Question on guards of Chinese daos
 

Hi All,

This is a design question, not a collection question:

Do the guards on Chinese daos (especially the modern willow-leaf shape) always have a lip facing the blade?

Here's the reason I'm asking: I've got a modern double-saber set that has crappy fittings but good (if modern) blades. I'm planning on turning the pair into two separate daos, but that means creating separate fittings for each. (As an aside, this is mostly for my own fun and education). Obviously a solid disk guard is easier to make than a lipped guard, but I wanted to know how "genuine" such a design would be. There's tremendous variation in dao design, and I'm wondering what people have seen or have in their collections.

F

While it is not uncommon to find Chinese swords with the guards that have the lip facing the blade with a deep "bowl" or cup style. However, it is also not uncommon to find Chinese swords with disk guards that were flat on both sides with no lip or bowl.