hsu models).

Again, I wouldn't say the edge was top notch, far from it. But there is something of an edge there. I doubt I'd would be able to toss sheets of paper into the air and cut them if there wasn't an edge (I did that when I first got the sword two years ago). And no, I didn't ask for it to be sharpened. *shrugs*

Sword boy yes it looks awsome but eventhough it is damascas steel hanewi still does not sujest it for cutting practice Wait for garretts blades they are more worth the money

From what I've heard, that's a damn good sword. The whole thing is one forged piece, from pommel to tip, with handle material added. Certainly not an exchangeable blade.

Where does Hanwei say not to cut with it?

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that of the cheap-ass Practical TaiChi sword, but that thing? No way in hell.

Must've misread ya. That sure didn't SOUND right...

If you can wait, Hanwei is working on a Scott Rodell cutting jian and saber with specs from actual antiques that Scott gave them.

Their current jian are not 'real swords' in the sense of weighted/balanced/ blade profile / heat treated for stresses of cutting and combat.

If you want a real sword save an extra $200 beyond $300 and get a Huanuo jian like their monosteel peony model. Compared to the Cold Steel jian, the Huanuo name models (I think they make it for Cold Steel) have more distal taper on their blades making less clumsy and more like actual antiques.

unlike European Swords, no one really makes a good tough, historically accurate (relatively) sword for under $300. You're better off saving and getting a good one than buying a succession of 'almost' and wasting your money when you upgrade. I'm guilty of that myself, I went through Lung Chuan garbage SLO, Kris Cutlery Gim (improper balance, soft heat treat so blade took on a saber like curve from stress of cutting), to Hanwei Practical Tai Chi sword (nothing practical about it if you're expecting a real sword.) The money from those would have paid for a Huanuo in the first place.

Seven Stars Trading sells them in the US.

My one beef with the Huanuo is that blade profile is flattened diamond instead of lenticular (clamshell shaped) like the antiques. This makes the edge vulnerable if cutting hard targets.