List of products by brand Hanwei Paul Chen

Hanwei is the forge Paul Chen founded in Dalian, northern China, in the early 1990s. Its katanas, European swords, historical daggers and armour are known to martial artists and collectors under the Paul Chen name. Our selection runs from a training katana to a full suit of samurai armour.

A forge born of a passion

Paul Chen grew up in Taiwan with a fascination for blades. A custom knifemaker first, he moved to Dalian in 1991 to go into manufacturing, and Dalian Hanwei Metal was officially founded in 1993. The workshop began by making knives and parts for other brands, then sold its own designs and made the Japanese sword its core business, adding European swords in the mid-1990s, followed by historical daggers and knives.

What you will find here

For Japanese swords, the Shinto Katana is the most refined piece of the selection, the one to choose for a genuine collector’s blade, while the Mokko Renshu, whose name means practice in Japanese, is made for training. The European swords come mostly from the Practical series, built to be handled rather than hung on a wall: a Norman sword and two medieval reenactment swords, alongside a Scottish dirk, a main gauche duelling dagger and a dadao, the broad-bladed Chinese sabre.

Military history enthusiasts will find the WWII V-42 dagger, a replica German army trench knife and a letter opener from the same era. Two folding knives designed by Paul Chen, the Starship and the three-position Citizen, round out the knives, and collectors of Japanese culture can choose a full suit of samurai armour and two helmets, one inspired by that of the warlord Oda Nobunaga.

Caring for a Hanwei blade

Hanwei blades are carbon steel: they take a remarkable edge but will rust if left unprotected. A light coat of oil after every handling is enough, and the brand’s sword and katana oil is made for it. For transport, padded cases for two or three swords and a bag for Chinese swords keep a blade safe.