Condor Tool & Knife Dynasty Dadao Sword | 1075 High Carbon Steel Martial Arts Sword with a Walnut Handle | 6mm Thick with Handcrafted Welted Leather Sheath | 21.3in Blade | 51.2oz

This sword is so well made that I can't understand how Condor can afford to sell it so cheap. It's superior by leaps and bounds to other Dadao style swords on the market that cost 3 or 4 times as much. This is not a delicate, finesse weapon intended for the highly skilled, gifted swordsman but, if you do your research, neither was the traditional Dadao. They were usually hastily made, unrefined, battle tools to be used by peasant fighters with limited training. They were later adopted by trained Chinese military forces but we're more symbolic and for intimidation than practical battlefield combat. People who don't know what they're talking about may differently but there is a romanticized mythology attached to the Dadao which many mistake for being accurate when it's anything but. In reality this is more battleaxe than sword. It's not well balanced, it's not easy to wield, you can forget about parrying and thrusting or and fancy pants spinning shaolin monk maneuvers. This is meant for ferociously swinging at a target and cleaving it in two. That's it, that's all. The steel is very good and the handle solid and sturdy but not overly comfortable. I'm so impressed with this sword that I'm giving it 5 stars in spite of it having some damage due to shipping. The reason why I feel the damage is the fault of Condor is because I've read the of the same problem in a number of reviews. The box they ship it in is just exactly big enough to fit the sword with virtually no wiggle room. This means that any banging around of the box during shipping can/will damage blade tip. And, as many have experienced, the tip of my blade was slightly rolled. This makes no sense to me since the sword comes with a fantastic leather sheath. Why Condor doesn't ship the sword in the sheath is a mystery. Instead they ship the sword wrapped in paper lying on top of the sheath. Duh.

I LIVE ON TEN WOODED ACRES AND HAVE LITERALLY CHOPPED THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF SWINGS INTO SOFT TO HARD OAK TREES AND EVERYTHING ELSE I WANTED TO, I ONCE HIT AN OLD NAIL AND IT DIDNT EVEN NICK BLADE, VERY TOUGH AND HOLDS AN EDGE VERY WELL. NOT BALANCED TO REALLY USE AS A ART FORM TYPE BLADE, BUT WITH A SHIELD IT WOULD BE A GREAT HACKER!! I LOVE TO SHOW IT OFF AND TELL FRIENDS HOW NICE IT IS TO BE ABLE TO BUY SUCH A REAL CARBON BASED TRUE SWORD BLADE FOR A GREAT PRICE! IT IS EVERY THING GOOD PEOPLE SAY!!

I looked at some reviews of the sword- good strong blade with distal taper and good spring steel, horrible square too narrow handle, and historically accurate clumsy weight-forward balance- All true. I took a file and reshaped the wood near the 'hilt' to taper into the blade, and wrapped it with two layers of cotton road bike bar tape, and the handling and comfort improved immensely with about 20 minutes of work. The heavier the wrap you use the better the balance and the heavier the chop! I may drill the small hole many dadao have at the end to further improve the balance and add a red flag for awesomeness. Great beater sword, you can let your buddies bash anything not metal without worry, it's a real tank and a serious zombie crusher.

I purchased this from amazon because I got bored of my normal axes and machetes. I didn't know exactly what to expect as 90 dollars for a sword seems really reasonable. I had to go to my buddies house and try it out, so we went to work on some pine trees. I was able to cut throw a branch in 1 swing that was atleast 3 inches diameter. I also used it to chop some hardwood. I will not chop hard wood often as I'm sure it will chip the blade but it's a sword after all so it's supposed to be thin. I can't imagine what this would do to flesh but I know it is still standing strong after all the abuse I put it through 2 weekends in a row.

Well made, chopper, probably the best value out there if you get tired of using axes and machetes. Not meant as a sword to fight other swordsman, this sword was first developed to give to Chinese Peasants so they could chop the legs on horses of cavalry then chop their riders while they lay on the ground. I have chopped hardwood with this, it holds an edge well for the price. Not as useful as an axe for that purpose but an axe gets old.

It came with a rolled and chipped tip.

Although shipping was painfully slow, I am very happy with this item. The sword is high quality and sharp. I am a bit disappointed with the sheath. I own other Condor knives and their sheaths are made of leather that is almost 1/4" thick. The leather on this sword's sheath is very thin, too thin for this beast of a blade! The handle is a bit thin for my hands but i plan on wrapping it in black leather to enforce the grip. Overall a great buy for the price.

The most blade you can get for your money. Great steel with gold heat treat. Takes a razor edge and holds it through abuse. I cut the back off mine with a grinding wheel more like a falcata to make it more wieldy and Dick around with some tai chi forms. It serves the purpose well. I also throw it. It's a great blade. Utility tough.

From what I understood, these types of swords were very easy to produce and did not require a bunch of training to be very effective. I believe the people that used these laid waste to their enemies even though they were less skilled in the art of sword fighting than their adversaries. After all, it was designed to butcher the enemy, not so much for ceremony, or showmanship. Not very ornamental. A proven weapon for an amateur like me. I don't have the time to practice for hours every day. I took it outside and cut apart a few wooden pallets without cutting my ears off, and I was satisfied when I could hit my mark without dropping my sword. It survived the test, came out looking pretty, and now it sits on it's mount, on the wall. Patiently waiting for it's time.

Excellent quality. A bit heavy. No rust but a tiny dent at the edge that was probably made while it was sharpened at the factory. Nicely polished. Overall it worths the money

Beast of a blade! Chops anything you put in front of it! Skallagrim on YouTube does a great review of this sword

The balance, finish and durability of this sword is amazing. The blade is so thick that it's solidly in Bushcraft blade level territory. They've made these swords as strong as their strongest machete line. So they cut down trees. I did just that today and cut down 5 near full grown 30 foot tall willow trees with mine. The blade is hardly dulled. An insanely good value. If you ever wanted a serious annihilate anything in your path sword, then this is your ticket.

I've been eyeing this forever. I made sure to grab it last year. Glad I did because now I don't see them on the new market as much.