searcher said:
I am sure that Paul Chen would be a fine weapon. You might want to check with Wing Lam at
www.wle.com . Master Lam has a wide selection of broadswords and he even custom makes weapons. You might give him a shot before purchasing. Nothing beats a custom made weapon.
My Sifu knows Sifu Wing Lam well, and has both a custom straight sword and custom broadsword that Sifu Wing Lam made for him. He does a good job of re-building the hilts. He makes a grip from exotic hardwoods like cocobolo, and cuts a guard and pommel out of a brass block using a milling machine. To my knowledge, he does not make scabbards. I have also spoken with him about his work, and bought a unhilted blade from him once that I rebuilt. His workmanship, in my opinion, is quite good.
Unfortunately, he uses standard Lung Chuan import blades for these. For the straight swords, these are fairly light/medium spring steel. Not wushu-light, but still on the lighter side. Definitely not a Battlefield blade. Same thing for the Broadswords.
I would like to see him use higher quality blades for his custom work. I think he can get them, as he does import a wide range of swords of varying quality. I think he is afraid that the resulting piece will be too expensive and nobody will be interested. Personally, I am always willing to pay more for something that I know is superior quality. I think as people become educated about what makes a good vs. poor sword, more people will also be willing to pay more for better quality.
Another source of blades is Angus Trim, website:
http://www.angustrimdirect.com/ They make swords for Medieval European swordsmanship, but they are good quality blades, razor sharp, and meant to be used for cutting. They use a high quality spring steel, the same type of steel that is used for truck leaf springs (I think). While it is a spring steel, it is still quite stiff, and tough, and definitely appropriate for sword blades. They are willing to sell unhilted blades, and I have one for which I built a hilt and scabbard, making it appropriate for Chinese style swordsmanship. One thing I like about them is the variety of models that they have. Longer, shorter, wider, narrower, but all the same quality. Many of their models are inappropriate for Chinese swordsmanship due to their dimensions, but some are definitely appropriate. They are a bit expensive, tho, I think ranging about $400 - $600 for an unhilted blade alone, depending on the model. That is also without a scabbard, but they do make an inexpensive leather scabbard.