The older swords were hand beaten and sometimes had the name of the maker inscribed or at least the seal of the place of manufacture. Modern swords tend to be cut from sheet metal and then shaped by machines. Hand made sword are preferable because of better balance, the better quality of the finish and the more compact grain of the beaten metal. The handle should be properly fixed and not lose, it should also not be too thin and narrow but have a large enough width for proper gripping. Check that the handle does not have cracks due to flaws in the wood or improper finishing or seasoning of the wood.
All comments are most welcome.
The copyright is retained by the author so please do not publish it. Check with me first if you want to do anything public with it. Please distrbute the document complete. This document was written for the benefit of fellow enthusiasts, please do not use it for commercial purposes or profit making purposes.