Goyak Bakdal Wooden Longsword Review
This is a custom wooden longsword made from Goyak Bakdal, weighing about 1032 g and priced around 330 USD.
For a wooden longsword, the weight gives it a noticeably substantial feel. It still has taper in the blade, so it does not feel like a plain wooden club, but the density of the wood gives it real weight and authority.
Goyak Bakdal is a Korean hardwood material based on Bakdal, often described as Korean iron birch. The first thing to understand is that Bakdal is not comparable to ordinary birch. In many countries, “birch” usually brings to mind European birch, Russian birch, Baltic birch, or birch plywood. Bakdal is much denser, harder, and heavier. It belongs more in the category of serious dense hardwoods rather than common pale birch.
Goyak Bakdal is not a separate tree species. It is better understood as a special aged or character-grade form of Bakdal wood. It usually has richer colour, tighter-looking grain, and more natural character than regular Bakdal. The wood used here has a yellow-brown tone, compact grain, and a very solid, compressed texture.
In global wood terms, regular Bakdal feels closer to dense hardwoods such as hornbeam, hard maple, dense beech, or hickory than to normal birch. Goyak Bakdal has an even more distinctive appearance because of its aged colour and tight grain character.
It is probably not in the same extreme class as ultra-dense exotic woods like lignum vitae, ebony, or ipe, but it is clearly far above ordinary birch and common lightweight practice woods in density, hardness, and presence.
Overall, Goyak Bakdal feels like a premium Korean hardwood with a dense, tight, and visually striking character. It has the hardness and presence of a serious material, while still keeping the natural warmth and individuality of aged wood.