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Post by hussar on Apr 27, 2013 11:03:25 GMT
dose any one know the makes of good wodaos or miaodao preferably ones that don't cost more than $1000 but I am also interested in ones over for comparison
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Apr 28, 2013 4:14:38 GMT
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Post by hussar on Apr 28, 2013 15:28:53 GMT
Thanks any Info on Wodaos?
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Apr 28, 2013 20:56:32 GMT
The easy way to get a wodao is to buy an o-katana. If you want more Chinese fittings, replace tsuba and kashira and rewrap with thin cord.
If you happy with a katana-length wodao, then any katana will do as a starting point.
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Post by hussar on May 2, 2013 10:53:11 GMT
the shape of a wodao blade is different from a katana's but similar might have to go this route fyi a freind of mine in japan use to work part time at a sword museum that had a wodao in it's collection and said they are like shobu-zuruki's with wider kissaki (that is what she said when I asked her to describe it I can't vouch for the accuracy of this statement)
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Post by Timo Nieminen on May 2, 2013 20:17:25 GMT
The vary. "Iron and Steel Swords of China" has 6 examples of Ming dynasty wo dao (pp 91-94). One is just a bare blade, 5 have guards, 4 have pommels, none have grips.
#1 is shinogi-zukuri, with well-defined geometric chu-kissaki, small sori.
#2 looks flat sided (hira-zukuri).
#3 is shinogi-zukuri, with geometric medium kissaki; the ridge line and edges of kissaki are rounded rather than sharp. From non-Japanese-style polishing over the life of the sword?
#4 and 5 might be similar, but with ridge quite close to the spine. Photos are not lit so clearly, and the swords themselves have very rounded-off ridge lines.#5 might have a very rounded-off geometric kissaki.
#6 is a fullered blade, very katana-style bo-hi. Point is in shadow, so can't say anything about the details of the kissaki.
These blades for which lengths are given vary from 72-78cm. #5 has a 21cm grip, #6 (the bare blade) has 14.5cm of tang remaining (the end appears broken off).
A long katana blade of 30-31" would fit among them quite well.
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Post by Kilted Cossack on May 3, 2013 3:58:46 GMT
That's fascinating, Timo.
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Post by hussar on May 4, 2013 11:00:48 GMT
yes thanks for that no that I know there were shinogi-zukuri wodaos it has widened my choices for a blade massively
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Post by AXords on Jul 20, 2013 18:58:08 GMT
Miaodao is a copy of (or developed from) katana in Qing dynasty during fighting Japanese pirate. So, I suggest you just get a katana.
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Post by Valandur on Jul 20, 2013 21:18:21 GMT
Any idea where the Chinese fittings can be found? Having a devil of a time finding anyone that sells them..?
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jul 20, 2013 22:53:57 GMT
Sometimes, they can be found on ebay at a reasonable price. Modern, sold as antiques. Usually they are overpriced for that they are.
You can make your own grip fittings, out of sheet metal bent into a ring, or maybe a section of pipe, or suitable plumbing fitting. For a Chinese sword guard, various ebay sellers sell fake-antique giant-size Chinese coins. These start with a hole in the middle, and the 70mm or so ones should work as sword guards. There are some Japanese tsubas that are quite Chinese in style, and might be available from the likes of artsfeng on ebay. A disc pommel can be made from thick sheet steel (or maybe a smaller thick Chinese "coin"?).
A lot of Chinese fittings are very plain. Cylinders, or cones, with a flat plate, for the pommel, or four flat sides and a curved back plate. If you can solder/braze/weld, these can be easy to make. If you can't solder/braze/weld, just butt the gaps, and fill with dark epoxy (or automotive metallic epoxy).
Of course, you can buy proper ones, custom made, but that gets expensive. Or buy a sword and strip it, which can also be expensive. For a wodao, plain fittings are fine, and DIY should suffice. Giant Chinese "coin" as tsuba, or cut a plain guard from thick sheet, and cylinder+plate pommel.
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Post by tonym on Jul 24, 2013 1:38:07 GMT
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