Hanwei Viking sword

JOEYBONES · Feb 9, 2011

My Hanwei 9th century Viking sword came today. I got it on sale from Kult of Athena. I also recently bought an inexpensive Master Cutlery Katana from Smoky Mountain Knife works. The Katans was like 33 bucks after a 25% off coupon.
I like the Viking Sword but honestly the fit and finish of the Katana is much better. I am no sword Expert as these are the first two swords I purchased.
From visual looks alone the Katand has less flaws. The Katana has a thick 1045 carbon blade which is finished nicely the Viking sword looks like Stevie Wonder did the fuller.
Go Figure.

Triton · Feb 10, 2011

JOEYBONES said:
My Hanwei 9th century Viking sword came today. I got it on sale from Kult of Athena. I also recently bought an inexpensive Master Cutlery Katana from Smoky Mountain Knife works. The Katans was like 33 bucks after a 25% off coupon.
I like the Viking Sword but honestly the fit and finish of the Katana is much better. I am no sword Expert as these are the first two swords I purchased.
From visual looks alone the Katand has less flaws. The Katana has a thick 1045 carbon blade which is finished nicely the Viking sword looks like Stevie Wonder did the fuller.
Go Figure.

That doesn't speak very highly of Hanwei's quality control. Could you post pictures?

Burningcort · Feb 10, 2011

Pictures please...a comparison of the two swords if you will

JOEYBONES · Feb 10, 2011

I haven't had a chance to take pictures.
I did go on the Kult of Athena web site and viewed their photos of the Hanwei 9th century Viking sword. If you click on the photo of the tip of the blade you can see that fuller does not follow the point of the blade. Mine is much the same on one side and is cut unevenly over the length of the blade. I don' think I am being too critical their description says nothing about manufacturing inconsistency.

gregorio · Feb 10, 2011

You get what you pay for. Getting a decent wood trainer and saving up to get a decent piece is the way to go; patience.. Cheap swords are just plain dangerous.

JOEYBONES · Feb 12, 2011

Kult of Athena is going to exchange the sword. I am willing to try another one . I ordered it based on reviews I read and because it was designed by Tinker Pearce. They tell me minor variations in the fuller are normal for period
correct european swords. The funny thing is the fuller is good on one side and not so good on the other. This leads me to believe the fuller can and should be good on both sides.
We will see if the second is better.

Burningcort · Feb 12, 2011

gregorio said:
You get what you pay for. Getting a decent wood trainer and saving up to get a decent piece is the way to go; patience.. Cheap swords are just plain dangerous.

and let me guess if it is not a Colt it is not a 1911 right.....

now I know that a good custom sword is better than a production sword...but to say a Hanwei Tinker is dangerous is a stretch...

Triton · Feb 12, 2011

JOEYBONES said:
Kult of Athena is going to exchange the sword. I am willing to try another one . I ordered it based on reviews I read and because it was designed by Tinker Pearce. They tell me minor variations in the fuller are normal for period
correct european swords. The funny thing is the fuller is good on one side and not so good on the other. This leads me to believe the fuller can and should be good on both sides.
We will see if the second is better.

Minor variations were normal in period and in fact there are lots of things seen on historical swords that a good portion of the sword buying public would find unacceptable because it is used to machine and production line precision. That aside, there's really no excuse for those sorts of things to be seen on a Hanwei sword since they are not hand made and in fact are suppoed to have that machined and production line assembly.