Apologies No Surrender
Did not mean to seem "Snooty" about the Angel swords. It's just that i have Wielded them and felt the difference in play and practice as opposed to the other brands. Not that the other sites dont produce quality weapons,some do actually and are affordable. I dont own an Angel sword but i am saving up for one of their Jians. I am a sword collector and i have a few in my closet. Two of which i used to practice with and they were real combat blades, sharp and able to take punishment.
Museum replicas carries pretty decent quality weapons(most are from the Windlass Steelcrafts line(which operates out of India). Museum replicas are out of Atlanta Georgia. i have Two of their swords, one a chinese broadsword or Dao.(they dont make them anymore) and i have a Crusaders European Broadsword(for my Ren Faire Costume). As for a good Tai chi sword that is affordable and a pretty decent weapon to wield in practice, I reccomend Kris cutlery. A company out of the Phillipines and they do a good job on their swords, i have one of thier Gims. it is lightweight, fast as hell and very durable not to mention sharp.
Here is the link. http://kriscutlery.com/documents/chinese.html
When we talk about the "Snap" of the sword when doing a form, i have found that the angel swords give you the most snap due to their flexability. The Kris cutlery Gim that i have can provide that same snap but the blade is a little stiffer(but not so stiff that you cant whip it about).
Maybe the Kris Cutlery Weapons are more in your $$$ range. Trust me they are excellent quality.
Peace,TWS
It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe it was like an angry rabbit, who was going to fight in another fight, away from the first fight.