Hello all first off great site. I could and have sat here reading hours of reviews and have purchased a few items based on them. I am quite poor but love anything historical i ahve over the years owned a number of swords battle axes ect. Although most were cheap wall hangers bought as gifts, ect. I currently have 2 museum replicas swords the dracula wich i got from a freind who owed me money, and the sword o sir ulrich wich i have recently taken apart and cut down to smaller staure. My true love however is anything of viking or saxon in nature. As i said i dont have a huge budget, but after getting a paul chen bearded axe and seeing that it wasnt total crap i have a paul chen practical viking on order. I have agonized for almost a year over buying a good viking sword, but i really just cant afford an albion. I bought an united viking sword last year and couldnt give it away fast enough heheheheeh. Ok to get to the point has anyone here ever actually put a paul chen practical viking to the test? Obviously they are to blunt for cutting but what about impact tests ect? It is a little to late to stop my order but is this sword up to par for moderate reenactment use? Thanx in advance for any help that you all might provide.

Hi

Ive seen one snap! In a moderate hit to somebodies helmet. The other ones wich were purchased within my group have lived on, though all of the handle components have become ratly and loos.
The furniture are modelled on viking examples but are a bit small, also have not noticed any rust on the furniture?

Have you thought of making one yourself?

N

I have the Paul Chen Practical Viking sword. it is actually a pretty nice sword for the price IMO. Mine has stood up to some very light sparring and many relatively hard hits to shields (just for the reason of testing the sword). So far mine has not come loose and the blade hasn't broken. It does seem like it is made of a soft steel though. Most hits will cause some nasty nicks, even more so than I have seen on other swords. With a small budget and an interest in viking weapons I think this is a great place to start.

make sure you have the phase 3 or later. mine is a series one and it kinda sucks. the pommel fell off due to it being peened incorrectly. then i noticed the pommel was hollow and glued in place to the rat tang. the blade also does not hold up well against other varing blades. mine looks like a chainsaw blade after only 3 battles.

for less than 100 bucks more get a paul binns

Chuck just nailed it. I have used a series one with thesame results (fittings rattled loose, pommel hollow, chain saw syndrome). I then switched over to a second one I had (hooray for free gifts!!). It is a series 3 (mainly noticble by the retangular cross-section of the tang, as opposed to round tangs of series one). It has stood up very well all year long, through some heavy combat.

One thing I did at a friends reccomendation, was put the blade on an anvil, edges pointing up and down, and slowly hammered it with my hammer. Supposedly, this compacts the steel on the edges, making it a bit harder (which is a major problem with Paul Chin swords). From a metallurgical viewpoint, I am not positive if this has had a significant effect or not. The blade has resisted any of the severe nicks that my series one blade acquired (and this is through combat with various blades, from Paul Binns to hand forged by one of our members).

In my opinion, as long as it is a series 3 blade, it is an ok beginning blade. But, like Chuck said, save about $100 more and pick up a Paul Binns (which are very nice).

thanx for all the first hand experience guys. I have only just gotten into collecting functional stuff seriously of late, But with an annual income of just over 10 thou a year extra money is closely guarded. As it was i just recently sold all my rifles to buy my wife a new laptop wich my daughter smashed a month later :(. I really want to order an albion squire series viking later this year but i have to convince myself im not being selfish first. I guess what i really want is something plain that can take a real beating( used properly not cutting trees, sword on sword ect) I am a real history nut and lately post fall of rome to battle of hastings has been of great interest. I often find myself up till 4 am reading all i can on the sagas, religion and archeology of the time. Im actually even thinking of writing a book of fiction about saxon age peopel when i have a firm hold on daily routines ect. Once again i would love to thank all on this site for their wonderful incite on the topic of ancient weaponry, and first hand knowledge of modern blades

A number of people in our group have Paul Chen Practicals; Mostly knightly, but one or two vikings.
We used them for full speed, light contact fighting, which means that there is quie a bit of fast, hard blade contact.

The conclusion so far is that the metal is a bit soft; It gets notches quite easily, requiring maintenance with a file after use. This is however aceptable on such a cheap weapon. (old lutel blunts are worse)
More important, however, The Practical Viking is not as good a weapon as the Practical Knightly; The pommel is to light, making it more front heavy and cumbersome.
With the Practical knightly beeing mediocre to begin with, this does not spell very well for the Practical viking.
Of course, it is cheap, but for marginally more money, the Knightly is still a better buy.

I had considered the knightly sword but i just cant help but find the viking one more attractive to me, Plus i already have a few cruciform hilted swords on my wall and a total lack of viking age wepons minus the axe i have recentky gotten. I guess i just wont abuse the chen and wait till i can afford an albion. I dont really care about nicks and scratches i just want soemthing sturdy in case i ever get the chance to be involved in reenactment. Plus i like soo many others on here want the real thing if it can be had hehehehe