On 7/22/09 at around 1:20pm I received a knock at my door. Knowing it was supposed to be here today I got up, opened the door, signed for it, took it in my room, and opened it. 3 boxes later I finally got to the good stuff. It was sitting securely in the last box with foam barriers to keep it from moving around and was also wrapped up in the sword bag that it came with. Before I could even see the sword with my own eyes, I noticed something I didn't like immediately. I was holding it upside down and the sword kind of fell out of the saya. With all the other handmade weapons I own, the sword fits in the saya well enough to hold upside down and it won't fall out. Concerned about this I put the wakizashi back in tightly and with a sigh of relief, realized it was loose only because when they shipped it, they must have not secured it in all that well. So this was no problem....

• The ever-popular Practical Wakizashi gives the martial artist the opportunity to own and use a Hanwei sword at the cost of an economy sword. The blades are forged and differentially hardened, using the same process as the more expensive blades and producing an HRC60 edge and HRC40 back. The temper line is authentic and prominent. Cost savings are effected by using fittings which, while making no claims to authenticity, are very strongly built to withstand the rigors of cutting exercises in the dojo.

• Made by Hanwei.
• Forged high-carbon steel blade.
• Differentially Hardened.
• Blade length: 20 in.
• Handle length: 6 1/2 in.
• Overall length: 27 1/2 in.
• Weight: 1lb 8oz.
• Point of Balance: 4 in.
• Width at Guard: 1.11 in.
• Width at Tip: .70"
• Thickness at Guard: .24 in.
• Thickness at Tip: .17 in.
• Sori: 1/2 in. - www.trueswords.com

Aside from the initial scare of having an inadequet method of keeping the saya in place, my first thoughts were, "It's perfect, it's exactly what I thought it was going to be", which is pretty rare for katana's. Pictures tend to be a little off, but this one was spot on. However, the blade was not sharp to the touch. It almost felt blunted. This was a bit concerning and disapointing but I forged on to test it out.


I grabbed the sword in spite of the blade not being razor sharp to the touch and sliced in to the tatami mat I set up for it... Despite not having a great edge, it cut perfectly. This made me happy because I have never cut a tatami mat completely through the first try. I usually have to reposition it and set up another. That was not the case this time. It cut as clean as expected.

I wanted to test it out again on something else. I went outside. There are a bunch of bushes outside of my house I sometimes play around with and cut over grown branches from. Most of them are about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch in diameter. I cut some smaller ones. Very little effort was required. I cut some bigger ones. Same result.



I wasn't satisfied with the blade not being sharp to the tough though. I felt, even though it cut well, it should still hold an edge. I have a Musashi sharpening kit and went to work for about 35 minutes until I was satisfied. It felt sharp and clean. Much much sharper than how it came. It wasn't until I was sharpening it that I could finally appreciate the blade. It sure is beautiful. It has a very authentic look to it that can sometimes be lost in having a blood groove.

I realize cutting small bushes isn't the greatest way to test a blade so I decided to test out some jugs of water. Much larger, yet thinner jugs than I had previously tested. I patiently filled up the jugs and went back out side with my newly sharpened blade. It cut right through it, needless to say.

I'm writing this review a bit backwards, so I'll be reviewing the appearance of this Wakizashi at the end. If you've read any of my other reviews, I choose to purchase more plain looking weapons. I'm not a big fan of a lot of art on them. This Wakizashi was no exception. The saya has a high gloss piano style paint on it. The Tsuba is simply a plain circle and the handle looks like most of the katana's I own. In the midst of all the plainess, there is a small gold flower embedded in the handle beneath the wrap. It will usually go by unnoticed but it adds a nice touch.

The blade is thick. It almost appears faux because of how thick it is. The blade is very pretty but it has a strange roughness where the hamon would typically be. Along with the Handle being exactly what I was looking for appearance wise, it feels perfect. It has a better wrap on the handle where other swords typically have some kind of cotton cloth it actually feels like some kind of leather. The sword bag it comes with is a great quality cotton bag also. Much thicker than most of my other sword bags. It resembles a Cold Steel bag but it is actually black instead of blue.


So in the end, my thoughts on this Wakizashi are... It's a great beginner sword. If you're looking to purchase your first Wakizashi, after purchasing a few Katana's I would go with this one for sure. It could be better, in fact, it could be much better. Even though it cuts well, for the price, I would have been more satisfied if it had a razor sharp edge. That was a big turn off for me. It's easily pretty enough to be a center piece along with the PC Practical Katana and I would/will definately use it for cutting excercises in the dojo. I like to have a few Wakizashi's and Katana's that I don't ever use, just center pieces. This will not be one of them. That, however, is actually a good thing though. That means I will actually be using this Wakizashi to cut with. I will use it everyday. I give the Pual Chen Practical Wakizashi a 3/5 Zombie Heads. If it were only razor sharp :( sorry Paul.