Hi all, I've been looking at reviews here on myArmoury.com for years but this is the first I've visited the forums, so forgive me if this has already been discussed.

I was curious as to what people's opinions are of the Cold Steel Hand-and-a-Half sword. http://www.coldsteel.com/88hnh.html

I picked one of these up this summer at what was probably a reasonable price (considerably less than the advertised retail price on their website).

I'm curious more from a durability and functionality standpoint. Obviously I won't be using it for sparring, but I'd like to use it at the next cutting party I manage to attend. My initial impressions are that it's more blade-heavy than I would prefer, but not unreasonably so. It's certainly not as nicely balanced as the my new A&A Fechterspiel. I haven't measured the position of the center of gravity, but I'm estimating about 4-5" from the guard. Compare that to roughly 3" for the Fechterspiel, which has a blade length that is a good 4+" longer than the Cold Steel sword. The Fechterspiel is certainly much more lively and agile in feel.

Anyone know about the tang and hilt construction? I know it's backwards to be asking these questions months after purchasing, but it was a bit of an impulse purchase in person.

Hey Ed! Glad to see you around these parts! And why the heck haven't you brought that sword into class for the rest of us to play? :p

I haven't handled one myself, though I do know there were a lot of complaints about the original ones having dangerously small tangs, including one report of a pommel breaking off. However, I know that Cold Steel no longer uses the same manufacturer, and now Windlass makes them, in which case I would suspect that the quality would be about the same level as Museum Replicas. I don't know for certain, though.

Yeah, I figured this might be a good place to find like-minded people to talk to. :)

Actually, I did bring it once, but I think it was one of those nights where only two others showed and it didn't get passed around much. I can bring it next week and have some more show and tell... we've had a lot of that lately, but we can always use more!

One of our sword group has one and cuts with it a lot. My impression on its negatives are that it's a very blade heavy presence and it's too short and too heavy for its size.

Positives though are that it's good a really nice edge and cuts really well through tatami mats. I think the mass and blade presence helps it cut really well and the guy who wields it seems to maneuver it well enough when making rapid multiple cuts on the mats.

So I figure you can do a lot worse than owning one of these swords. I'd like it to be bigger though...it looks like it's a scaled down version of a true longsword.

Hi Ed! Good to see you here!

Ed Toton wrote:

Bill Grandy wrote: You know, now that you mention it... I think I do remember that. I hope this isn't a sign that I have access to too many swords... You can never have access to too many. :)

And I was counting on you to help me stage an intervention for Bill. :p

Yeah, I downplayed the blade-heaviness in my description a little, since a 4 or 5" CoG point doesn't sound too bad just by the numbers. Next to my fechterspiel, though, it's no contest in terms of balance. I'm glad to hear that it cuts well; I can see how the blade mass might work to its advantage for making strong cuts, it may just simply be less versatile in other areas.

Pamela Muir wrote:

Hi Ed! Good to see you here! And I was counting on you to help me stage an intervention for Bill. :p

Thanks! Glad to be here.

Intervention? Heck, I'm an enabler when it comes to this stuff, that's for sure. I have the sickness just as bad... my fechterspiel was number 40. :D

Yeah, the more I think about it and handle it, the less satisfied I am with the overall balance. I'm not regretful of it, but it's good to keep it in perspective relative to the price.

I'm not sure if they've made revisions to it or not. Mine should be a relatively recent generation, if so, since I just got it this summer. The finish on mine is satisfactory.

Edit: Just to clarify... I still like this sword, but it feels a lot heavier in the blade than just the balance point and weight alone would seem to indicate, which is a little disappointing. I'll have to come back and talk more about it once I've done some cutting with it.

I have owned one, and selling it is one of my only regretals I have ever had. I will certainly pick one up again when money is better.

I have more experience with single hand medieval swords, so take my following comments with a grain of salt.

I found this sword an ideal size and weight for my hieght (5/8 about 170 lbs). I had no trouble controlling the blade through cuts, and my fiance who is about my same height and about 150 lbs cut effortlessly with it. It has one of the best blade profiles I have seen in a lower end production sword. My main medium was 2 liters and milk jugs (sorry no tatami experience). But I would regulary use it on 3 or more milk jugs (filled with water) at a time and it had no problems. I think honestly if you want a $200 sword, there are not many that would be better for light cutting and forms. That being said, if I had a choice, I would go higher end towards say an Albion Steward which has similar proportions on paper.

But I thought it was an excellent sword if you can find it under $250.

I am attaching a few cutting pics of it for reference, and cause you can never have too many of them floating around.