it's not unreasonable to expect the cool prop to feel like it's not trying to fly across the yard if you swing it around.
You might think that, but most of these are called wall hangers for a reason.
Many of them have rat-tail tangs or are made with stainless steel. They might feel balanced, but are liable to snap if you swing them around.
Yes - like the guy on the home shopping network who cut himself up when the stainless steel "practice" katana he was trying to sell snapped in half and flew back at him.
There's a reason people call these wall-hangers "sword-like objects".