I recently received my Tarwar Sword from Himalayan Imports. I have only had it a few days but I noticed there are not a lot of reviews on this sword so I figured I would give my opinion of it. The sword took about 3 weeks to get to me. The US Customs inspections held things up a bit but as soon as Yangdu received it from Nepal and it got past Customs the shipping was fast and it arrived in about 3 days.
The sword has about a 21 inch blade and 8 inch wood handle. The blade is very thick and heavy. It weighs about 2.5lbs without the sheathe. 2.5lbs does not sound like much weight to me but when you hold it in your hand it feels heavy. The back of the blade is thick at the base near the guard and slowly gets a bit narrower as it goes towards the tip. I don't have exact measurements yet but it appears to be at least 3/8ths inch thick on back of blade. The fit and finish of the blade looks great to me. The blade came decently sharp. It will need to be sharpened but it came with an ok edge on it.
There is some of the black epoxy/glue from the handle that is visible on the top and bottom of the guard and around the base of the blade where it connects to the sword hilt. I think one could scrape/polish or buff this away if you wanted to without damaging the sword but I think it gives it character so I will leave it be. The square shaped guard can be abrasive to your thumb and hand if you are swinging it a lot. The handle or grip is oak wood and is not decorative but looks very nice and sturdy. It is a full tang but the tang is not visible. I don't see any pins or screws on the side of the grip as I have seen with the Khukuris. I have smaller hands but it fits in even my hands nicely with one or two hands.
The sheathe is a nice black leather with the brass pointy tip at the bottom. It has a leather belt loop attached to it. The fit and finish of the sheathe looks good and appears durable and well made. You can apply Kiwi boot polish to it to preserve the leather. It would probably get scratched by branches if walking through thick woods but Kiwi usually protects against that stuff pretty well. The sword fits into the sheathe perfectly though and there are no problems removing it or putting the sword back in it. I may grind down the brass pointy tip at the bottom to avoid stabbing myself with it later if I am hiking around with it.
In my opinion I think the sword could benefit from being a bit lighter. By how much I do not know. It is not a fast/maneuverable sword, at least not one handed anyways. I have trouble swinging the sword with one hand and maintaining control. With two hands it is easy to use and much quicker. The way it is now it looks like it could easily cleave someone in half or take an arm off. Perhaps after I have used it for a long time I may change my opinion on the weight. I don't know what I will use this sword for. It looks like it can really be used to chop small trees down, cut branches and wood. Obviously too if you had to use for self defense against a person it would be devastating. With such a heavy blade swinging with force it could do a lot of damage to wood or bone especially if it is sharp.
The Tarwar is probably not something that you want to rely on as a utility knife or tool as much as say one of their Khukuri models. However, I think you could use this sword if you had to for cutting and chopping wood and especially for fighting/self defense it would serve well. So it can do both things pretty well in my opinion. It may not be as good in straight up combat as the Everest Katana and not as good of a tool as a khukuri but it can do both and is still pretty short and packable/carryable.
I paid $225 total for this sword. I think for what it offers it is a great value. I remember watching a video on the internet of a guy selling samurai swords and he was banging it against a table to show the customers the sword's strength and durability. While he was doing it the blade broke in half and flew back and stabbed him. With this sword I don't think you would have to worry about something like that happening because it is built like a tank.
You can probably use it to chop through wood and use it for self defense. Even if you never have to use it for anything this sword looks incrediby strong, durable, and well built. If you ever did need it it would be there and ready to do the job. I think that it is a quality product that would last a life time of use and could go some more and be passed on to your children or family.
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The sword has about a 21 inch blade and 8 inch wood handle. The blade is very thick and heavy. It weighs about 2.5lbs without the sheathe. 2.5lbs does not sound like much weight to me but when you hold it in your hand it feels heavy. The back of the blade is thick at the base near the guard and slowly gets a bit narrower as it goes towards the tip. I don't have exact measurements yet but it appears to be at least 3/8ths inch thick on back of blade. The fit and finish of the blade looks great to me. The blade came decently sharp. It will need to be sharpened but it came with an ok edge on it.
There is some of the black epoxy/glue from the handle that is visible on the top and bottom of the guard and around the base of the blade where it connects to the sword hilt. I think one could scrape/polish or buff this away if you wanted to without damaging the sword but I think it gives it character so I will leave it be. The square shaped guard can be abrasive to your thumb and hand if you are swinging it a lot. The handle or grip is oak wood and is not decorative but looks very nice and sturdy. It is a full tang but the tang is not visible. I don't see any pins or screws on the side of the grip as I have seen with the Khukuris. I have smaller hands but it fits in even my hands nicely with one or two hands.
The sheathe is a nice black leather with the brass pointy tip at the bottom. It has a leather belt loop attached to it. The fit and finish of the sheathe looks good and appears durable and well made. You can apply Kiwi boot polish to it to preserve the leather. It would probably get scratched by branches if walking through thick woods but Kiwi usually protects against that stuff pretty well. The sword fits into the sheathe perfectly though and there are no problems removing it or putting the sword back in it. I may grind down the brass pointy tip at the bottom to avoid stabbing myself with it later if I am hiking around with it.
In my opinion I think the sword could benefit from being a bit lighter. By how much I do not know. It is not a fast/maneuverable sword, at least not one handed anyways. I have trouble swinging the sword with one hand and maintaining control. With two hands it is easy to use and much quicker. The way it is now it looks like it could easily cleave someone in half or take an arm off. Perhaps after I have used it for a long time I may change my opinion on the weight. I don't know what I will use this sword for. It looks like it can really be used to chop small trees down, cut branches and wood. Obviously too if you had to use for self defense against a person it would be devastating. With such a heavy blade swinging with force it could do a lot of damage to wood or bone especially if it is sharp.
The Tarwar is probably not something that you want to rely on as a utility knife or tool as much as say one of their Khukuri models. However, I think you could use this sword if you had to for cutting and chopping wood and especially for fighting/self defense it would serve well. So it can do both things pretty well in my opinion. It may not be as good in straight up combat as the Everest Katana and not as good of a tool as a khukuri but it can do both and is still pretty short and packable/carryable.
I paid $225 total for this sword. I think for what it offers it is a great value. I remember watching a video on the internet of a guy selling samurai swords and he was banging it against a table to show the customers the sword's strength and durability. While he was doing it the blade broke in half and flew back and stabbed him. With this sword I don't think you would have to worry about something like that happening because it is built like a tank.
You can probably use it to chop through wood and use it for self defense. Even if you never have to use it for anything this sword looks incrediby strong, durable, and well built. If you ever did need it it would be there and ready to do the job. I think that it is a quality product that would last a life time of use and could go some more and be passed on to your children or family.
