SZCO Supplies 40.5” Hand Forged Carbon Steel Rustic Broad Sword with Leather Wrapped Handle, Black/Brown (901132)

Excellent, inexpensive crusader sword. Solid, real iron. Not fancy, more like an average foot soldier’s weapon. Great wall hanger or cosplay item. Has the feel of a real weapon. When reading about the Middel Ages, I like to pick it up to get a sense of the times.

It's a full tang sword. That means the sword is a solid piece through guard, handle and into the pommel where it's peened. The grip covering is a cheap piece of leather helded by 4 push pins. You can pry the pins out with a blade and some pliers. The grip is too round and thick to be comfortable, so I removed it. The grip itself is just rounded pieces of wood held by two pins that are hammered into rivets. There are probably better tools to remove the pins, but I made do with some flush cutters. Just remove the wood bit by bit around the pin. Then use flush cutters to trim the pins down slowly. The pins are aluminum, softer than steel, so its doable if you nibble tiny bits at a time. Once the bulge is removed, you can tap the pin out with a 3/16 punch. It took a few passes and some patience. Both the guard and pommel are welded poorly. Matters more for the guard since mine got loose after some light use. You can weld it yourself, fill it with solder, JB weld or shim it. Since it's $30 sword. JB Weld worked nicely. Very solid after filling the gaps. If you're good with wood, it should be easy to fashion a simple grip. I'm better with CAD, so I just designed a set of grips to print. #8x1 inch screws work. Needs to be a millimeter shorter, but a file made quick work. #10 screws would probably be better if you drilled and tapped the holes. Need to test for a bit before adding loctite or clear nail polish. I plan to reuse the leather and push pins since it's a $30 sword. But you could always get a nice tennis leather grip wrap. Although very sloppily put together, it's a real sword, not fake junk. Note, very blunt. Its like 45 degree edge (total 90) or more, so safe for handling, but will cave in anything with a heavy blow. If you want a sharp edge, a Fiskars Axe sharpener will give it 30 degrees which is sharp but sturdy. Better to leave it as is, unless you need the edge. Very heavy for one handed, but even two handed, will tax grip strength if you use full strength. I recommend watching "Strong Wrists + Grip Workout for Swords" first. There is no reason to get a sword, but you get to live your childhood fantasies. Plus, it's more fun than regular exercise.

I'm always dubious of "cheap" or shall I say "low priced swords", and I always approach such purchases cautiously. I've seen this sword many places on the web, but few reviews. So, I went out on a limb and purchased one to check it out myself, and report my findings. The sword is intended (obviously) to look old, and it certainly does. It's appearance is rough, but intentionally so. But: it's very well put together for something so inexpensive. Not only is this sword full tang, but the tang is what is referred to as a "scale tang". Meaning: the tang is as wide as the handle. The handle is two slabs of wood (unsure of type, but it's a hardwood, maybe even oak), and there are indeed steel pins attaching the handle slabs to the tang. The cross-guard and pommel are solid steel, and are attached quite solidly. The handle is wrapped with suede leather, tacked at each end (upholstery nail/tack). I will be ditching this wrapping and sanding the handle down a bit (as it is a bit too "round"). Then I will re-wrap it with better quality leather. I will also be cleaning the sword up, removing the artificial aging (which it indeed does appear to be rusted...the fittings appear to be rough cast and then blackened). Cleaned up, this sword will make a great costume piece, and I would daresay that it is solid enough for practice. Probably wouldn't stand up to a pell, but I'd be willing to test it based on the low (LOW) price. Very pleased.

This thing is AMAZING. For only $37 when I bought it I thought it would be cheap and worthless. Maybe cool to look at but that's it. Let me tell you, I LOVE this sword. It's heavy, sturdy, well crafted, and looks great. It's not sharp for obvious reasons. But, you can sharpen it it you want.

I bought this sword as a project to mess with and I’m pleased with the results. Sword arrived with a slightly bent tip. Grind lines are off center and not even, the blade itself is about 1/8in thick, not sharpened well. Guard and pommel are tack welded to tang, guard was on crooked and pommel is off skew a bit also. The suede wrap is poorly done and easily removed as is the wood handle. The handle on this thing is very big and round and makes using the sword very awkward. I removed the handle cut the tack welds screwed off pommel, the guard will not slide off because of the way the tang is attached. I wanted to reduce the thickness of the handle and wanted to be able to swap handles as well. The tang on the sword is very wide about 1.5in so I cut it down to 3/4in wide and cut new shoulders into the blade to lengthen the handle a little more and taking the blade down to 31in. I had to sand blast the paint on the guard and pommel to get it off. I then started on the blade reprofiling the off center grind to the tip of the blade and the blade edges. The forge scale on the blade itself was pretty hard to remove and I removed as much as I could. I used Brownells plumb brown to give the blade an old iron look (that did not show up in the pics very well) and to prevent rust and realized the guard is some kind of “cast pot metal”. Once the blade was sharpened, a new thinner and longer handle was added. This sword handles great one or two handed now. The shift in point of balance made the blade feel very light and fast (zips right through water bottles). If you want a fun project you can’t beat the price of this sword (under $35) I might buy another to try a different look once I make a scabbard for this one.

In my quest for a training longsword, I happened upon this sword. For HEMA practitioners, and students learning the European Martial Arms Arts, particularly the Western European Longsword: consider this humble, inexpensive, high-carbon, full-tang longsword. If you are seeking a decent practical practice-longsword and are discouraged by the high costs of wooden, polypropylene, and high carbon steel federshwert practice swords; then check this rustic broadsword out. Under $40.00 (less than most poly-pro, or wooden practice swords), and certainly less than expensive HEMA -qualified federschwerts (at usually over $225.00), this baby rocks! It is durable: actual high carbon steel, basically unsharpened upon arrival (you can further blunt or hone it if need be), and heavy at around 4 pounds. You'll locate the POB (point of balance) about 6-inches north of the cross guard. Yes, it is a bit blade-heavy, and yes, it is heavy in general for a longsword: however, this is all perfect for training! The extra weight will help you greatly in stamina and strength, as, after training with this sword an actual longsword (around 3-pounds+) feels like a feather! The high carbon steel blade is 32-inches long. From pommel to cross guard is a tad under 8-inches. The pommel and cross guard are steel (not a wooden pommel, as one reviewer commented): and the wooden over-steel handle is wrapped in strip-leather, which is actual bovine-leather (not faux-leather, as another reviewer commented). In many of the historical MS. (manuscripts) left to posterity by the likes of Fiore dei Liberi, Hans Tolhoffer, Johannes Liechtenauer, and others; there is advocacy for training with real swords. Some even advocate training with actual sharpened swords. I can see the wisdom in that; as you're not likely to make the same mistakes twice (perchance because you've lost a finger or an eye). Since I don't actually want to kill my training partner, I won't train with sharpened swords, but actual swords, yes! There is a vast selection of real steel training swords, dulled, and combat ready. However, you will find these swords cost every bit as much as their actual real sword counterparts, if not more! This rugged broadsword is my solution, and I believe I chose well. Even though I take the advice of many old school fight book master's as per training with actual swords: I also strongly advocate all the safety-equipment needed. HEMA gloves: or padded, thick leather gauntlets; as well as a fencing helmet, chest, and arm protection, too. Motto: Real Training-Real Safety! For those who would say to NEVER train with actual swords for safety fears; I suggest enrolling in Badminton, or Crocheting, rather than fencing. This is a martial art form, and in my opinion, this sword is a perfect trainer. Buyers: please note that this is a high carbon sword, and as such it requires maintenance like all good real swords. This entails keeping the sword dry and moisture free. When not in use a light coating of oil should be applied. Even motor oil will work, but there are many oil products made especially for swords, knives, and plate armor. For the more experienced swordsman and swordswoman; this inexpensive sword has a high potential for customization! If you want a sword to customize, and are terrified of destroying a $250.00 mid-line sword: this baby has a lot of potential in that area! So fence on, warriors! Get the feel of real steel!

Weight is optimized for hewing, the staple of swords of this type. The overall length relative to grip length define it as hand-and-a-half. The weight as-is, combined with the grips, mean this will be impossible to safely swing without modifications to the grip geometry - remove them entirely and affix your own(properly). I used paracord until I get around to shaping my own in the future. At $30 I didn't care if I would end up hanging it on a wall. After taking it out of the box I immediately realized that it was hefty and made of good metal. I was doubtful I would be getting good carbon steel, but after attempts to bend and some light taps on the blade, the harmonics leave no doubt - high-carbon spring steel, and a good template to work with. If you have the knowledge and/or tools to cut two fullers into the blade terminated at mid-length, this would feel more proper in the hands. The grip I should note is the first thing I removed - clearly it's designed for decoration, but what a waste of a good sword... I scuffed at and sanded down the paint on the center of blade, made little progress, and called it for the night. Power tools would make short work of it and with some patience and YT videos I am certain you can buff out a shine that will astound you. I will also add that I believe the paint is added as a protectant to the raw piece of metal this sword is clearly forged from. You can see various imperfections from the process embedded underneath the paint; the paint isn't just arbitrarily thicker in some spots it is actually the true features of the steel. That said, again with the right stuff you could concave grind the center of the blade for lightening and to rid it of the remaining imperfections. Now should you swing this at another person, even just playing around or in a professional setting? Maybe after you've modified it and vetted it as safe to use as a sword. As-is, you will not get a proper swing-worthy grip - ever - unless you're willing to do some work on this, and as for the blade... it's a piece of steel with labor hours worth of cost tacked onto it. So you're paying for cheap labor and almost scrap metal that is a fully-functional but not battle-ready sword.

Great sword . Heavy , beautiful, sharp and dangerous. When I say heavy it’s very heavy some will have trouble swinging it with one hand until you get use to the weight. That said the weight is well balanced with a heavy pummel. It’s a full steel sword from tip to pummel. Very strong and well made. Ready to slay the invaders or destroy dragons out of the box . Handle grip is wrapped with crap leather …but it’s an easy enough task to wrap it in better leather. Not an issue for me. It’s a damn good sword . For this price I expected junk but this is a real deal battle sword that would chop a tree down if you wanted to and would easily cleave a head from the body of a villain or dragon . I’m Looking for a scabbard for the sword because it’s a very sharp sword and dangerous when carrying in a simple “frog” holster over your shoulder, on your back or at your side. Trip over this thing and you’ll lose a toe or two. Blunder into a friend with this thing dangling from your belt with the blade exposed is almost certainly gonna result in a trip to the hospital for stitches . It comes packed in stinking dirty smelly gross packing grease … be careful not to ruin your clothing, carpet , sofa or your wife’s favorite table cloth . Open it outside and wipe it off with paper towels. Grease wipes right of and smell is gone in an instant once the grimy grease is cleaned off. This is a real sword not a toy. It’s deadly out of the box .