Tough, but maybe too tough The Good: Very tough and reliable. The assemblage (the cross-guard comes unattached to reduce shipping) is simple to do and very sturdy, and as long as who or what you practice with doesn’t use sharp metal, this will last a very long time under heavy stress. Though longer and heavier than a lot of 15th century-ish daggers it appears to be emulating, proportional to its length the weight not too bad. Perfect for pell work. And The Bad: It’s incredibly stiff. Border lining dangerous. The training dagger has no flex at all, and since most techniques (modern and ancient) rely a lot on thrusts for attacks, this trainer (more like a weapon) is to dangerous to spar with, even with padded jacks. If you intend to use this in sparring, make sure you have hard protection for your torso at least (and your head, as with any other trainer), if not your arms and legs, because this thing hits harder than a baton and does nothing to soften the force of a thrust at your target. I use mine on a pell quite happily, but it’d be nice to use it in sparring without someone suffering internal bleeding. Wish it had a lot more flex for saftey. *Fair to note that i had to use sandpaper to dull the tip of mine, because as it came it felt pointy enough to use as an actual dagger Verdict: Very durable and cheap. Good for pell work and solo practice, but hard torso protection (and face protection obviously) is a must to even consider using it in sparing. If your looking for something to spar with, look elsewhere. If you want something cheap and strong to whack away on inanimate objects without it ever breaking, this is for you. Fin Fer
