Unusual Chinese knife / Dao

Over the years, I’ve seen a remarkable variety of different blade shapes,  but this one is really quite unusual for a Chinese knife.

Chinese Dao

overall length                   755mm

blade length                     615mm

grip length                       140mm

weight                             1088gr

p.o.b                               180mm

The blade is 5mm thick at the forte, tapering to 2.5mm at the tip, and is sharp along the full length of the bottom edge.

In contrast to the blade, the handle is typically Chinese in style and construction.

Brass coin motif and lanyard hole

The wooden grip scales are made from a kind of dense hardwood frequently used for Chinese sword handles. They have been attached to the tang using 4 brass rivets. The handle also has a brass coin motif through it and a brass lined lanyard hole. 

Tang

The tang is quite thin and the grip has strips of steel riveted between the wooden scales and the tang, perhaps to increase rigidity. 

Riveted copper discs

Instead of having a guard, the front faces of the grip scales are covered by copper discs. These are held in place by two copper rivets passing through the blade.

The front face of the above wooden scale is cut at quite a different angle from the one on the other side of the grip. No real attempt has been made to fashion a symmetrical handle. The crude nature of this workmanship is quite normal for such functional weaponry. 

Brass end cap

The end cap and lozenge-shaped washer are both brass, and are peened to the end of the tang.

Overall, it is moderately heavy and forward weighted. Quite comfortable to hold but one would require a reasonable strength to wield it accurately and effectively. 

It is very likely that this knife was made using a recycled blade, perhaps from a pole arm, or maybe from a farming implement. Quite unusual though, never seen a Chinese blade of this shape before…….so,  does anyone have any ideas where this blade/shape might have originated from?

Cast brass guard

Commonly, Chinese sword guards were fabricated from sheet metals and brazed or forge welded. The following example is of a one-piece casting, and probably dates from the late Qing. The four lobe design was a popular one in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and it can be found on both jian and dao.

The hole for the tang is a trapezoidal in shape, indicating that this guard was once fitted to a dao blade.

Dao guard with casting defect

 The top lobe of the guard (above), has a void in the brass where the molten metal didn't fill the mould completely.

The guard has been roughly fashioned without taking time to make it truly symmetrical, and the thickness of the rim is quite variable. This is normal for the fittings of ordinary Chinese swords. In contrast, modern reproduction fittings are usually pretty neat and pretty accurate in their symmetry. I prefer the crude, rustic charm of the old ones.

The cast surface on the inside of the rim is quite irregular

This brass guard was not brightly polished, it had been covered with black paint/lacquer. In the left lobe (below), there are two patches where the black coating has peeled away. The parts in the centre where the brass is showing bright, were caused by the loose hilt rubbing away the coating and patina.

Dao guard covered in paint / lacquer

      Dimensions:

Length - 3 6/16" (85mm)

Width - 2 1/4" (56mm)

Depth - 1/4" (7mm)

Weight - 105g

Knuckle-guard jian

This is a rather unusual sword. Chinese jian blades can be found with a wide variety of hilt fittings, but this is the first time that I've seen one fitted up with a knuckle-guard.

Overall length - 26" [ 660mm] 

Blade length - 21 3/4" [554mm] 

Weight - 627g

The blade is very worn and shows unmistakeable signs of combat. The knuckle-guard is probably not original to the blade. Surprisingly, the sword does play quite well, but of course it is limited in movement by the guard. This somewhat restricts the flexibility of the wrist and has an effect on the balance so that the sword behaves more like a straight bladed zhibeidao than like a jian.

The short grip is made of a dense, light coloured hardwood with a thin coating of lacquer. The wood has been crudely cut to size and no attempt has been made to achieve a smooth finish or to remove any tool marks. None-the-less, the grip is quite comfortable to hold, and the irregular surface seems to be an advantage here.

The fittings are typically Chinese in style. Nicely functional, iron, wrought by hand.

Chinese knife

I think this is quite a beautiful example of Chinese recycling. Fashioned from a section of dao blade. Length is 11.5" [292mm] overall, 3' [75mm] between guard and pommel. Originally, the handle would have been wrapped with cord or cloth.

Chinese 'Sword Dancer'

Chinese martial artist, possibly a street entertainer

Chinese longsword

Recently, I was commissioned by Jack Chen of http://www.chineselongsword.com/  to produce a wooden changdao for video demonstration purposes.

……..as described in the ancient swordsmanship manual :

 Dan Dao Fa Xuan  by  Cheng Zong You

Book cover

and translated by Jack Chen: http://www.chineselongsword.com/translation.shtml

Jack Chen demonstrating the Chinese longsword

It was important that the wooden sword looked like the original Ming Dynasty sword, handled like the original sword and was also suitable for contact use.

Overall length : 1400mm  [55”]

Grip length :  400mm [15 ¾”]

Weight : 900g [2 lbs]

Materials:

               Blade/handle : white oak

               Guard: high impact, engineering grade polymer, 8mm thick

               Ferrule : brass

               Pommel : brass

               Grip wrap : black cotton 

              Finish : hard oil finish, containing tung oil

Changdao with traditional Chinese gripwrap

As stated in Dan Dao Fa Xuan, the ChangDao had a faceted blade with a distinct medial ridge. this was a similar design to Japanese blades........consequently, the blade of this wooden ChangDao has a similar cross section to that of a bokken.

The excellent video demonstration by Jack Chen can be seen on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Vg4O7g9js