If the basket hilt at Military Heritage is anything like the Cold Steel model, the blade is about like hauling a piece of lead pipe around!

I have seen/held the Military Heritage baskethilt - don't bother. A Windlass or the Cold Steel is a better sword (as far as they go, that is). The basket looks to me to be a close copy of one of the past Windlass ones, but the blade has that "chrome plated" shine and bulky construction of lesser Scottish swords found at Highland games. I don't know who makes these things for Military Heritage, but I'd bet it's one of the generic Indian producers (the ones that serious collectors tend to avoid, BTW). The balance is poor, and the overall fit and finish is also sub-par. The blade is, of course, too thick and not correctly ground. Far below what the Hanwei swords offer.

When I got started into 18th Century Living History, and wanted a decent sword, the guys who knew better advised me to save my money and go straight to the custom guys, rather than going for the inferior "starter" models. This was before the recent Hanwei baskethilts, and with Mad Piper in hiatus, if you don't want a Hanwei or a Windlass, you'd better just start saving up.

Good to know. I'm glad now that I didn't go for it.