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Post by twiggy on Jan 24, 2024 22:57:44 GMT
I have seen many reviews, either in video form, or text, that have pointed towards the Revolutionary War Hanger from Hanwei being a good sword. What attracted me to it, was it's simple design, just a basic black hilt, and blade, nothing ornamental. One review on Kult of Athena, said that he used it for fencing, and it has held up very well over something like 8 years and only then needed some minors repairs. I purchased it from Reliks.com a Canadian based retailer. I also opted for the sharpening service, because I want to do backyard cutting. I bought it Sunday, and by Tuesday it was sharpened and shipped. It came in under 2 hours ago. Upon unpacking, I was very impressed by the build quality, the scabbard itself seems well built, and seems to hold the sword in good with a decent amount of tension. I also shook the hell out of it, holding the sword by the hilt, it never fell out or even come slightly loose, and I didn't even hear any rattle at all. The blade is the blade, it seems good, but I am still thinking of if I want to remove the little bit of "antique" blackening on it, or not, but that's just cosmetic. The hilt seems very solid as well, and luckily even for my large hands, there is more than enough space for me to get a good grip on it, with room left over, even wearing gloves. It wasn't able to shave any hairs off my arm, or hand. It does cut paper though, but a little teethy. When I finally got to cutting a couple bottles, being a total sword virgin, the first cut didn't do anything but knock the bottle off of the stump, the second cut cut the bottle right in half while also knocking it down (this was a little larger 750ml Brisk Iced Tea bottle), then the third cut on just a regular water bottle also cut through it, but close to the top, also knocking it down. I know much of that is due to my total lack of cutting experience, but I think this shows that yes, even with the edge being how it is, it does cut, even if the edge alignment was not ideal. All in all, I think I will end up sharpening it a little more, and just for personal aesthetic reason, I may remove the antique blackening, but, I am very happy with my purchase and it seems like money well spent. I think this may become and "old faithful" into the future.
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Post by madirish on Jan 25, 2024 1:01:41 GMT
Nice. Take a look in the review section of this page...there is a template for reviews. Mebbe try to use that and drop a review in that section. Have fun with your new sword!
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jan 25, 2024 1:06:22 GMT
Congrats. The antique finish doesn't look as bad as on my Cromwell. Rather a dark grey blackening than a salt water aging/pitting. My Hanweis arrived all relative sharp, at least at the upper half to the tip. Is there a difference in sharpness along the blade? Some honing is never a bad idea.
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Post by twiggy on Jan 25, 2024 2:18:04 GMT
This was sharpened by Relik's themselves, I got the Sharpening service option, which costed a little extra.
I'm not mad about it at all though, it is functionally sharp, as I said technically cuts paper, and cut the bottles. I never specified that I wanted razor sharp, and they probably wouldn't assume that.
There does not appear to be a difference in sharpness across the blade, so they did seem to do it properly.
I'll still do some research on sharpening and how to do so properly before I sharpen it a little more, and I also need to see how it can handle pool noodles as well. I assume it should handle them fine, considering it cuts paper, but confirmation is always nice.
When I do sharpen it, that'll be after I have the blackening removed, because it may get dulled a bit in the process of that.
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Jan 25, 2024 9:17:26 GMT
If the sharpening was done relatively well, you probably only have to strop it with some compound to get a much finer edge. My D-Guard Bowie came almost shaving sharp, didn't take much to get it there. Learning sharpening is never a bad idea though.
My Hanweis were mostly "meh" in sharpness, could not cut paper ot the box. The ones with the deep grooved surface (Hanwei/Tinker or the Rodells) were pretty dull actually. I think the ones with a more polished look come sharper, like the Dao and Katana.
Pool noodles don't take that sharp of an edge to cut, they take better to more speedy swings. Faster swing means it can't "duck away" so you have more chance of biting in. It's also a daily condition thing, sometimes you are better, sometimes you ca't hit anything right, so if suddenly nothing works, go home, do a few strops on the blade and try again another day. Really, can make a lot of difference, BTW there is a lot of variation in water bottles, depending what you used. Non sparkling beverage bottles are generally thinner and easier to cut. The easiest to cut are the ultra-cheap, very thin water bottles (duh). The hardest (for me so far in EU that is) are CocaCola bottles. They are much tougher than others and need a very sharp edge. I wouldn't bother going for "shaving sharp" with swords, that kind of sharp is there for only one swing anyways. It's wasted time. I use glossy magazine paper, if it cuts that withougt getting hung, the edge is good. If you can pus-cut the glossy paper it's perfect, but I only put that on knives, again a bit of wasted time on swords. And don't reprofile the edges to shallow, it might seem like a good idea because it will cut easier, but swords need a lot of meat behind the edge. I think if you look around a bit you will finde what I mean, the angle of the V the edge makes sould not be below 22,5°/side or 50° in all in my experience. The D-Guard comes with 17°/S, and I the edge a bit weak, hitting the harder parts of bottles gave mine some edge damage unfortunately, nothing too nasty, but it wasn't able to cut paper any longer.
I HAVE FINISHED RANTING for now
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Post by twiggy on Jan 25, 2024 16:27:48 GMT
I'm considering the purchase of a worksharp belt sharpener, the Ken Onion version which has lots of angles to adjust to. So I can have something that sharpens good, but even a beginner can handle. I'm going to Polish the blade, so I think I will need to sharpen again a bit after that. I know Skallagrim said to cover the edge with tape, if you are going to do that, but on mine the edge is so then that I am not sure I can manage to do that, without also covering up parts of the blade. Funny you mention theD-Guard bowie, as I was just woken up by my D-Guard Bowie being delivered by Fedex, I got hit with a $40 fee as well According to the tracking, the Honshy Gladiator Sword I bought is also coming today.
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Post by squalembrato on Jan 27, 2024 21:33:08 GMT
I have a Hanwei/Tinker Early Medieval Single Hand Sword (EMSHS) and also a Hanwei Scots Basket Hilt Backsword, both from KOA. They WERE VERY SHARP out of the box and easily sliced printer paper and could even make some good and some jagged slices in newspaper. I regularly cut all manner of plastic bottles--sometimes two or three lined up simultaneously. The only bottles I have difficulty cutting are super hard plastic mayonnaise containers and large,very thick walled laundry detergent bottles. For these swords, pool noodles are a joke--an elbow moulinet or even a quick wrist cut will do it. After each cutting session I run a well used and worn out 600 grit sandpaper on a sanding block down the edge also with an occasional strop on a leather strop with green polishing paste. No one seriously uses swords today against armor and rarely for cutting through bone or hard wood (in testing.) If all you do in backyard cutting is bottles and pool noodles you can refine the edge to paper cutting sharpness--it won't cause edge damage. If the blade won't glide through printer paper you are going to end up batting a lot of bottles off the cutting stand.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jan 28, 2024 4:24:35 GMT
I buy from a German store and my Hanweis with sharp factory edge usually are sharper than the originally blunt Windlass swords with the store's sharpening service. So I fear your ordering the sharpening service could have made it worse. My H/T Early Medieval Single Hand Sword was very sharp at the foible but relative blunt at the forte, but that was intentional, not a mistake. Like on sabers that's the parrying part, not the cutting part of the blade and it makes sense to have a more blunt but resilient edge there. I sharpened it nevertheless.
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mrstabby
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Post by mrstabby on Jan 28, 2024 9:43:16 GMT
I probably got all lemons then (which is actually something that happens to me a lot), I was able to run my hand up and down the edge with some pressure. Only my Henry V was barely able to cut paper (still a bit rippy) and the Oxtail Dao was able to slice it relatively well (although it was quite dull because a rivet on the scabbard was too long and made contact with the blade, the blade geometry even cuts when very dull). I never used the sharpening service after the first time, took me about as much time to clean up the edge as it would have to do the whole thing myself in the first place. Sharpness is pretty subjective in the end (unless you are willing to shell out 300$ for a bess sharpness tester) and I found printer paper (80g/m²) to be very inaccurate, since it actually does not take that much to cut it. I'd say it is the minimum sharpness at which you should be able to cut some bottles with most swords.
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Post by squalembrato on Jan 28, 2024 23:40:54 GMT
With regards to testing edge sharpness on paper I have found that the thicker and stiffer the paper, the easier it is to cut. Thin cardboard sheets (sandpaper packaging) are super easy and can be cut with a dull blade. I have a lot of old printer paper so that is my baseline...I know if a sword or large knife (kukri, bowie etc) will repeatedly slice it easy and clean then the blade will cut bottles without too much effort. Newspaper is much thinner and flimsy so if a blade can make some decent non-jagged draw cuts in it then it is very sharp. Cigarette paper is even thinner and I have no swords in my collection that will cut it. I think if a sword was sharp enough to cut cigarette paper it would be TOO SHARP for any practical use and would roll the edge on harder plastic bottles.
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