Paul Chen Naginata

I have been a martial artist for 14 years now, and finding high-quality weapons and training equipment is difficult. Aside from Bugei.com, who is also a retailer of CAS Hanwei, Hanwei itself is the only respectable sword smith I know of, aside from custom-made forgers. While paying $7,000 for a custom-made naginata would be ideal, it is highly uneconomical. I rated it 5/5, but it would be closer to a 4.3/5. There are a few reasons for this. First, the shipping from Swords of Might was speedy, however the box it was shipped in was actually two boxes taped together. I admit, it's a long product. It had more packaging peanuts than I know what to do with, but it arrived... mostly safe. The few faults I found look like they happened from CAS Hanwei itself, NOT Swords of Might or shipping. It is a beautiful naginata, though it is limited to only one design, of the many dozens that were employed over the feudal era of Japan. Some were rehashed katana blades, while others were thinner and straighter for thrusting and chopping. The blade is hand-forged of 1065 steel. It features a hamon which perplexed me; it looked acid-etched, but after closer examination it was clearly real. The blade is thick where it needs to be, adding extra durability, and the wooden staff is well made. But as said before, there were some faults. The first one was a large, two and a half inch crack that went entirely through the saya at one end. It was easily overlooked, but a cracked saya is dangerous. I checked the nakago to make sure the wood there was fine. It was, though a little dented, perfectly fine and the nakago itself was beautiful. The second problem was a hole in the naginata bag. Overall, the balance is to the tip, as to the style, but it works well in kata. The price is a bit inflated, but it is a sturdy weapon.