Boxer/Republican era dadao

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Yu-Ming Chang

Thanks for the honest and constructive comments from everyone. First, I have to take responsibility for the choice of the red cord; William had wrapped it with a beige cord. While the original old cord is certainly beige now, I thought I saw areas of "pink" which suggested that the original color was more reddish. As I stated, I had at least one other example of a similar dadao (which I gave to my sifu so I can take some pictures of it soon) which has it's original red cord wrap (faded with time of course). The wrap had interwoven red cloth bands on each side of the handle. Based on that and others, it would suggest that the color red is not at all unhistoric.

However, I can certainly see everyone's point, the color and newness of the wrap is jarring now that people are noting it. Even if I replace the wrap, I would probably want to attempt to "age" it a bit. Any suggestions or techniques that have worked well for you?

Lew, thanks for the suggestion to talk to Scott. I actually have used someone, via Philip Tom, for previous traditional Chinese wraps so it may well be worth it to talk to them about this piece.

Gene, I'll try to take some pictures with proper lighting and no flash soon, just haven't had the time to set it all up.

Yu-Ming

A very nice blade you have there Yu-Ming, I very much like the personal touches with the engravings. The fullers too may well have been a personal touch???
I see the hilt wrappings have shocked most here and I am happy that you are making the effort to replace the wrap.
I beleive if you see pink in the old beige cord that it was probably beige to begin with but dyed to obtain the red in it's former life.
I have attached an image of the ring pommel and wrapping on mine to show the original flat cord used that the red is still present under the wrapping in places that is now "bleached" over time with use and the elements.
Please find nice flat wrapping, enough to do a few swords and experiment with some red dye.

Gav

Gav