A great buy for the cost! I've had it about a year now. The Blade: It is in fact 440 stainless steel although it is Chinese made. The factory edge was a diamond cut, but it didn't take much work to resharpen to a nice convex razor edge. (I use a 1 inch belt sander with ascending grits) being 440 the edge holds decently. Hilt to pommel: The "brown suede leather" is actually cheap fabric, so I immediately re-wrapped the handle with some nice veg tanned leather. The hilt and pommel are both cast metal, with a nice brass finish, and the pommel is held in place buy a hex screw. Sheath: Its made of cheap wood and more of that fabric, but it does its job, I haven't gotten around to replacing it with something of a higher quality. Useage: Its great for display certainly but it didn't hold up quite so well in practice. The edge held well with minor chipping when it strikes metal, but as I hit the practice dummy the pommel began to unscrew. Tightening it only served to crack and splinter the wooden handle. After about 20 minutes the threaded rod that the pommel is screwed to, broke, where it was welded to the tang. I've welded reinforcements to the tang and used a quality hard wood for the handle, haven't had any problems since.

This is an excellent sword. It is worth it's price. The ONLY problem I have is that it sort of clangs around in the sheath if not careful with it. The ACTUAL blade is very nice. sharp, pointy. Good for cutting and stabbing like all swords should be. It has a nice shine to it, the handle is nice and comfortable in the hand. Unfortunately Budk.com will not let me give it 10 stars, because if I could give it 10 stars I would. This was a great buy.

Personally I had only three problems with this sword. 1. I had to re-glue the pleather cover on the scabbard and the ends of the hilt wrap. 2. The scabbard is worth only the price of the brass fittings. Its just faux suede over thin plastic over 1/16" thick pine. 3. The balance is blade heavy. other than that this sword is perfect for the money. Stainless steel = no maintenance, heavy enough for weight training, enough of a tang so its not going to snap at the hilt, or even inside the hilt. The pommel nut is recessed so you can't see it unless you look straight at it, and sturdy enough to move it fairly fast also, it comes dull enough to work some fairly speedy solo maneuvers without fear of cutting yourself using only minimal protection. Great sword. I will defiantly buy from budk again.

For the price, it has it all. I have no complaints. If you're expecting anything more that a wall hanger, forget it. Very nice fit and finish. My blade has a bend in it. (much as a saber would, just not intentional, and only a small amount) It appears straight unless you look down the blade. Nice polish on the blade. Fuller is a bit irregular. Blade is 3/4 of the way sharp, but not fully sharp. Scabbard fits very nicely. The simulated leather on the handle and scabbard is attractive and fine if you are using for display only. Otherwise, they may fall a bit short of functional.

Bought this sword some time ago, has impressed everyone who's seen or held it! **again, this is a display sword, not for use... the blade itself is slightly bend and does need to be polished from the factory (at least mine did) Looks beautiful, as a display definitely worth my 50 bucks!

its a great display sword and everybody has to touch it and look at it.

The sword has a hex nut in the pommel that ruins the look. The blade is sharpened which is a bummer. The blade also has a very narrow fuller and the end is too pointy for a Viking blade. The handle is just fake suede wrapped and pinned in place. The sheath is covered in brown rubber based foam fake leather. You get what you pay for. It does come apart nicely for releathering the grip and sheath and will suffice as a dress sword.

my buddy has one of these swords and it's AMAZING!!! im actually thinking about getting myself one

This is a very nice sword for the price. It draws easily and has a very impressive blood grove down the center. it also has a decent weight to it but it balanced well enough that u can easily handle it

An altogether well made set that looks and feels far more realistic than almost anything else on the market, particularly at a price less than several hundred dollars!