[Harry J. Fletcher]

I have ordered a Tinker Pearce Long Sword made by Hanwei but have some reservations since placing the order. Does anyone have any familiarity with this sword? I understand that the first batch of swords had some shortcuts taken by Hanwei and were not up to tinker's specifications with the blade breaking at the cross and the tang breaking at the pommel. Yet another complaint was that the sword was dull to not very sharp as it came from the factory.

I would appreciate hearing any comments about this blade. Maybe I can return it and order a much better one from Albion although I just wanted a beater sword for fun.

Harry

[Jesse Eaton]

I don't have one of these, but looking at it I would say that it isn't a bad thing of the blade isn't all that sharp. There are lots of threads on here that discuss the apropriate sharpness of a blade and much of the discussion concerns the myth of the razor sharp long sword. IMO, a sword should be only as sharp as the purpose for which it is intended requires and no more. Blades designed for slashing unarmored tagets should be well sharpened and blade for inflicting heavy percussive blows in light to medium armor should be less sharp. Blades for puncturing the vulnerable spots in plate armour should be sharp where the sharpness is needed, near the tip, and less sharp on the parts you migh want to hold on to while half-swording.

That's my view anyway and your Tinker longsword looks more like the kind used for percussive blows rather than slashes.

[P. Cha]

The issue isn't that the blade isn't sharp enough...it's that the blade is the wrong kind of sharp. In fact my H/T bastard sword came TOO sharp and the angle was so steep that it hindered cutting. It worked better when I DULLED it. Then I put a proper edge on it and now it's a great backyard cutter. It's not that hard to re-do the edge if you have a slack belt sander. Technically not that hard to do with sandpaper...but it is time consuming that way.

[JE Sarge]

I have two of them now, and I love them both. Mine are the newer ones - improvements were made to the line last year. The shoulders are rounded and the edge is alot better. While I would not call it a perfect edge, it's serviceable with a little elbow grease. Mine cut fine out of the box on waterbottles and such, but I wanted a more accurate geometry so I took out the bevels. If you do a regrip, you'll even like it better. These are great swords that tidy up very nicely. I don't know of a sword in that price range with a a sexier blade profile (I love me some flared shoulders ).

You won't find a better sword at that price. You won't go broke buying it, and you don't have to worry about damaging a $1000 sword when you want to have a beater to abuse around the house.

[Sean Flynt]

Unless there's a problem with the mounting I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Can't say anything about the hilt but I do have the longsword blade as well as the bastard sword blade (both sharp). I used the longsword blade for the project shown below, cut down from the tang end (NOTE: I also narrowed the flared upper part of the blade.) The bastard blade is stiffer and more robust. The longsword blade is lighter and more flexible. The flex is primarily in the lower half, below the fuller, and not floppy at all. The tang is .25"! If you look at the blade edge-on you can see that the distal taper steps down slightly at that point and then continues evenly straight to the tip. Mine was extremely sharp--probably a-historically sharp and certainly not safe for working on so I blunted it a bit and filed back the needle point before working with it and now it's comparable to my A&A blades.

My first thought was that the blade is too light for a longsword but I think I've changed my mind. I thought the hilt might overpower the blade if mounted as a longsword, but I think it could actually be quite nice mounted in the style of the famous Brescia sword. That sword is said to be more for civilian duel anyway.

For what it's worth, I love these blades! Great bargain! I just wish somebody would start selling pommels and crosses.

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Sean: that is a very nice alteration you did. Very nice indeed.

Mr. Cha: I am not very good at sharpening but yur comment reassures me that I can get a good edge and not to worry.

Mr. Sarge: Thanks for letting know I am getting a good blade for the money and a beater blade at that which looks nice to boot.

Mr. Eaton: thanks for your input although a historical edge is less of a worry than a good backyard cutting edge


All of you have reassured me that I am getting a great sword at a good price and shouldn't worry and I want to thank each of you for your input and setting my mind at ease. I know that it wasn't necessary to spend a lot more money to get essentially the same sword.

Regards,

Harry

[Mark T]

Hi Harry,

Sorry if this comes a little late, but if you check out Tinker's site, you'll see that he offers these with different levels of 'after-market' modifications, including sorting the edge out, altering the guard, and generally neatening things up. If you're happy with the quality of the blade steel, tempering, profile, etc, then these mods will take an off-the-shelf H/T to another level. Not sure if he does them to swords purchased elsewhere, but check out the site and drop him a line ...