First off, I hope this is in the right forum.

I was at the Scottish festival here last Sunday and one of the vendors had a bunch of the Hanwei Tinker swords. I asked to look at the bastardsword, and they showed me the regular one, without the fuller. I told him that I would prefer it with a fuller, having seen the one that Tinker posted, and he took this out from behind the counter. He said that he had only gotten 2 fullered ones, and the other had sold early in the morning. As soon as I picked it up I knew I had to have this sword, it’s that awesome!

Here are the stats:
Overall Length: 42 5/8 inches
Blade Length: 33 ¼ inches
Hilt Length: 9 3/8 inches
Blade Width at base: 1 ½ inches
Blade width 4 inches from tip: 7/8 inches
Guard width: 7 7/8 inches
Grip length: 7 1/8 inches
Fuller length: 11 5/8 inches
Weight: 2lbs 10oz
CoG: 4 inches from guard
CoP: approximately 21 inches from guard

My first impression of this sword was ‘Wow! This is really light.’ My current other hand and a half is an MRL ranger sword which weighs 3 lbs on the nose, and that is what I’m used to. So the Tinker’s weight was a pleasant surprise.

Appearance:
I like hand and a half swords best out of all types, especially types XIIa, XIIIa, and XVIIIa. The FBS doesn’t taper as much as I think is usual for a type XVIIIa, but that is because it is already pretty narrow at the base. Overall, I love the blade profile of this sword; I think it is just awesome. The guard is a pretty straightforward type 1, flat and tapering at the ends. The pommel is a stepped wheel pommel (type H according to Tinker). Normally I don’t really like wheel pommels on bastard swords, but I think it really works for this one. The grip is black leather with a no-stitch seam. The sword’s overall appearance is simple but elegant; everything fits well together and flows nicely. The fittings are nice and tight. Also, the scabbard it comes with is really nice, covered in leather and with steel throat and chape.

Handling:
This sword feels great in the hand. In dry handling it’s very fast, light, and responsive. My technique needs work, as my experience with historical swordsmanship is mostly from reading the Swordsman’s Companion, but even with my limited experience this sword moves well.

This is my first sharp sword, so I couldn’t review it until I got some cutting done. I used 16.9 oz water bottles and half-gallon milk jugs, which I happened to have lying around the backyard. The sword cut the milk jugs extremely well, and the water bottles, which are a little thicker, pretty well also. Pictures can be seen below.

Overall I’m impressed with the handling ability of this sword. A note: I ran the edge along a thick piece of leather before any cutting, as Tinker suggested when these came in.

Conclusion:
I bought this sword for MSRP, which is $329. However, Kult of Athena has the bastardsword for about $280. The pictures are of the unfullered version, but their description says it has a fuller, so you might want to ask them. Anyway, at this price, I think you would be hard-pressed to find another hand and a half as good as this one.

Pictures
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I will also post a short video of me cutting with it as soon as I am able.

A big thanks to Tinker and Hanwei on a great sword! :)

As promised here is the video. It only covers a few of the bottles I cut, but you get the idea. Please ignore the triumphant shout at the end, it was my first milk jug and I got excited that it stayed on the stand, but my brother thought it would be funny to keep it in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y9HOBYk5Ik&feature=channel

Thanks,
Alan

Great review, nice sword. :cool:

Heh Heh... you did the 'Dance of Joy' after that clean cut on the Milk jug... adorable!

:lol:

There is nothing quite like the feeling of actually cutting with your swords... I like the look of these Hanwei/Tinker Swords. Since I recenly got some of the Valiant Armoury Gus Trim/Christian Fletcher peices... I look forward to picking up one of Tinker's Hanwei production line... but I'm holding out for the Great Sword of War... yummy!