Hanwei Chinese Broadsword Review

It’s very hard to find decent quality Chinese Dao suitable for serious kung fu useage in our sub US$300 price range. But Hanwei have two.

The first one I have personally reviewed in detail here and to be honest, from a functionality point of view, it is one of my favorite blades of all time (especially considering the price point). But this one is just a little more attractive, though the attractiveness does come with a little more maintenance as you will see…

Hanwei Chinese Broadsword
Review by Jay Ferron, Reston, USA

I purchased this Hanwei Broadsword after much consideration. I'm a long time Chinese martial artist, whose sword experience is limited to the standard in the martial arts industry (i.e. sheet metal weapons).

This broadsword opened my eyes.

Purchased from Kult of Athena at the bargain price of $124.95, it is, as far as I know, the best deal out there. Add to that $11.45 for shipping, bringing me to a total of $136.40 for this gem - it was the best I found online.

My package arrived about 3 weeks after I ordered, only because I failed to notice the 2 week closure that KoA had announced on their webpage (so much for attention to detail) and followup emails and phone calls went unanswered. Hell, they SAID they were closed. In any case, the weapon was delivered wholly intact, with excellent packaging.

Now, please forgive my clumsiness in attempting to post these photos - this is my first shot at this. If it ends up all jacked up, I'll give it another try.

Here is the blade:

And here is the weapon in its scabbard:

Alright, provided that all this is working so far, let me try and put things in standard terms:

Firstly, as far as historical accuracy goes, I feel confident in saying that this Oxtail, though likely not modelled after any particular Dao of its type, certainly adheres to the spirit of the broadsword. That is to say, it's a weapon of the foot soldier, a weapon of the peasant, and in that, it's right on the mark. Simple, modest, yet supremely effective.

Fit and finish: I've pored over Paul's review of the Practical Hanwei and I have to say that this one is the Practical's elegant older brother.

The blade is definitely similar, with a triple fuller instead of the single that the practical sports, yet the hardware is of that vastly underrated metal - brass - both on the handle and the scabbard. The blade fits snugly yet draws easily from its scabbard - with no wiggling or shifting if you were to wear it on your hip.

Handling: Welllllll, I have to admit, the Chinese swords I've dealt with up to now have been of the general martial arts community standard - sheet metal with a big flag on the end. Don't think less of us because of it, that's just how things are. Frankly, if I did a form with this sharpy, I'd likely lop my own ear off. I did cut a few bottles and a dangling rope with this beauty, and I must say, it was terrifyingly sharp. A bit tip-heavy, but that may be only because of what I'm used to.

Structural integrity: VERY sturdy. As I said, I love the brass fittings and the way it fits into its scabbard. There is no rattling or wiggling at all as it's being handled. My only gripe, and it's a minor one, is that the bloody handle is wrapped in black and the scabbard itself is brown. C'mon, don't you guys at Hanwei know the FIRST rule of accessorizing?

Value: What can i say? Considering the hundreds of dollars I've pi$$ed away on toss-away sheetmetal martial arts weaponry over the years, I can happily say that this is the best $136.40 I've ever spent.

Generic stats:

2lbs overall. POB is 5" from hilt. The blade is 24.25" and the weapon itself is 30.5" top to bottom.

THE VERDICT Historical Accuracy: 4/5 Fit and Finish: 5/5 Handling: 3/5 Structural Integrity: 4/5 Value for Money: 5/5 OVERALL: 4/5 (Excellent)

So, alright, I've got a lot to learn and deal with when it comes to reviews, photos and whatnot. I hope this can be overlooked and that the community can benefit from this info. This is a super-fun sword and I hope to be able to hone my skills to the point where I can swing it around with the deftness and confidence that I do my rapidly-oxidizing, unsharp and flimsy kungfu blades.

Peace out.

J

QUICK UPDATE

An update is in order! I have both a caveat and hopefully what some will consider a helpful tip.

BRASS is beautiful, but oh my gosh does it tarnish quickly. I guess I must have suppressed the time I spent in the military meticulously polishing the brass on my uniform (or I may have just killed that part of my brain with whiskey). In any case, the solution is a good amount of time polishing with Brasso, Twinkle or the beloved Metal Glo. I've used the latter in the pics below. Here is post-50minute polishing session shiny brass:

What you might not know is that an excellent way to keep your brass (or steel) from tarnishing after putting in all that work is a simple coat of silicone tire shine! I use it on brass fixtures as well as the swords I use in kungfu - the coating does two things:

1) keeps the blade protected from my nasty sweat, and

2) keeps messy sword oil from staining my uniform! All you need to do is put a light coat on with a cloth and allow to dry.

Remember:

WHERE TO BUY

Jay definitely bought it at the right place. While most sword stores stock them for around US$160 (which is still a decent price for a blade like this) they are available HERE at Kult of Athena for $124.95, which is indeed the best price online by far.