# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Chinese, South-East Asia (CSEA) >  Another dharb

## W. Kroncke

Another dharb has decided to come live with me from ebay (where it was described as a kali escrima sword  :Wink:  ), it looks like the big brother of one i'd posted earlier, it's about 4.5 in. longer, 22" blade vs. 18.5" for the smaller one. 

this one is unpolished, has a blue/grey appearance and the decorations are etched instead of embossed. there is a visible hamon, it appears to have been differentially hardened. the smaller polished one also has a hamon (serge said it started life unpolished, the last owner had a pro do it tho), and it also appears to be differentially hardened. taking a steel to the edges shows the edges are hard in the areas where the hamon is, geting softer near the guard where there is no hamon showing...

unlike the smaller one that has the longer 'full' double pinned tang, this one has the 'std.' 2" tang with a rod forge welded to it that is threaded far end to accept the heavy pommel nut. the handle is drilled such that there is a semi-circular space either side of the blade tang which is visible thru the heavy duty steel guard and continues down into the handlea few inches till it comes to the rodded area, which is smaller but still larger than the tang.

so, now the question, would it strengthen the critical area at the guard if i filled the gap with some resin & narrow hardwood wedges to further support the area. if i get it filled, it'll be fun to disassemble, but i don't plan on that. i might try cutting a milk jug or two, or other soft targets, if i can do it without fear of a failure...

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## Ruud B

This is what I did with one of my Dha, I shaped 2 long wood wedges untill they would go in nice and tight, cut them to length and glued them in place.
Have been cuting with it with great succes.

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