First, this IS a nice wooden jian. It is well-balanced, made of reasonably high quality wood, and the dimensions are about right. The only dings against it in my book are that it is not in fact made of a single piece of wood. There is a joint at the handguard that is well-fitted with glue and could present a compromise in strength. Second, the corners on the bottom of the handguard where it occassionally rubs against the hand are a bit sharp and left a little sore spot on the top of my hand after spending some time practicing a few movements. I'll just sand those out though, so not a major issue. Overall.. Much better than the other (obviously two-piece) versions everyone seems to be carrying nowdays. Just a bit bummed it's not one piece like older models I've seen.