Honshu Boshin Grosse Messer Sword

Sharp, good quality, beautiful. Only down side is it's very very front heavy, not balanced at all. Great as a chopper on soft squishy things. Due to the hollow grind on the edge not good for hitting anything hard like brush, wood, trees etc.

If you want a Grosse Messer specifically to practice cutting/forms with but don't have enough to get a Soldat from Albion or some such specialty sword, try this one out. The 1060 steel means you need to be careful picking what you cut with but I had no problems with 2liter bottles. If it bends from a miss, you can bend it back true with GLOVED hands. It comes sword sharp, and I wouldn't suggest shave sharp with it simply because I suspect the edge rolls easier if you contact hard wood, though I haven't had that kind of miss yet. I have done a ground scuff, hence my knowledge of bending it true, I would however, like to note about this that the guard stayed solid even though the blade bent. That is how I rated the quality of this sword. The only reason I didn't rate perfect is because the balance is only about 8inches from the tip.

It looks beautiful, but the blade wobbles internally from the handle/hilt. I would expect this in something that's just decorative.I even took a star head with a ratchet wrench......Still could not tighten it perfectly or get the right balance.Maybe mine was defective.Don't spend you're money on this!

so lets start off with the positives, 1 it does come sharp and 2 it has good edge retentionand now the negatives, 1 the sword is not balances well at all because there is not tapering to the blade but what can you expect at this price point, 2 wile the sword is sharp the edge geometry is wrong for cutting things like tatami mats or water bottles cleanly, 3 the handle is not that comfortable admittedly this is alleviated by leather gloves, and lastly 4 I has 1 bad cut that hit a little sideways and the blade bent at the hilt with a good 8 to 10 degree bend.in conclusion even though they say it is a good sword for cutting practice it is not and i will not be buying anymore of their products

This is very cool and you could tear into armored car with it but it's heavy so that's all but yeah if you're reading the reviews just buy it.