Boxer/Republican era dadao

Yu-Ming Chang · 5th January 2009, 10:18 PM

I bought this dadao about 4-5 years ago (the second sword in my then nascent collection). As far as I can tell, it is typical of civilian dadao used in China during the Boxer Rebellion and subsequent Republican era, so turn of the 20th century to 1940's. It is a fairly large piece 28.5in in blade length, 10in from pommel to guard of insert edge construction. The fullers, called xue cao in Chinese (which interestingly enough translates to blood grooves) were roughly added into the piece. Because of the lack finese in the manufacture of the fullers, it is tempting to think if they were added latter in the life of this blade. However, the state of oxidation in the fullers were consistent with the rest of the blade. At the forte is a flower motif on one side, and engraved characters (nan giang he cun) on the other. Nan = South, qiang = strength, He Cun = is a village name.

I actually posted this piece about 3 years ago:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1548

I bought it intending to polish it myself but never had the time and as it turns out, won't have for the next few years. A quick window polish showed some typical, but to me, interesting pattern-welding. This quality of the piece didn't justifying asking Philip Tom to take a look at it, but I decided to ask a fellow collector, William Reinman who had shown a lot of talent restoring a niuweidao and jian purchased from Scott Rodell to take a crack at it (threads in SFI).

Yu-Ming Chang · 5th January 2009, 10:19 PM

I recently got the piece back from William and I though he did a tremendous job bringing out the inner beauty of this "rustic" fellow. There are some areas of scratching were previous lower grits weren't completely removed, but as can be seen by the pictures below, the blade came out beautifully. We decided to re-wrap the handle with new red cord. While I'm not certain what the original coloring of the cord was, the few intact pieces of this style I have seen tended to have red cord.

Yu-Ming Chang · 5th January 2009, 10:20 PM

More pictures:

Atlantia · 5th January 2009, 11:06 PM

Hi YMC

I think it looks great!

And most importantly it is once again as it should be. A sword should be usable.

I'd be interested in seeing pictures in daylight or with no flash also.

Congratulations
Gene

ariel · 6th January 2009, 12:28 AM

I disagree.
Cleaning and etching the blade is fine, but it was a pretty easy task to find a matching thread and finish the wrapping unobtrusively. The new orange nylon looks absolutely foreign and screamingly new. The sense of history is lost.

stekemest · 6th January 2009, 01:10 AM

I totally agree with ariel. In my opinion, an old weapon deserves to look like an old weapon - polishing the blade is fine, but the original handle was not so damaged that it had to be removed completely. Now you have a historical weapon that looks like a modern souvenir...

Sorry for being impolite, it's just my opinion.

Peter

5th January 2009, 10:18 PM	#1
Yu-Ming Chang Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 21	Boxer/Republican era dadao I bought this dadao about 4-5 years ago (the second sword in my then nascent collection). As far as I can tell, it is typical of civilian dadao used in China during the Boxer Rebellion and subsequent Republican era, so turn of the 20th century to 1940's. It is a fairly large piece 28.5in in blade length, 10in from pommel to guard of insert edge construction. The fullers, called xue cao in Chinese (which interestingly enough translates to blood grooves) were roughly added into the piece. Because of the lack finese in the manufacture of the fullers, it is tempting to think if they were added latter in the life of this blade. However, the state of oxidation in the fullers were consistent with the rest of the blade. At the forte is a flower motif on one side, and engraved characters (nan giang he cun) on the other. Nan = South, qiang = strength, He Cun = is a village name. I actually posted this piece about 3 years ago: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1548 I bought it intending to polish it myself but never had the time and as it turns out, won't have for the next few years. A quick window polish showed some typical, but to me, interesting pattern-welding. This quality of the piece didn't justifying asking Philip Tom to take a look at it, but I decided to ask a fellow collector, William Reinman who had shown a lot of talent restoring a niuweidao and jian purchased from Scott Rodell to take a crack at it (threads in SFI).

5th January 2009, 10:19 PM	#2
Yu-Ming Chang Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 21	I recently got the piece back from William and I though he did a tremendous job bringing out the inner beauty of this "rustic" fellow. There are some areas of scratching were previous lower grits weren't completely removed, but as can be seen by the pictures below, the blade came out beautifully. We decided to re-wrap the handle with new red cord. While I'm not certain what the original coloring of the cord was, the few intact pieces of this style I have seen tended to have red cord.

5th January 2009, 10:20 PM	#3
Yu-Ming Chang Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 21	More pictures:

5th January 2009, 11:06 PM	#4
Atlantia Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: The Sharp end Posts: 2,928	Hi YMC I think it looks great! And most importantly it is once again as it should be. A sword should be usable. I'd be interested in seeing pictures in daylight or with no flash also. Congratulations Gene

6th January 2009, 12:28 AM	#5
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I disagree. Cleaning and etching the blade is fine, but it was a pretty easy task to find a matching thread and finish the wrapping unobtrusively. The new orange nylon looks absolutely foreign and screamingly new. The sense of history is lost.

6th January 2009, 01:10 AM	#6
stekemest Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Posts: 182	I totally agree with ariel. In my opinion, an old weapon deserves to look like an old weapon - polishing the blade is fine, but the original handle was not so damaged that it had to be removed completely. Now you have a historical weapon that looks like a modern souvenir... Sorry for being impolite, it's just my opinion. Peter