Now the story. On one of Hanwei practical knightly swords the hilt started rattling terribly after approximately 2 months of relatively gentle use. The crossguard and the wooden core of the handle moved about 1 cm back and forth. Needless to say that such sword was not usable at all. So we desided to remove the handle and see if the problem could be fixed. And that's what we saw. For comparison I've put a brand new blade of a Hanwei practical viking sword next to the "patient". The "patient's" tang should be same. And it was same once, until somebody cut the tang with an angle grinder, making it approximately 1 cm narrower at the crossguard then it originally was. But the slot in the crossguard was made for the wide tang! And so was the handle. And the resulting holes were not even filled with glue! Why would one cut almost half of the tang's width off? If it was too wide to fit the crossguard, why not grind the required amount of metal off? Grinding off 0.5-1 mm of steel would take same or even less time. We have filled holes between tang and crossguard with epoxy and will make a new handle. Will see how long it will last after such repair. But the blade is hopelessly damaged. The tang is now narrow and so the sword should not be used for full-force practice because it may break. And the crossguard will most likely start rattling again when the epoxy breaks because of constant vibration.
I repeat again, that I do not blame anybody. But this thread may be of some help to others who face same problem. And it may also help improving QC at Hanwei forge. Practical swords are excellent training tools, and are probably the best available choice for a beginner who does not want to spend USD 300+ on a higher-end sword. And they will become much better if they can be made tougher without significantly increasing the price.
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Photo of the tangs [ Download ]