Kachin Dao

carlitobrigante · 20th September 2010, 08:45 PM

Hi chaps

I have a few kachin type dao / dha now (and another on its way soon!) that ive picked up along the way. I havent come across many other examples online, the few i have seen all seem of similar proportions and have fairly similar hilts with brass and lacquered rattan common.

Any comments welcome. Particularly interested in pics of others people examples, or links to any online sources regarding this type of dao, and the tribes that wielded it. I imagine all 3 are 1900-1950's but thats a complete guess on my part.

The middle one in the first picture below, is to me the nicest of the 3 i think. Despite missing its bone pommel cap thing, it has the largest and best quality blade, and i like the handle thats split in silver, brass, wood, and 2 different types of rattan in different sections. The blade has a wonderfull looking laminate pattern running strongly on both sides near the spine of the blade, has a tempered edge showing a nice cloudy hamon effect in places.

The red lacquer and brass handled one shows a clearly inserted hardened edge and was the only one that came with a scabbard (which incidently arent that common it seems, unsurprisingly now ive seen the design of the scabbards!!).

The third is plainest of the three, and what i would definately term a 'worker' type, the blade too pitted to show any details in the steel, but a nice solid well made piece i think.

I believe these most come from northern Burma, id be fascinated if anyone could tell me what features on this type of dao can help tell me identify which particular tribe / area / era they originate from.

20th September 2010, 08:45 PM	#1
carlitobrigante Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Solihull, UK Posts: 81	Kachin Dao Hi chaps I have a few kachin type dao / dha now (and another on its way soon!) that ive picked up along the way. I havent come across many other examples online, the few i have seen all seem of similar proportions and have fairly similar hilts with brass and lacquered rattan common. Any comments welcome. Particularly interested in pics of others people examples, or links to any online sources regarding this type of dao, and the tribes that wielded it. I imagine all 3 are 1900-1950's but thats a complete guess on my part. The middle one in the first picture below, is to me the nicest of the 3 i think. Despite missing its bone pommel cap thing, it has the largest and best quality blade, and i like the handle thats split in silver, brass, wood, and 2 different types of rattan in different sections. The blade has a wonderfull looking laminate pattern running strongly on both sides near the spine of the blade, has a tempered edge showing a nice cloudy hamon effect in places. The red lacquer and brass handled one shows a clearly inserted hardened edge and was the only one that came with a scabbard (which incidently arent that common it seems, unsurprisingly now ive seen the design of the scabbards!!). The third is plainest of the three, and what i would definately term a 'worker' type, the blade too pitted to show any details in the steel, but a nice solid well made piece i think. I believe these most come from northern Burma, id be fascinated if anyone could tell me what features on this type of dao can help tell me identify which particular tribe / area / era they originate from.