[Harry J. Fletcher]

I know it is new but does anyone have any experience with this sword? I have ordered one to be a companion to my Baron as a heavy cutter. It was on sale by Kult of Athena for $159.00 down from $369 and so was too good of an offer to pass up in my thinking.

[Colt Reeves]

Say, like this little review by Mike Arledge: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=20722?

[P. Cha]

A lot of people who bought them have been giving them good review. I have 2 of the H/T line swords and a bare blade for customization and other then the edges needing to retouched badly, they are all good blades. The wood cores could be better and leather is of low quality of course. The fitting also look off and slight retouch to those does wonders for the sword.

[Eric W. Norenberg]

Hello Harry,
I haven't handled the Baron, but the descriptions I've read regarding it are similar to the way I feel about my H/T GSOW: big, lots of blade presence, right on the border of feeling (arguably) unweildy when static, but when in motion, very effective and inspired. Which is basically the way I had hoped it would be.

Despite the similar intended usage (big sword of war) the stats on the two are fairly different, especially hilt-to-blade length ratios; I think the H/T uses its hilt length to cheat the handling a bit, bringing the POB back and gaining more leverage by using an overly-long (for the type) handle length. Now that I have the sword, 'tho, I'm quite pleased with it and I'm happy to consider it an extremely rare "type XIIIA in the Swedish way."

I for one would love to hear your impressions, especially with the Baron there to compare to.

Best,
Eric

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Colt, thanks for the link. thanks for the info Mr. Cha. Eric, I like the Baron and find it handles very well. I can see that it was designed to be used by one hand from horseback with its long blade and with both hands dismounted. It cuts sweetly as you can see for yourself if you look at my post on "Preparing tatami omote" in the Off Topic forum where at the end I cut the tatami with Baron. Also, I have done some meat cutting with it too. Look for "Meat cutting with the Albion Baron" also in the Off topic forum. The only problem is with me because I tend to cut forward of the PoP with it. This is the reason I ordered the H/T Great Sword of War, to get more blade toward the tip. The Baron is a compromise, a blade to be used by one hand or two and for thrusting as well. I wanted a pure heavy hewing and cleaving blade to complement the Baron. But...if I had to choose between a single hand sword, the Baron, and a pure cleaving blade like a Type XIIIa as in the H/T GSOW, I would choose the Baron Type XIIa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17czx2hHSiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6RpMBLb62Y

Regards,

Harry

[James Anderson III]

I just received my GSoW last week. I have not sharpened nor done any cutting with it, but I will echo Mike's comments that the sword does feel big, does feel heavy, but is still quite manageable. In comparison to my Hanwei/Tinker Long Sword, they are both similar lengths, but have a completely different presence. As a heavy cutter, it feels as though it will be amazing; the sheer heft behind it will hopefully make cleaving that much more easy.

[Tom Kinder]

I have not gotten my hands on a GSOW yet but I own an EMSHS bare blade I custom mounted (love it), and done some sharpening work on (and got to play with) a fullered bastard and I am pretty darned impressed with both of the swords. that and everyone I have heard from all say the Hanwei Tinker line are really good swords just rough in the details department. in other words if you are at all handy you will probably love them.

the recent sale helped a lot too.

[Harry J. Fletcher]

I received my Tinker Great Sword of War yesterday in the late afternoon. My first impression was how long the grip was as I removed it from the box. The cross was slightly loose and rattled a bit so I looked for the Allen wrench which the catalog said was supplied with the sword but not finding one I used one of my own and with a quarter turn tightened up the hilt which silenced the slightly loose cross. Since the hilt was nice and tight now I cleaned off the grease from the blade and immediately loved the look of it. It was sharp and the spatulate point looked very nice. I especially liked the bright pommel which shinned like it was plated with chrome. The grip as Mr. Cha pointed out was not that good looking but very plain and could use some reworking in the future but although dull it was functional. It also was squarish rather than round but that only served to orient the blade in my hands.

I took the sword outside to see how it handled and the first thing I noticed was that the cross a bit too long for my liking because I hit myself in the head with it a few times while doing overhead strikes. I would suggest about a half an inch off each end of the cross would be just about right. Although only 3 oz. heavier than the Albion Baron the GSoW was not quite as nimble to my feel when handled with two hands. It handled very well with one hand which surprised me especially in the vertically downward strike which is what a knight on horseback would use with one hand. I would rate the sword a perfect 10 out of 10 for function and 9.5 for handling. The only real criticism I can make is the aforemention length of the cross which is slightly too long. Like the Tinker Viking by Hanwei the Tinker Great Sword of War is a lot more sword for your money than you paid.

I plan to do some cutting of tatami omote, some rather tough stuff I bought from Nihonzashi, and I will post a link to video of the cutting session. Frankly, I expect this sword to cut very well.