Since the "imports" were around before I started fabricating swords, in general I have no grief with them.....However, taken in context, one needs to have some concern if one wants to stay in the business of fabricating swords.
In today's market, the real "entry level", is thru these imports. Stuff made in the Phillipines, India, and yes, China, can be had at a price, and with enough quality, to wet some folks appetite for more and better......... and this is where I and the midrange guys like A&A and Albion come in {as well as companies like Armart}.
Ever wonder why the most verbal makers and smiths have quit talking in such wonderful detail in how they do things? Its because these large overseas manufacturers, or their US importers, are plugged into the various forums, and cutting and pasting what we say, thus cutting down development time and costs for some of them..... and offering reasonable quality at prices Western Europeans and Americans can't match.
The katana market was, ahh, influenced by this. Hanwei benefitted tremendously by the online discussions, and shortly after the introduction of the first Hanwei kats in the US market, the lower priced US kat makers ceased to exist, except a very few minority.
The first two Armarts that came here as samples for potential Museum Store marketting, conversations between the SFI staff resulted in future pieces having, you guessed it,
distal taper and reasonable harmonics {based on a baseline of four years ago}. After a conversation between a friend of mine and Paul Chen a couple of years ago at the Atlanta Blade show, the Hanwei Euro swords suddenly greatly improved, they now featured distal taper, and had the basics of harmonic balance {sigh.....}.
Caution flags were raised across the West, as it became apparent that our grip on just being in business was real tenuous.......... Consequently, folks got cautious what they said in public. Some folks just refused to get too detailed in online discussion, and others {me for instance} would occassionally add just a bit to a discussion that would potentially send a lazy competitor down the wrong road, and still have to "learn it" the same way I did, or by researching the antiques, either way being expensive in time, energy, and money.
An awful lot of what I have learned in the last two years about "harmonics", and the related stuff, is still here in Kent, Wa. I certainly haven't shared certain key elements, even with my friends, as one just doesn't know who will stand and blab at large events......... and this may be a minor element in keeping me in business {I think you'll find the other two just as protective of certain key elements of what they do. }.
A couple of years ago, I started down a sidepath, developing rapier and sidesword simulators. With the rapier simulators, the SCA is the largest potential market, so being "SCA legal" is paramount. Having greater strength, resisting taking a set, and handling like a real rapier would be a bonus. I did all this, and got these things verbally passed by SCA corporate well over a year ago {paperwork wasn't done immediately}. Unfortunately, I then had two problems, a difficulty getting hilts done, and my big mouth. I mentioned on line, some of what made these potentially quite special.......
Within three months of my "mouth" going off, the first Hanwei rapier simulators showed up in the local SCA kingdom. The blades were "soft", but they had, you guessed it, distal taper and reasonable harmonics. They did not handle like real rapiers though, but conversely you could get three Hanwei rapier simulators for the price of one AT, with a better looking guard.
At that point I gave up. I shelved the simulator project because it was apparent that the Hanwei's were going to dominate the market, and there wouldn't be any real room in the marketplace for superb handling, durable, and expensive simulators with so-so aesthetics, with Hanwei in the same marketplace...........
But not so fast.........
The first Hanwei's here locally started taking a set, and also snapping.........*g* After getting the opportunity to inspect these, I realized that I hadn't really given the "farm" away after all. As I had learned more and more about the harmonic properties of sword blades, I had carefully not gotten too detailed in the discussion of what I call the "harmonic convergence" in some key areas of the blades. These locii are where the forces that traverse the blade congregate, and can cause failure there because of
blade geometry problems, and / or blade temper problems........
The Hanweis that failed had both problems, temper and geometry........
*g*
So a small door opened back up for me in this market. That and one WMA group believing in me enough to order three......
I still am having problems getting enough guards. I am also the most expensive supplier of production rapier simulators, and expect to be for the forseeable future. Hanwei's place in the market is the entry level, and for those that aren't too into historical accuracy of handling. Mine is the upper echelon of the performance side of this market {performance and durability}.
I'm not liable to talk about the steel, the temper, the way these distal taper, and certain other key reasons they work the way they do......
The point of this commentary, is that the imports have their place. All of the imports. But they are very dangerous to us locals. We also have our place, and its quality......one of the reason you have seen such a vast improvement from all three of us in the US.
And you can bet, that as much as the three of us share in the future, we will keep certain key things to ourselves, such that we have the opportunity to stay in this business we love so much........
Auld Dawg