Topic: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen (Read 1,916 times)
Brendan Olszowy Manufacturers and Vendors Review Points: 5 member is offline
These people are kindly to beasts, for they are a good and wise folk - Gandalf; ROTK
Joined: Mar 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,812 Location: Western Australia Karma: 327
Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Thread Started on Aug 24, 2007, 7:42am »
Practical Hand and a Half Sword By Hanwei / Paul Chen Review by Brendan. O, Perth Western Australia.
I bought this sword from Global Gear after searching for a blunt sword which I could sharpen, and use to familiarise myself with sword handling. It was one of the first swords I bought, and I already realised I had a tendancy to hit myself.
Global Gear is always very prompt to ship your purchases (I’ve purchased 6 swords from them so far, mostly from ebay). I had it within a 4 working days (East to West always takes a while).
It arrived in its typical Hanwei packaging, secure in a slim box with foam packing to fit the sword. As soon as I freed it from its binds I realised that this was a far more Neutrally balanced sword than those which I had previously handled. It’s not very light but blade control is super.
Statistics: Weight: 3lb 6oz (1525g) Blade length: 34” (865mm) Hilt length: 9 ½” (240mm) Grip Length: 6 ¾” (170mm) Overall: 43 ½” (1105mm) Guard Width: 7 1/4” (185mm) POB (point of balance): Blunt 3.5” (87mm) , Sharpened 2.5” (63mm) COP : Approx 22” from Guard. (550mm) Blade Width: At Guard 1 13/16” (45mm) , 3” before tip 11/16” (18mm)
Design, Fit, and Finish: The Blade The fuller was very crisp on one side but a bit rough on the other. The 1/16” edge was quite uniform and had quite sharp square edges. The blade is very stiff, as this design obviously holds thrusting capability in high regard. My experiences sharpening have proven that the steel is ultra durable. It will flex if pushed but not under its own weight, and always returns true. It was polished but still exhibity heaps of grind marks. The Grip The leather wrap is very soft, and comfortable to hold barehanded over long periods. The risers are subtle and well placed. It is fairly compact but will just allow for full double handed use. I find the diameter perfect and there is a nice oval shape which allows for excellent blade placement. The wrap join needed a bit of epoxy on one side, but hasn’t budged since. It is well glued. The Pommel Quite large and thick, but very well sculpted and polished. Edges are a little sharp and uncomfortable for the bottom hand. Peening is ugly but effective. The Guard Quite wide and abruptly square, and can rub your forearms if you exaggerate position. Again beautifully sculpted and polished. It got a slight rattle when the epoxy had let it go, but the movement is minute even after a lot of rough play. The Scabbard Very attractive to me. They say most people will decorate it but I like it as is. It grips the blade perfectly near the hilt, and no rattle near the tip, even now the blade is ground. It was lacking the rings found on the new ones, but I added a large stainless ring I had laying around. It’s very light. This is as long as I could possibly wear from the hip. But the point sits just above my foot.
Sharpening What a huge journey this has been - I'll try to keep brief. I started with a hardened steel bastard file, It took an hour amd a half to get one half of one edge to a 30 degree bevel. I was finally able to cut with it. I sharpened it up and took straight to the cardboard, which it could cut, but would often stick before through. I was also able to still have three quarters of the blade blunt and practice without as high a risk of injury.
A week or so later I hand filed the top half of the other edge down to a 30 degree bevel - another 1.5 hours of filing later. Once I felt more confident I wanted the whole blade sharp, but decided to leave a blunt ricasso to the length of the fuller (for half sword etc). I was never really happy to leave it with the 30 degree bevel either, as by then I had a katana and saw what real cutting could be.
Necessity being the mother of invention (and me being essentially lazy) I designed a rig for my bench grinder, which would feed the stone a constant supply of water (bottle, hose, in line tap), and eliminate the possibility of the blade pulling down on the stone and being damaged.
As it turned out, the rig enables me excellent control of my grinding activities, and I am ecstatic about the results. I’ve finally got it down to a perfect single bevel from central ridge to edge. The old secondary bevel can be seen in the last photo of this review. Its taken about 5 hours of grinding (over 3 sessions, plus the initial 3 hours I spent on the file) but it is how I imaging the Functional Albrecht version of this sword to be.
I’ve even got the point down to a deadly profile. It has a katana like edge now and cutting ability is probably 80% that of a basic katana.
The sharpened blade:
Long story short: I feel I have created a fully functional sword without affecting quality of the heat treat or temper. I’m very happy.
Cutting With the old secondary bevel this sword cut single bottles, or cardboard boxes fine. It was great for tree pruning.
Now with the single smooth bevel from centre to edge it is far more devastating. Even handling the blade I feel a lot more respect for it, it's very sharp. First session I did 3 x 2 litre bottles in a row and barely felt an impact. I’ve never been able to do that with one of my westerns before. Usually the final bottle would be batted. I reproduced the cut again in a second session to get you a photo, with 2 x 2litre and 1 x 600ml bottle; perfect.
Not many bottles on hand, so I head out the back paddock to the Lillies. Lillies. Thousands of them. So much fun. I can mow them to see how many it will penetrate without sticking. Or I can just pick a flower and see how many cuts I can do before its gone. Don’t worry greenies, you can’t even slow this pest weed down.
Thrusting Tests Target 1: 20mm Chip Board. This is the board I put on my cutting stand. It's been in the weather a bit and is wet and a little swolen, I put a coke lid on it to give the viewer a feel of size. This powerful thrust was straight down on the board over lawn. Performed 3 times, the blade hardly flexed at all. Target 2: 44 Gallon drum. This is sacrelige, but I did it for you the descerning sword buyer, in the interest of critical journalism. This was a very risky test, as it may have wrecked the blade. However I have alot of faith in the metal of this baby.
I performed one hard thrust, the blade penetrated deeply & emerged unscathed. So I performed a second very hard thrust, with no regard for the blade. My lofty goal on this thrust was to get through the other side for an impressive demonstration for you. Well, nowhere near it, but impressive none the less. Final examination - the blade retained its edge, no visible scratching, blunting or chips, and its still straight as a die. I rest my case. The Mounting Plaque I made this out of MDF and a hot soldering iron.
Rating it relative to makers intention: Historical Accuracy: 3.5/5 - Image is good but construction methods leave room for improvement (pommel / distal taper). Fit and Finish: 4/5 Handling: 4/5 - lively for it's considerable weight Structural Integrity: 4.5/5 Value for Money: 5/5 Overall: 4.2/5
I’ve put a lot of my own sweat into this sword and would have to rate it my favourite in my collection. Now I have made it as functional as possible I feel I can justify that position, however even blunt I felt similarly.
Joined: Dec 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 1,376 Location: Australia Karma: 168
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #2 on Aug 24, 2007, 8:48pm »
Very, very cool Review Brenno!
I'll be adding it to the main SBG site soon too btw.
I must apologize at this point as I have temporarily run out of reliks vouchers, but have just bought another batch of 10 and will send them to you as soon as Reliks gives them to me.
Joined: Dec 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 550 Location: Gold Coast QLD Australia Karma: 14
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #4 on Aug 26, 2007, 4:44am »
Mate PLEASE PLEASE be carefull with water around bench grinders, the shafts can pic up water and run it straight into the motor if they arent sealed bearings. I have seen it happen(work in tool store that does repairs). Nice review tho
Brendan Olszowy Manufacturers and Vendors Review Points: 5 member is offline
These people are kindly to beasts, for they are a good and wise folk - Gandalf; ROTK
Joined: Mar 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,812 Location: Western Australia Karma: 327
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #5 on Aug 26, 2007, 6:16am »
Hey ronin Thanks for the tip, I didn't know that. Its a B & D grinder I paid $36 for at bunnings. Ive sharpened every tool and drill bit I own and made two functional beaters from cheap stage swords out of it so I'd consider water ingress to be collateral damage. Best $36 I ever spent. Cheers
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #9 on Aug 28, 2007, 10:07am »
Brenno - another great review. This looks like a great piece, and is going on my wish list! Although I don't think I'd have the guts to sharpen it like you did. Great job.
Joined: Dec 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 3,203 Location: X-NYC Karma: 106
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #10 on Aug 28, 2007, 11:29am »
Karma Breno. I like your sharpening work. I am very impressed with your barrle test.
I have handdled the Paul Chen H&H several times recently at Pensic and I liked the way it feels too. I am plaaning on buying it myself soon for my WMA practice.
No athlete/youth can fight tenaciously who has never received any blows: he must see his blood flow and hear his teeth crack under the fist of his adversary, and when he is thrown to the ground he must fight with all his might and not loose courage... Anyone who can do that, can engage in battle confidently.
Roger of Hoveden, 1174-1201
Brendan Olszowy Manufacturers and Vendors Review Points: 5 member is offline
These people are kindly to beasts, for they are a good and wise folk - Gandalf; ROTK
Joined: Mar 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 3,812 Location: Western Australia Karma: 327
Re: Practical Hand and Half by Hanwei / Chen « Reply #11 on Aug 28, 2007, 9:55pm »
Thanks Tsafa Provided they haven't changed their manufacturing techniques on their blades I can wholeheartedly recommend one. It's nice to be able to buy a blade with confidence. Have you found any shortfalls on your Hanwei Practical Single Handed Knightly? You've had that for a few months now. Does it see much action?
I have found both this and the practical viking to be excellent - so they say when you're on a good thing stick to it. Hence I'm looking at a Hanwei Practical Tai Chi for purchase now.
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