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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2018 21:12:28 GMT
I know my pictures suck, but all I have is a crappy cell phone camera.
Anyway, I spent hours researching the Chinese dadao and discovered that there is a ton of conjecture about this particular weapon. I could rule out that there was ever anything as ornamental as this piece that saw actual use in battle; there never was. In any case, I thought the blade was stunning, but I wasn't sold on the handle construction.
When I took the handle apart, I discovered that it was essentially a partially hollow tube with a threaded tang welded onto the actual tang, which was very thick and had no noticeable issues. So I removed the threaded piece and discarded all the hilt components: they were zinc alloy, something I do not like.
My next step was to bring out the pattern of the folded steel a bit more, so I submerged the blade in ferric chloride. I used a PVC plastic tube as a vessel and secured it to a wood base. Once I was satisfied with the level of patina, I polished the blade and put a super sharp edge on it. That's when the real work began.
I decided I would much rather make something like a naginata. This blade is clearly not a naginata blade, nor is it like a Chinese guandao. No matter what its ethnic origin is, a naginata and a guandao are essentially a type of glaive. So I decided I would make a fantasy glaive inspired by the naginata.
I ordered an iron tsuba from a good source to give the finished piece an Asian influence. I then picked up a piece of hardwood from the local lumber yard. I cannot recall what species the wood is, but it's an exotic species in the Rosewood family, so it's really dense and rather heavy.
I shaped the wood to a finished stave and began the assembly. I drilled a slot for the tang through the top of the stave, drilled a hole through the tang and the side of the stave to secure the blade with a pin, although I ended up using both a pin AND epoxy. This way, the blade isn't going anywhere. Once the blade and the tsuba were assembled, I elected to add a counterbalance to the glaive due to the weight of the hardwood. I ended up choosing a brass piece called a sauroter. A sauroter is a spiked butt cap found on ancient Greek spears. So not only is it effective as a counter weight, it is also lethal.
Once this assembly was complete, I added some feather and half moon motifs to the wood using a wood burning tool. I finished the wood with several coats of amber shellac, which is just about the only finish you can put over exotic hardwoods on account of their own natural oils.
In the end, the piece came out rather beautiful. I just wish I had a big enough back yard where I can test its effectiveness. This polearm needs to be put to the test.
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Post by tancred on Aug 5, 2018 4:16:15 GMT
Nice work, Lebleuchevalier! Thanks for the pictures and video. I'm a sucker for folded blades. The pictures of both your's and on KoA look very cool. Would you say you're impressed/satisfied with the folded blade? Like, the item you received was just like in the pictures from KoA?
Again, thanks for sharing, and nice work. I hope you find the open space to test that baby out!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 12:55:02 GMT
Thanks very much! I love folded blades too. To be honest, I blocked out the hilt and the scabbard when I bought this. I was interested exclusively in the blade. I contemplated buying a naginata blade by Kris Cutlery, but I opted for this one instead because of the clipped point. This blade has absolutely no distal taper. It's essentially like an axe. I have no doubt it could also be used for a really effective thrust. I'm really impressed with the quality of the steel, but perplexed as to why it was mounted onto cheap fittings. The historic dadaos from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were pretty inexpensive in terms of construction, but they were still deadly weapons. What this was was a commemorative dadao with ornamental fittings. It's not ornamental any longer.
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Post by tancred on Aug 5, 2018 16:41:12 GMT
Ah, I used to have a Kris Cutlery naginata blade, but not the folded kind. I was hoping to mount it, maybe even as a simple wakizashi. But time passed, and I never got around to it. So, I sold it. Since I saw the folded version at KoA, I was tempted to give it another go. Maybe some time.
I have been looking at more dadaos lately, too. I had one, but sold it. So, now, as far as Chinese arms go, I only have a Hanwei dao. I was thinking of another dao or dadao, but with a folded blade. I love the no longer available Hanwei Song Dao. I'm also not trying to break the bank on one, though. Hoping to keep it under $300 if possible.
But anyway, your glaive is awesome. I like how you kind of had different thoughts going in to it from both ancient Greece and east Asia. You'll have to let the forum know how cutting goes if you get the chance.
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 5, 2018 20:25:17 GMT
cool piece and nice diy
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Aug 6, 2018 13:41:56 GMT
Very nice! What is it's final weight? (Just curious) And I agree, you need to drink many gallons of something, this needs testing
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2018 14:33:49 GMT
It weighs around 5 1/2 pounds. It's a little heavy, but it's 90 inches long. If I don't test this thing within the next year I will be sorely disappointed. I would like to build a more lightweight glaive, preferably a more authentic naginata. The construction process is rather different though, so I would have to do more research. I am definitely interested in buying that Kris Cutlery folded naginata blade from KoA. I've always had great success with DIY projects using Kris blades.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2018 14:36:37 GMT
I was just thinking: I have never used a weapon like this before. Someone who knows what they are doing ought to test this out.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Aug 6, 2018 20:45:23 GMT
5 1/2 lbs isn't awful... It's about what a heavy SCA glaive weighs, so 7' of rattan, tape, padding etc. It won't be the peppiest of dueling spear weapons, but it should work fine.
As to testing, its all about edge alignment, and I think you'll be surprised when you can cut a bottle from 6" with a twitch. IMO, if you're *really* worried about damaging it, start buying pool noodles on sale, that way you have about 3' of area to aim at, less opportunity to strike the ground or the stand.
And be aware, if the blade flies off, it's gonna sail like a atlatl dart, so be aware of your swing arc for safety.
Fun fact: a boar spear head improperly applied will fly 15' and stick in an oak tree...wow was that exciting.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2018 20:54:38 GMT
That's some solid advice and I will definitely keep it in mind if and when I test this thing. As for the blade flying off, it could potentially break off from the wood snapping, but I used a ton of epoxy and secured it through the tang with a pin. So it should be rather sturdy, but weapons occasionally malfunction. In fact, I would say they inevitably malfunction.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Aug 8, 2018 5:16:49 GMT
Thanks very much! I love folded blades too. To be honest, I blocked out the hilt and the scabbard when I bought this. I was interested exclusively in the blade. I contemplated buying a naginata blade by Kris Cutlery, but I opted for this one instead because of the clipped point. This blade has absolutely no distal taper. It's essentially like an axe. I have no doubt it could also be used for a really effective thrust. I'm really impressed with the quality of the steel, but perplexed as to why it was mounted onto cheap fittings. The historic dadaos from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were pretty inexpensive in terms of construction, but they were still deadly weapons. What this was was a commemorative dadao with ornamental fittings. It's not ornamental any longer. The original was a pretty fancy sword - belonged to the Kangxi Emperor, so the fanciness is no surprise. 89.5cm long, blade 3.8cm wide. Not big in any way (except maybe the hilt length) compared to contemporary dao, so it wouldn't be called a dadao. I've seen it called a baodao (寶刀, 宝刀), but that's just "treasure sword" or "very expensive sword". Maybe a yanchidao 雁翅刀 (goose wing dao)? More photos here: chineseswords2.freewebspace.com/photo.html
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 13:24:25 GMT
Wow. I really had no idea. Was this most likely an ornamental sword, or would it have been made to be functional too?
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stormmaster
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Post by stormmaster on Aug 8, 2018 13:30:59 GMT
Probably functional but considering it was made for an emperor it would have been decorated to help, just like swords for kings in Europe
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Aug 8, 2018 13:57:49 GMT
Functional as well as ornamental. I doubt that Kangxi would have considered a non-functional wallhanger adequate.
I don't know how the original was constructed - a short glued-in stick tang wouldn't surprise me. The sword was possibly made in Yunnan, more of a SE Asian dha than a Chinese dao.
It's a very popular sword for replicas. Lots of replicas, of many different levels of quality.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 15:08:03 GMT
Functional as well as ornamental. I doubt that Kangxi would have considered a non-functional wallhanger adequate. I don't know how the original was constructed - a short glued-in stick tang wouldn't surprise me. The sword was possibly made in Yunnan, more of a SE Asian dha than a Chinese dao. It's a very popular sword for replicas. Lots of replicas, of many different levels of quality. That's for sure. I have seen other replicas of this same sword. Some have wood handles with metal accents, and some are made with zinc alloy fittings like mine. There was nothing wrong with the way it was constructed, the hilt was just too heavy. The blade itself is really beautiful. I really want to test it!
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