Roman Fulham Gladius - Bone Grip

Attractive and functional gladius. - The blade steel seems pretty good. Sharpening it took more effort than I expected, and it has held up well to light test cutting. - The balance point is far forward enough that the sword has a somewhat hack-y feel to it. Not so much that it's unwieldy, in fact it would probably be quite effective on the battlefield. - Careful! The scabbard is quite nice, but the hanging strap will bleed red dye onto your clothes. - The brass plate on the handguard (where it contacts the scabbard) came unglued on my first test cut. - The bone handle, while grippy, has a more circular than elliptical cross-section. The sword will rotate in your hand unless you keep the curved underside of the crossguard nestled in the web between your thumb and forefinger. - The ridges on the pommel chafe the outside of my wrist.