# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Chinese, South-East Asia (CSEA) >  Help needed: Dao restoration project inc hilt wrapping

## Gene Wilkinson

Hello everyone. 
New member to this community, very pleased to have found these forums!


Anyway, my request is can anyone help with advice on restoring this Dao?
I've wanted one for many years and was lucky enough to find this one at a price I could afford. 







Anyway, I want to make it look like this beauty:

http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/...se/DaoJian.htm

Appologies to the site owner, hope they dont mind me b'orrowing' their picture:



Can anyone point me in the right direction of correct binding material and the technique (diagram) for wrapping it.
Any other suggestions greatfully received.
Be kind to the newbie ;-)

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## Landau Lau

Check out the following thread. Man Yin's site has a thread showing how to wrap the hilt.
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=91176
In China, many people seek his service to restore and polish antique weapons.
Your question is not very precise. Do you have scaboard to be restored? Or you need replacement scaboard? If you need people to tell you how to repolish the antique weapon, I wish you luck. I think a professional will not tell an unexperienced person to risk a real antique.
If you search this site thoroughly, you should find some other members offering restoring/polishing service, e.g. Philip Tom.

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## Gene Wilkinson

Thank-you Landau

No I do not have the scabbard, but I'm not to worried about that at the moment.

I have followed your links and found just the information I need to rebind the handle as I want. It looks simpler than Japanese swords so I'm confident of achieving good results.

Any tips on finding suitable cord?

As for polishing, I'm fairly confident although I've never worked on a Chinese sword before, but I'd welcome any tips or hints if anyone feels inclined to help.

Again, thank-you for your help.

Gene

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## kevin.feng

hv a look at 
http://bbs.hl365.net/thread-262831-1-1.html

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## Gene Wilkinson

Brilliant, thanks Kevin.

Loooks like if I buy some simple white cotton cord I could dye it an authentic colour.
Are blue and green the military wrapping colours?

Any suggestions for the re-polish? ;-)

Regards
Gene

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## Landau Lau

I come across a tip from the web but I forgot where. Fully soaked the cord with water before wrapping to expand it. When the cord dries up after wrapping and shrink up, the wrapping will be a snug one.

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## Graham Cave

> Any tips on finding suitable cord?


If you contact Peter Dekker at Mandarin Mansion, he will be able to supply you with authentic cord in traditional colours. He also has a tutorial for a different method of grip wrapping. I've tried Peter's method and it does indeed produce a tight wrap which is quite secure and doesn't move about when using the sword. Peter has also done the grip wraps on a couple of swords that I use for cutting practice and I've been really pleased with the results - very neat and very tight.

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## kevin.feng

if you like, try some sild cord at here

http://hfsword.com/bbs/viewthread.ph...C9%FE%D7%D3%2B
http://hfsword.com/bbs/viewthread.ph...B1%FA%C9%FE%2B

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## kevin.feng

> Any suggestions for the re-polish? ;-)


I would personally suggest not to polish the sword, as it just worths est. USD$400~600 in China. 

If you like it so much, you may try either Mr Yan Min or Alex's polish services: 
http://bbs.hl365.net/thread-269101-1-1.html
http://hfsword.com/bbs/viewthread.ph...C0%E5%C3%D7%2B

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## Gene Wilkinson

Thanks again Kevin.
Do you mean the sword is worth 4-600 as it is? Or the repolish will cost that much?

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## kevin.feng

y, my judge the sword is about that price. maybe you paid higher?

considering either the blade or sheath are not eye-catching, better wait for your next baby :Big Grin:

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## Gene Wilkinson

> y, my judge the sword is about that price. maybe you paid higher?
> 
> considering either the blade or sheath are not eye-catching, better wait for your next baby



Hi Kevin, I paid £35 (sterling) about $75 USD So I'm happy to invest some time in it  :Smilie: 

I'd like a really nice Dao, this will be a learning experience for me  :Smilie:

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## kevin.feng

Gene, congrads!... let me know when you play dice in Vigas and i would likt to join you ;-)

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## Liuxing Ma

Kevin and Mr. Yan, how much will you charge for polishing a sword like this?

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## Gene Wilkinson

> Gene, congrads!... let me know when you play dice in Vigas and i would likt to join you ;-)


LOL, thanks Kevin! I don't get many bargains, I was lucky this time.

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## Klas Larsson

Here in the archived forums of SFI you can find loads of information on wrapping, and also a video on wrapping by friend of mine, William Reinman that is very instructional. He has developed his method since but this works well.

here http://forums.swordforum.com/showth...&threadid=47591

and more here
http://forums.swordforum.com/showth...2868#post742868

(this is a post a I did on the Ethnographic Weapons forum, but it may be of some use here to)

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## Klas Larsson

Hi Gene, I know you have seen the above post on the Ethnographic Weapons forum, but I thought I should post it here to. 

You got some good advice from people here, but still its a bit like going over the river to get water..., all the information on wrapping one needs is here on the SFI, in the old archived Chinese Sword forum. 

So I just cut and paste the post I did on the Ethnographic Weapons forum, so people can see what they can find here, using the search function. 

There are so much good stuff! You can also find a good thread from William Reinman on his polishing work on a dao, very instructive, and a beautiful blade. Just do search here on SFI and all your questions will be answered  no not really but almost  :Smilie: 

Here is an example of polish of a Chinese dao, made by Phil Tom, who is quite the expert on that. I like the way the pattern show, done with some light etching.

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## Gene Wilkinson

Hi Klas,

Thats a beautiful blade, nice job indeed on the polish.

Thanks for the recommendation, This is a great site and I'd never have found it without your link.

I have recut and polished pattern welded 'damascus' blades before but not one of these. I was worried that the trusty silicon carbide paper method would not produce the desired results. Thanks to your searching the archived threads for me, I am now much more confident.
I think I will use citric acid as a first attempt for the etching.

I have noticed some minor cracking in the blades edge though :-(
I'll post some pics later, please have a look

Gene

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## Gene Wilkinson

heres the small cracks, they are all towards the back end of the blade, christ only knows how they got there as they dont correspond to kinks or bends. They dont seem to be 'dangerous'...
Thoughts?

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## josh stout

Those cracks look like they may have happened in forging.  Polishing may make them less noticeable or more noticeable.  Putting an etchant on the blade will definitely make them look worse.

I would leave things alone unless you have some experience dealing with cracks.  
Josh

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