The shipping was ok, later than I hoped, but quicker than I expected. The swords look almost exactly like the ones in the picture, but the picture kind of gives the illusion that they are taller, so someone who has not handled a hook sword before might think they are a little small. The cord wrapped handle are relatively poor quality. On one of the sword it slid a lot, and on the other it didn't, so in order to keep them identical, I superglued the cord to the sword, and wrapped black electrical tape around both of them for comfort. The swords are pretty well balanced, somewhat top heavy, but not to much that you can't balance it, and that's good anyways because you want some weight to swing it better. The paint is black, with a matte finish, that sometimes makes it look rather grey in the light, but the paint is good if you are using them at night and and you don't want them to stick out or something. All of the blades are pretty sharp, not nearly as sharp as a katana, or enough to cut a tree limb, but enough to leave a small gash with little force. The tips aren't as sharp as I thought they'd be, and the dagger part at the end isn't sharp at all, just blunt on the end, which actually isn't a problem for me since I'm not even close to almost mastering the tiger hooks, as I just started when I got them, so I don't want to end up cutting me or people around me. You could however easily sharpen it, but it would scratch off the paint obviously, as the paint has already begun to come off in little spots where I've accidentally bumped or scratched it. They are built rather sturdy, they don't bend vertically, but do slightly bend horizontally, but always retain it's original shape. Overall these are pretty great twin tiger hook swords for the price, twenty bucks is really cheap to pay for a pair of hook swords, you definitely get better quality than you pay for, definitely not quality enough to use in intensive battle, but enough for practice, or brief stealth missions. My only major complaint is that they are made in China, I'm very ethical when it comes to this stuff, and I really don't like buying stuff from China, because they treat their workers horrible and pay them around $3 a month, also the American economy is really bad because we are giving so much money to China, whose economy is rapidly growing, plus things made in China are usually lower quality if when it comes to things like this. The only reason I'm okay with it is because hook swords are chinese in origin.

These hook swords are really solid and high quality. The weight is just right, they're well balanced the joints are smoothed and they're real 440 Stainless Steel. The black coating will quickly come off at the edges, as would be expected when interlocking these for blocks or interlocking the hook ends to extend the range of the weapon. The handle wrappings have held up to sweaty palms during extended form practice. If I were to recommend hook swords for practice, I would highly recommend these.

Thought the price point indicative of Wushu steel not patterned stainless. They are sharp which is a surprise. These aren't forgiving so bear that in mind if your not used to the weapon.

The hook swords are very nice and not to flexible. they will bend but not loose its original shape. they are not sharp enough to hurt you but the point on the end of the hook is quite lethal. the cord wrapped handles are somewhat painful to somebody who is new to these specific swords, but this can easily be fixed with leather wraps.

Soft Metal, Wrapping comes off.