I recently purchased a sword in the sub-$300 range from a fairly well known vendor (I will not name the maker). I of course knew when I purchased it that any sword in this price range is likely to not be of the highest quality, but I felt like I'd done my research and knew what I was getting into.

Sure enough, I get the sword, and the pommel is a little crooked, and there's a gap on one side where the hilt meets the blade (although the sword feels extremely solid even so) and the sword has almost no distal taper and is very heavy for a one-handed sword (almost four pounds). But I wanted a beater, and this appears to be what I have received. All well and good so far.

But after inspecting the blade, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. When I put a clean cloth in my hand and put my thumb and middle finger in the fuller on opposite sides of the blade, then draw my fingers up the blade, the blade feels "wavy". I figured this may just be a result of how it was forged (it is advertised as "hand forged"). But when I do the same thing on the side of the blade next to the fuller (near the edge) I can also feel "waves" or "ripples" in the blade. Similarly, when I run my thumb down the edge (it has a blunt edge) it also feels like there are bumps and ridges in the edge.

Is this at all normal? Again, this sword is advertised as "hand forged" and so it wasn't machined from bar stock, but never having handled a sword I knew to be hand forged before, I don't know what to think. The sword is advertised as being made from carbon steel, heat tempered, full tang, and of course "battle ready" but I'm not convinced now that the thing is safe to sharpen up and use for what I bought it for, which was some back yard cutting. Any thoughts?

To me, the one alarming thing you mention is the four-pound weight. That's simply too heavy for almost any single-handed sword.

Regarding the asymmetry: this was common on antiques and is certainly found on inexpensive modern-made swords. The amount varies from none to quite a lot and every owner will have his own definition of acceptability of this.

Forged swords do not inheriantly have wobbles or imperfections. What causes such things is a lack of finishing. Inexpensive swords do not have room in the budget to allow for detailed finishing. As a result, many things such as those qualities you've mentioned are bound to happen. Such things in themselves do not indicate a possible safety risk.

Safety concerns arise when considering the quality of materials, the quality of heat-treat, the quality of fit and finish, the details of shaping, etc. Unfortunately, such things are difficult or often impossible to determine by casual inspection alone.

Thanks for your response, Nathan.

The weight concerns me too. The sword is advertised as being just over three pounds (which is still heavy for a one-hand sword) but in reality it is much closer to four pounds. I'm new to sword collecting obviously, but when I first pulled the sword from the box and held it by the hilt my first thought was "too heavy!" I need to find some more accurate scales than what I have to find out exactly what it weighs, but it certainly is not the advertised weight, which is disappointing.

Glad to hear the blade imperfections are not that unusual. My first thought was just that it was a result of the forging process and the fact that it's a sub-$300 sword and so corners were probably cut, but I was worried this might make the blade fragile somehow. It sure seems solid (that lack of distal taper makes it stiff as hell, as well as making it too damn heavy!) but I was just afraid the waviness might be an indication of some deeper problem.

Anyway, the sword may just end up on the wall (I still think it's an attractive looking sword) instead of in the back yard unfortunately. I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience.

About the weight issue, it is possible that the lack of taper makes the sword feel heavier than it really is.So you could be surprised when weighing it accurately... I know I have the worst trouble comparing the weights of two swords with any accuracy, because the balance greatly influences my overall impression.

Of course it could also be that the sword is indeed really overweight, as the common mistake seems to be to try to compensate for the lack of taper by adding an overly heavy pommel...

Or possibly a bit of both effects :)

I had two similar swords, one handers, very heavy (I don't know for sure, but I would say about 4lbs), they were blunts, 100cm long, no distal taper, no fullers, and they were really unwieldable. I gave them to be cut down on 85cm and now they are quite wieldable blunts, very durable, rock solid, and I'm quite happy with them, considered that they cost me 110 euros together. So you might try to shorten your sword a bit if it's long enough and you could have a durable shortsword for some fun backyard cutting...

It's hard to be specific without knowing what kind of weapon you have. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to sharpen and use this sword for test cutting. No matter how much I paid for a sword and no matter the manufacturer's reputation, If I did test cutting I would prepare my cutting space based on the assumption that the blade will break and fly off somewhere unfortunate. There is inherent danger in this exercise, is what I'm saying, and you're wise to be prepared.

Sharpening the blade also will reduce the overall weight and probably improve balance, for a combined feeling of a lighter sword. If the blade is truly blunt, you'll need a good flat file and a stone. The good news is that although you'll have more work to do, you also have more room to reduce weight and improve balance.

If the sword has a screw-on pommel or threaded pommel nut I'd advise you to disassemble the piece and inspect the tang and furniture. That will tip you off to potential failure points and give you a better idea of where the weapon's weight is located. You may find that an inappropriate amount of weight, or not enough, is in the hilt. In the latter case you could make a new grip of a dense hardwood to bring the balance back a bit and make the sword feel lighter. I find that the factory-made grips in this price range tend to be of soft wood and poor design. An historically appropriate grip core and wrap can make a significant difference in handling, which has a direct impact on what you can learn from test cutting.

Disassembly will also allow you to reassemble the hilt with JB Weld, shims, etc. to prevent loosening during cutting.

Finally, if you haven't already done so, get some stats for original swords of the same family. You might find that yours is a particularly heavy type with strong blade presence. Or not. :D

Note that Albion's Museum Line Tritonia sword is roughly 3.5 lbs. Balance makes a huge difference, though, so yours could be the same weight but feel much heavier.

Dave, do you have a picture of your recently purchased sword? We would like to see it.

I knew which manufacturer it was the second you said it was overweight. I spend a lot of time at the SBG forum, where time and time again these swords are coming to the purchaser at OVER 1 lb overweight. One of them was 40% heavier than claimed.

Sorry I can't offer any advice, other than to check the grip for cracks.

However I CAN somewhat contribute to the question of how much weight you will save sharpening, kind of. Once when I was making a sword I was curious to find out how much weight came off when I ground down each of the 4 bevels on the 30" blade. I was stock removing from a 6mm bar stock cut to shape. As each bevel came off the 6mm bar, down to a sharp edge, it removed 120 grams. I think thats pretty close to a quarter of a pound. Sharpening a darksword from a 1/16 edge to sharp, you might be lucky to remove a tenth of that amount of metal, so my guess yould be 1 oz per bevel at the absolute maximum.