What makes a dha a dha

[tom hyle]

I think Mark has more or less done a better job of explaining what I meant than I probably would have, while going into some other interesting things as well (these weapon varieties would indicate militia rank, as with Massai spears? Is that what I'm hearing?) I do think it neccessary to add that, decoration and polish aside, and across the cultures of the world I find no correlation between original expense and quality of weapons and tools. You might like to think it's otherwise, but it's not, and it never was; an expensive sword cannot be relied upon to be straighter, truer, better tempered, better balanced, stronger, better assembled (inside, where it counts), or better designed than a plain and relatively inexpensive piece. Furthermore, the focus on fancy pieces is often specifically on decoration, and often at the cost of function (ie. actual quality), as a rich man is often presumed either to have little utilitarian use for tools and weapons, or assumed to be owner of several for different purposes (ceremonial/dress vs. field/combat), while a work man can afford only one and must use it often, so this lack of co-relation only makes sense. There is an ancient Celtic myth about a young warrior later to be a great leader, who lay with a fay woman on an island. Since he'd impregnated her, her father wanted to reward him (hey, it was Faerie, so things were different, hee hee.....). He offered him his choic of a hoard of weapons; many gold-wrapped and jewelled, with etched and sculpted blades; the swords of dead kings and sea captains, but the youth, only after examining them all, chose a plain sword with a smooth blade and a black hilt, and it was the best of them all. A tale told of Arthur, but older, really; a lesson for warriors and kings.........

[Mark]

Indeed. I have a couple swords where the blade just seems to be something to hold the fancy decoration together. They put all the effort and workmanship into the fittings, and little into the swordsmithing.

Sorry Andrew. I got carried away.

[tom hyle]

Decoration and polish can often become the main part of the work on fancy stuff, even when it is of good basic structural quality too. I remember making fine custom furniture and doors, and the picking, lamminating, cutting and assembling could be like 1/4 of our time; the rest was polishing and finishing, and I'm not saying it's without value, but it doesn't make a table or door any stronger, nor a sword. Now, I'll climb off my low horse for a minute. Polish is a using value with swords, as smooth surfaces a less friction generating, and less liable to rust, but in practical everyday reality, a super-polish is more of an aesthetic thing. On the other hand, other forms of finishing, like etches, can have the real value of showing the user the inner nature of a sword. Also, of course, a valid/quality-oriented price differential can occur around the matter of materials; notably the steel/iron dichotomy, but even this can vary greatly with the ability of the workers, and (if no one's noticed) I haven't noticed human society being particularly effective in living up to its pretensions of meritocracy; the famous pricey craftsman may not be any more talented or skillful or in tune than the fiery new-comer, or the crazed hermit-artist, indeed, often with fame and financial success an artisan feels driven to "farm-out" and streamline his processes, in order to keep up with demand, with a concomitant tendency to lose some of the spirit and care......Quality is a complex issue; some aspects of it must be paid for in one way or another (for instance, quality steel can so,etimes be salvaged, bought for the labor, etc. rather than for money), but to me it has nothing to do with decoration and the trappings of wealth and status.