The leather wrap over the ricasso of the blade is very tight and secure, with simple but tasteful stitching on the back side. The blade is polished to a beautiful mirror finish and the guard and pommel come with a sort of half-mirrored, half-satin finish which I actually really like on this sword.

There is a sizeable and significant gap between the blade and the guard, which seems to be common among DSA’s swords, and is something I would like to see addressed in their future products. It’s not only a visual flaw (in my opinion), but a loose hilt assembly can lead to structural flaws as it does in the case of the sword I received.

When moving this sword laterally, that is orienting the blade horizontally and moving it up and down, there is a noticeable rattle in the hilt. I believe a tighter and more secure grip assembly would prevent this. This wouldn’t bug me as much for a lower-end sword, but for the price point it is disappointing.

Additionally, I ordered the blade sharp and it did not arrive so. It had an edge, but it was certainly not sharp. It could not cut paper, in either a push or draw cut, and it could not cut the pool noodle I tried it on either. After going at it myself it now has a nice keen edge and can cut both (and pumpkins!) with ease. However, due to the aforementioned problems with the grip assemblage, I am hesitant to use this sword too much so as to avoid structural damage.