I’m looking for a decent broad sword to practice with. Does anone have either one of these swords. If so what do you think? What do you like? What do you hate?
http://www.martialartsmart.net/452063.html
http://www.martialartsmart.net/451011.html
If you don’t have one of these swords but do have a great broad sword that you like then put the link here and tell me what you like about it.
Thanks.
swords
Hanwei, make pretty good swords. Probably the better on the market these days.
When choosing a broadsword. PLace three/four fingers at the pommel end of the blade, and the blade should balance as if they are a set of scales. If they dont then the blade is too top end heavy and is no good. Also check the length to match your body height this also plays a part.
I am sure there are more expereinced people than I that could add to the above points
I have the second one. I think it’s a bit short and heavy for the size. I’ve seen the Hanweii and think it’s better.
A friend of mine has the top one. It is quite nice and very sharp.
Good quality steel, has a bit of heft.
all round decent sword when compared to many of the other ‘off the shelf’ daos you can get.
I would be the friend that Dave is speaking of. I personally love the sword. It has a nice weight, balances nicely, and is excellent for training/performing.
(It’s the top one - called the practical kung fu sword by Hanwei.)
I’d recommend it. Highly.
Peace, Steve
Great, thanks guys.
My birthday is coming up and my wife is asking what I want, so I was thinking about a sweet new sword.
Thanks again.
How 'bout a delicious bass instead?
Hey Steve!
I didn’t know you lurked here.
Now I do.
Your sword is nice, don’t chop your students to bits with it. 
Yeah, I mostly read here, but I’m slowly becoming more vocal.
Those are nice swords. Would they be good for practice though?
I have a broadsword for sale actually. I think a pic is here:
If you can spend $650 USD, get a dao from ZhengWuTang (1, 2). If you can only spend $400, get one from Huanuo (1, 2, 3) . If you can only spend $235, get one from Kris Cutlery (1, 2). If you can only spend $160, get the Hanwei/Paul Chen dao which is widely available. If you can’t spend $160, practice with a wooden dowel until you can.
Chris, while i would agree that those appear to be very nice swords, they are sabres of military design similar to american calvary sabres. Late qing variety.
the big knives used in cma more widely are the broader head variety. ming variety.
shape will make a difference in use to a degree.
I have to agree with Dave, here, but I would say not just to some degree. Balance is balance, and a well balanced sword is just that, however with the width difference, the swing, spin, and overall usage of the sword will feel different.
Steve
The hole one of those swords would leave in my wallet would throw ME way off balance!
Thanks for the detailed response though. I do appreciate it. 
you can practice your visa lightness skills Chief.
Completely new here, but I thought I’d shove in my 2 cents
I own a “combat steel” dao and spring steel one from one of the Longchuan producers and have played with the Hanwei dao. I think that the Hanwei dao is the closest thing to real antique examples that I own/owned in terms of weight and POB. (This is not to say that the Hanwei dao is really comparable to the real thing; it’s all relative). I do think it is on the short side though. I’ve never handled the black Hanwei practical however.
"Chris, while i would agree that those appear to be very nice swords, they are sabres of military design similar to american calvary sabres. Late qing variety.
the big knives used in cma more widely are the broader head variety. ming variety.
shape will make a difference in use to a degree."
I apologize since this completely off topic and probably pedantic; it is my understanding that the military sabers types in the links above all appeared in the early Ming (the liuyedao; Willowleaf) or mid Ming (the yanmaodao; goosequill) and their designs remained fairly conserved till the end of the Qing. The broadswords that we all know and love (the niuweidao; ox-tail) weren’t developed until the mid-late Qing and were used almost exclusively by civilians. Since most of the MAs that we practice have been transmitted via civilian “secret societies” (e.g. Boxers), it has been argued that this is the reason why today we use the niuweidao instead of the military style sabers.
I have the Hanwei Dao sword in the bottom link… well its extremely similiar, i see a suble difference so maybe not the exact same. i’ve had it for about 5 years, got it as a one-off in knife shop but it looks the same, the shop owner said he got it from a Chinese sword maker who studies the old methods, i used to have his name but lost track of it… its a good weapon, nice blade, definately not a toy. i practice with it a little bit, but have to go conservative because its so sharp, could really mess you up if careless with double-drag parries, etc… i mostly practice with another spring-steel practice dao.
Its a bit short, fairly well weighted, nice quality fit and finish.
Its loosened up a bit over the years so i need to maintain it soon, but it should be better than new once shim and adjust it; thats about my only complaint with it.
welcome to the site
My beef with Hanwei
My big issue with Hanwei now, aside from the fact that they can’t seem to keep up with our back orders, is that Paul Chen epoxies his swords together. For such professional craftsmanship, the epoxying is such a cop out. You don’t need to have a great fit with epoxy since it seals the gaps. It’s also why the swords won’t ring (although the Chinese antiques seldom ring either, I guess that’s more of a European thing). Epoxying makes it nearly impossible to strip the weapons and work on them or modify them. I love Hanwei’s work, but I like to be able to work on my weapons now and again. It’s as if someone welded you car engine together so you can fiddle and modify. Their official comment is because they want the weapons to be strong for usage, but historically (and even the contemporary) aren’t epoxyed.
I’m not sure if he epoxies his Japanese stuff - I don’t think he goes that far. It’s the Chinese stuff that I use and they are impossible to disassemble. I’d rather he peened them together before epoxying them.
Interesting… wonder what I’m going to find when I disassemble it. I like to work on things myself too. Hope its not full of epoxy… :eek:
I’m fairly sure Paul Chen was the name of the guy that made my dao.