I'm looking into buying a new toy, unfortunately I'm still only able to purchase 'beginner' swords.
There are a few I'm looking at and i was wondering if anyone had any experience with them?
I'm looking for any info regarding quality, historical accuracy, etc.
The swords I'm looking at are:

Hanwei Practical Viking
Windlass Revolutionary War Hanger
or
one of the Windlass Civil War Sabers.

All of the above look from the pics to be pretty decent swords, but i have heard windlass swords can go either way, and CAS Iberia stuff I know from experience to be rather um...unsavory. :)
On the other hand i have heard decent thing about the Paul Chen to be of better quality.
Thanks in advance for any and all input.

I have one of the WIndlass hangers (mine is the one advertised in the MRL catalog-the one with the globular pommel, NOT the one with the urn-shaped pommel advertised in the Atlanta Cutlery catalog.).
I think this is a great bargain.
See this thread for photos of mine (antiqued) and a full review with stats (scroll down).

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1278

Since you mentioned Hanwei, and even though it's not on your list, the Practical Knightly is a surprisingly awesome sword, too! I just got to handle one last weekend, and it was light and well-balanced. With all respect to Hanwei and CASI, it was MUCH better than anything I'd have expected to come out of their shops, especially for the price tag! I'm seriously considering buying one. It even out performs (from a sheer performance standpoint) my Del Tin of similar type, size, and cross-section (sorry, I don't remember its number).

David Kite

Another fine Paul Chen/Hanwei piece is the #2004 Mortuary (sharp version).
I've had mine for well over a year and it's still one my favorites. Well balanced, light,quick, great thrusting blade.

William
aka Bill

Thanks to everyone who replied.
It's good to hear that those aren't completely bad options. :)
One thing I'm still curious about if the Windlass Sabers, it's tempting to buy one just to see, but
a. Money is short and I don't wish to buy something i am going to regret extremely,and
b. The last time I bought a cheep saber, (it was about twenty or thirty bucks less then the windlass pieces), it wound up being a piece of junk, (big surprise there) and i just gave it away to a school garage sale.
So any comments on those, good or bad, would be great.

I just got finished doing a film where one of the swords we used was the hanwei practical mortuary hilt. It's an ok blade- it is quite fast and really feels good in the hand. However in the 3 weeks of moderate use the grip has since become loose and the top turks head knot is loose as well. With the ends of the basket screwed into the pommel I am really unsure as to how to tighten things up. I really like it, but it seems to be a touch on the weak side. If you want to save a little more Armour Class makes a beautiful mortuary hilt for around $300, if I remember right.

there are some differences between the Paul Chen Mortuary "practical" & "sharp" versions.
The sharp I have has really been a great sword and everything has stayed good and tight on it.

Armour Class is another good choice. I've got a Mortuary on order from them due in a couple of weeks.
i'm beginning to make a reputation as being the "mortuary maniac" around. To each his own. Here's a pic of the Mort. that IIain & crew @ A-C are putting together for me.


Bill

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The basket is fixed onto the pummel with screws, was this how it was done in the day, or is this just a modern thing to cut costs?

Originally on the Mortuarys, screws were used to attach the bars to the grip.


Bill

Here are some period examples of the screws in the pomels:

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another:

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