Cold Steel Hand and a Half Dagger 88HNHD,Black

I am writing this with the dagger and its sheath sitting here in front of me. I bought this for $120 a day before the price went down even more to $110. Long story short - I am amazed that this product can be had at that price, and delivered to your door overnight (God love Prime). I am sure it was manufactured in south or east Asia somewhere, but frankly I would trust their blade-making expertise at least as much as I would our own (Americans', I mean). That said, one of the coolest things about this blade, as opposed to every knife I've owned, is that it has NO MARKINGS of any kind on it, anywhere. Nothing on the scabbard, its fittings, the dagger, pommel, anything. (Well, there might be a marking hidden within the handle I suppose.) But it is completely and utterly pure in terms of aesthetics; in fact it probably lends itself to some sweet custom etching on the flat of the blade or the scabbard fittings, if you were so inclined. I'm certainly tempted.As for the dagger itself. First if you have not ever held a dagger of this size/type, no picture without human context will prepare you for its size. Watch the video for the Hand-and-a-Half Sword (NOT the dagger) on Cold Steel's website if you want to see it in use briefly and get some idea. But I have bought Gil Hibben "daggers" and such in the past, and this is more of a short sword. The base of the BLADE (not the handle) put up to the corner of my elbow, the tip of the blade comes to the middle of my palm. So it's longer than my entire forearm. By inches. And it's probably half a hand wide at the base. The blade itself is absolutely pristine, mirror polish (almost), very sharp (though a little rough, and could definitely take some finishing), and with a tip that while not Italian dagger pointy, would definitely pierce anything you cared to stab at. It is without a doubt a highly - lethal - weapon. I have not tried stabbing the Captain of the Guard for the Hand of the King through the skull, though, so I am not sure if it would be up to that task or not. If you don't get that reference, why are you buying a weapon like this again?Anyway, the rest of the piece - the handle/pommel and scabbard - are equally awesome. The smooth, thin, black leather wrap on the handle and the scabbard are not boiled tough or anything, and I would be afraid of scratching or tearing them under serious conditions. But then, I wouldn't be caring so much about those things if that were the case. For the other, say, 100% of the time, they are beautiful to look at and solidly constructed. If you handle the dagger very often with bare, sweaty hands over time, I am sure the wrap will wear substantially. But you can always replace/upgrade it when/if that time comes. The stitching on the handle is almost perfect. The stitching on the back of the scabbard is not perfect, a little wavy, but it's not noticeable unless you're really looking close, and of course the front is completely smooth. Both pieces are pulled taut and flawless across their whole surface.The handle itself has a wood core, apparently, and feels magnificent in-hand. The small ribbing where you hold the handle between your thumb and forefingers gives a nice positive grip. The size is perfect for one hand, even a large one (though if you have VERY long fingers, it might be a little too small in girth for you), and using the pommel - which seems to work - it can even accomodate two with pretty solid grip, leaving only the flesh of my left palm below my pinky finger hanging off the end. The pommel is a very simple, beautiful little piece, with a sort of 'nub' over the hex nut, I imagine, on the end which would serve well in a 'pummeling' role. Personally I love the aesthetics of this dagger and the companion Hand-and-a-Half Sword; I've looked at tons of competing designs, historically accurate and otherwise, and for whatever reason, this is still the one that I like the look of the best (all functional or build-quality considerations aside). It is 99% 'no-frills', but still has just that PERFECT 1% of ornamental beauty that comes from both very slight design details and a general aesthetic simplicity. I can't say enough about how damned good looking this dagger is.The same can be said for the sheath/scabbard (I'm going to call it a scabbard). I've discussed the leather of the scabbard, but the metal fittings on throat and chape are its real crown jewels. They have a perfect fit, are perfectly polished and free of any visible imperfections, and they also have a design simplicity and elegance that makes the scabbard alone, even without the dagger in it, a work of art (to me anyway). It is extremely solid, with what looks like a bamboo or balsa-wood type of core that might not be the most durable, but is certainly smooth and functional. The core extends almost flush with the opening of the throat, so you never experience any sort of metal-on-metal contact between blade and throat. It draws and re-sheaths smoothly, and best of all it provides EXCELLENT positive retention when sheathed, particularly so in one orientation over the other (which can be remembered using which side of the scabbard the stitching on the dagger hilt is facing when re-sheathing). Obviously this is going to vary from blade-to-blade and scabbard-to-scabbard, but I can definitely turn the whole thing upside-down and shake vigorously without the dagger (which ain't light) even so much as slipping from the scabbard. This retention will probably weaken over time, I know, but at least it's starting from a great fit. My experience is that at this price point many such weapons fit anything but tightly in their supplied sheaths. Needless to say with this tight of a fit, there is no rattle or shake of the blade whatsoever in the scabbard.I have not done much cutting or piercing with this blade, nor used it in a defensive capacity to deflect sword strikes, etc. So PLEASE consider this, at best, an amateur's first impressions out-of-box with respect to aesthetics and fit-and-finish only. I expect the weapon to perform admirably for its type, and to out-perform its price-point. But that's only an expectation. And again, while the blade is definitely lethal sharp, this is still a "mass produced" weapon, and while the finish on the edge is excellent for its price in my opinion, it will still require a custom finishing to acquire the finest edge you can get on it. Not that this is even necessary.So in case you can't tell, I feel like I got a great deal on this blade. As an aside, I can only imagine that whatever imbalance in the world's system of production/supply and demand/consumption that lets people like us order a weapon like this on the internet one afternoon, for $100, and have it waiting at our door the next morning, no matter where we are on this vast continent - isn't going to last forever. So in my humble opinion, if you have ever been curious about owning a weapon like this, strike while the proverbial iron is hot. This is the kind of thing that is only going to become MORE valuable as time goes by, if you treat it well. Along these lines, there are very excellent functional swords that can be had for a song as well. Shop around, do some research, and make your médiéval ancestors green with envy.

I waffled on ordering this for a bit. I mean, when am I going to use a double edged dagger with a foot long blade? Am I going to defend the house from the axe wielding brigands from outside of the kingdom? Am I going to protect my wares from a cloaked thief? Let's be real, there's no practical reason to own this in this day and age. Don't get me wrong, you COULD use it for a lot - it's well made and strong, feels good in the hand, but it's certainly not the best tool for anything outside of being a dork who's always wanted a big dagger.So I finally decided I'd acknowledge that part of me. And I'm glad I did - it's completely nuts that you can get a well made dagger/sword like this in a day or two. It's covered in some sort of protective cosmoline or similar, but it cleans up very easy. I'm taking the advice of another reviewer here and applying carnauba wax to fully protect it, but for right now, I've just put a lighter protective oil on it. With the steel it's using, you'll probably want something - it's not going to corrode in front of your eyes, but you can't just neglect it either.You don't realize how sharp it is until you clean off the cosmoline, and oooh boy is it ready to go with a nice utility edge that isn't hair shaving sharp, but that's not what you do with these daggers - they were meant to have a killing (i.e. "utiility") edge that would maintain it's edge better under heavy use. So what I'm saying is that it comes "ready to use for its intended purpose."But again, it's a dagger with a foot long blade. And sure, you could press it into utility service and open those cardboard boxes in a dramatic way if you were so inclined, but it's probably not the best idea. I suppose you could use it as home defense, you could probably get a good stab in while you are being laughed at for brandishing a comically large medieval dagger, but again, probably not the best choice.So why do I have it? Because I always wanted one. That's it. And now that I have it, I'm mostly unsheathing it and looking at it while thinking one word - "Awesome."Anyways, while this is awesome, I'm determined to not be "the dagger guy," and if you get this, don't be "that guy" either - Don't bring this into a public space unless it's specifically a place where you'd expect a fully sharpened medieval dagger. Don't use it for yard maintenance in front of the neighbors. Don't carry it publicly "just because you can." Doing this just tells the world that you are both dangerous and ignorant. If you want to be those things, keep that in a private space, lest you want the bards to spin tales that will forever haunt you (i.e. you get known as "that weirdo with the dagger that nobody should really be near"). And that's the best case public outcome - let's be real, you aren't going to do honorable and noble deeds with this, you aren't going to defend your castle - you're probably going to stab cardboard and whack at some weeds, or just do what I do and take it out to make sure it still feels awesome to have. Nerd.100% recommended for us nerds.

The Cold Steel Hand and a Half Dagger is a nice piece, and the price on Amazon is equivalent to the price of "munitions grade" on other sword retail sites.A few small problems on the fit and finish, but nothing major. Scabbard rattles, some gaps between the guard and ricasso, stitching is a little uneven. No real slicing edge to speak of.I'm happy with the purchase, but I wish they were a little clearer on what you're buying.