Basket Hilt Sparring Sword

41" overall. 34" silver blade. Black guard and basket hilt pommel. Brown handle. Developed in conjunction with Dave Rawlings, founder of the London Longsword Academy and the HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) community. Crafted with special-purpose, reinforced high-impact polymer. A safe alternative for steel blade swords. The blades are designed to flex in the last one-third of their length towards the tip, allowing for much safer thrusting than with conventional wooden wasters or shinai. The blade/tang joint is reinforced by a high tensile steel rod running along the full length of the handle, removing the handle flex typically associated with plastic training swords. The grips are manufactured from a rubber-like thermoplastic elastomer, designed to absorb the impact of strikes and to provide a tight fit on the tangs. These swords are about two-thirds of the weight of a steel-bladed sword, heavier than most wooden wasters on the market but still having less impact than a steel sword, thus lowering the impact when sparring. A key feature of the swords is their ease of assembly and disassembly, making for easy transport. A brass nut is molded into the pommel, providing a tight metal on metal joint to the tang and compressing the slide-on grip against the guard. An excellent, safe option for theatrical use. NOTE: Specs may vary slightly from piece to piece.