Well, the first shipment of the Early Medieval Sword arrived and they look good. The problem is they don't feel good and the reason is fairly simple- they are 4 ounces too heavy. Ouch. They were supposed to weigh 2-1/2 pounds and they weigh 2-3/4 pounds! The weight is all in the blade too so they don't handle nearly as well as they should.

CAS/Hanwei is sending them back to be fixed- but some 20 or so of them shipped out to retailers before they caught on to the problem. If you encounter one of these swords you need to know that it's not what I or CAS intended it to be and that we're aware of the problem and working to fix it. This means that it's going to be a while longer before we see a proper version of the Early Medieval Single-Hand Sword or the blunt training version.

Am I pleased? Yes and no. Naturally I am displeased that the swords weren't made right. On the other hand I am quite pleased that CAS is willing to send them back and withhold them from the market until they are right. Their commitment to quality on this project has been first-rate.

Anyway it's a bit of a set-back but not the end of the world. I'll keep you posted.

OK, We've had word back from Paul. Apparently there was a hiccup in the QC process which has now been fixed. They've also checked the blunts and they are within the correct spec so they will not have to be redone. I'll keep you posted when there is more news.