My long awaited Pappenheimer has finally arrived from CAS-I.

After all of the negative impressions that I've read concerning the new Chen Rapiers I really wasn't expecting much. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised.

Due to the reports we've received from Christian Fletcher about that one blade breaking the first thing I did was flex it. I repeatedly flexed the blade to 75-80 degrees without incident. The blade remained straight and thankfully didn't snap in two (I was wearing face protection just in case). The finish on the blade is a high gloss polish, which is evenly done, with the Dalian Horse logo etched on the ricasso. The blade has a good point on it, however the edge is left unsharpened.

The hilt is attractively assembled with all welds being clean (better than my DT in fact), with the whole assembly given a good polish. The plates in the guard are backed with red suede that has been glued in place. The ricasso is wrapped with a piece of stitched black leather. The grip is wire wrapped, with the wire being tight and cleanly executed. No incomplete wire wraps here as reported with earlier Chen Rapiers. The grip core is made from plastic, which is molded, to the tang shape. Read that to mean that the hole in the grip matches the rectangular tang, not a round hole as earlier reported. The grip itself is cast in a hexagonal cross section. The arms of the hilt are cast cleanly. The arms are cast with a diamond cross section, which is pretty sharp. This would be uncomfortable during use unless a glove is worn.

This sword is advertised as featuring a steel hilt. I tested the hilt with a magnet and received no response. I initially thought that the hilt might be plated brass. I disassembled the sword and scraped here and there on the inside of the hilt, trying to scrape off any plating that might have been present. It is not plated. It's entirely too heavy to be aluminum nor does it have that dead sound of a zinc type alloy when struck. If there's any type of steel alloy that doesn't respond to magnetic force, I'm not familiar with it. Perhaps some of our more knowledgeable regulars can comment.

The scabbard appears to be made of leather covered plastic, with metal fittings. All in all the scabbard seems to be well put together and fits the blade well.

The balance is certainly better than the Windlass Rapiers that I've handled, and a bit lighter than my Del Tin 2177. From my initial impressions I would rate the sword has being quite a bit better than its Windlass competition and as good or better than a Del Tin in some areas although the DT will have the edge in long term durability.

Quality wise I would rate this as a mid-range piece quality wise. It's not the best Rapier that I've ever handled, but it's far from the worst either. At a retail price of less than $200.00, I would rate it as a good buy. I won't comment on the Chen Rapier line as a whole since this is the only one that I've had experience with. However, if you're looking for a reformation/cavalier period Rapier and can't afford to go custom you might want to give this one a look.