Here is a photo of a Chinese style headsman’s sword made in the late 1980s.
 
The blade is D-2 tool steel, all other sword and scabbard furniture is stainless steel. The handles and scabbards are wrapped in twisted stainless steel wire. The 39 inch (one meter) blade is about .165 inch thick at the guard with a distal taper down to .120″ near the end of the long spine groove, and over 3″ wide. The weight is about 3.5 pounds.
 
This uses a dual-modified Japanese tang style, with steel tang peg, and toggled pommel screw. The handle is covered with red leather. It is signed and numbered on the tang to preserve purity of form. The photo was taken by Jon Verhoeven.