I've only ever owned one Gen 2 sword (a Henry V) and I'm quite happy with it. The temper and edge seem perfectly fine to me. The only problem I have with it is that the cross guard is a bit uneven in shape (one quillon is slightly longer than the other) and when I first handled it the grip and sheath both bled tons of dye on me.

I am quite sure that Gen2 makes also good swords, but since trust is easier to lose than gain, I have now ordered a Hanwei Tinker longsword as a replacement. I asked Ryan to flex the blade and make sure, that the sword has no defects. I also asked him if their sharpening service good touch up the blade and he promised to do that. Good service! I wonder how sharp the sword is when it arrives.

I remember that spot of nastiness, it is pretty much the low spot of SBG history. I'm not going to lay any blame out there other than to say there were a lot of people who went way over the line of decency and I'd be very surprised if you could find anyone who was in the mess who was not at fault in some way.

any way Gen2 / legacy arms (as they are now called) were one of the best budget European swords until VA launched the practical ATrim line. I have never owned one of theirs but I have handled a few. I'm not a fan but I think they are worthy of consideration for sure. that one batch of poor heat treat blades really did a lot of damage to Clyde. it's too bad too because a reputation like that can haunt a company for a really long time no matter if it gets fixed or not. Heat treat is really not that well understood by a lot of sword lovers, especially in the more budget minded markets. One thing I find interesting is just how poorly so many antiques were heat treated when compared to our modern reproductions. I know I wouldn't want a sword heat treated as inconsistently as some of those antiques for the backyard cutting I do and yet people fought for their lives with them. crazy.

I'd love to hear the OP's thoughts on the sword he gets, I have have heard lots of good things about the H/T line and the couple I have handled were really well designed swords if a bit rough in the detailing. basically if one is handy and doesn't mind doing some work on the sword, H/T swords are great deals. I custom mounted an EMSH sword that has been complimented by a well known maker (I don't want to drop names) as being a good sword (it is at his shop right now) so something good is going on there and I am sure it has less to do with my work than it does with the fact that the bare blade I got was a really good design to begin with. to my mind, the budget minded market right now really comes down to H/T vs VA/AT practicals and fortunately the swords they make are all different enough they don't real compete that much against each other. you gotta wonder if Gus and Tinker being friends meant that either consciously or not they kind of stepped around each other in this.