I, too, bought this sword to cut an endless supply of household objects like Mark noted previously. I wanted to put this sword through its paces before reviewing it. A few quick comments on my example. To save time, overall fit and finish is clean, tight, and solid. No major complaints for the price. The black grip colour is starting to wear after heavy use, showing some of the original brown color underneath. The stitching is surprisingly ok to handle and not abrasive. The stitches do wander a bit. The grip has sharp corners and not much swelling, so grabbing it on the flat feels more comfortable and less like a two by four. More grip thickness would help, but it would impact the smooth transitions to the relatively undersized hilt components. This sword is basically a lighter version of the RoM Mercy executioner sword. That means it's functionality is more like that piece then a sword. Extremely durable and most effective when chopping objects on a stump like what was seen in their video. For this purpose, it is a 5/5. For normal cutting, it can be done, but with great effort. My score is largely based on this. I cut a variety of bottles (from water to detergent containers) and wet newspaper rolls. The edge is paper cutting sharp, but it is held back by the 30-degree edge bevels. I could only cut through all these when using full-force 100% effort baseball swings. Any less effort, the target is batted away and only cut or torn halfway through. With these barbaric swings, I hit the stand numerous times and took chunks out of it, but not from the sword. It handled it like a champ. I have mixed feelings about this sword because it meets all the expectations and comes as advertised, but it did not perform as well as I hoped for cutting the targets I have available. For that reason I have to rate it so low, as I didn't want to buy a lighter executioner sword. I even considered canceling my order as I examined the steep edges on the video, but it had already shipped. I didn't return it because I wanted to give it a chance. Not all hope is lost. Although there is no profile taper, the distal taper is excellent. A similar or lighter version of this sword with keener bevels would sail through normal targets easier and handle better too. I am considering having the bevels ground down more, but I don't have the tools or experience to do so, and the triple fullers are slightly in the way. These changes are due to the realization that cutting extreme targets like bone or logs is rare for most backyard cutters, including myself, and that swords, regardless of durability, will not last long when used for those types of targets. If you need this type of executioner-type chopping power in a lighter package than the Mercy by RoM, this is the sword for you. Lastly, the tip works excellent and has some reinforcement as the blade transitions to a diamond cross section from the hexagonal one.
