My Heirloom - Modern Dha

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

Well y'all have been patient and heard me talking about the matched set I was having made in Thailand for years. The frustration is over and they are safely back in the States.
First series is the making.
1. The design
2. And of course drinking beer with the apprentices (forge in the rear)
3. They painted the blade with some pink chalky stuff and then free-handed the design.
4. Then used dies of varying shapes to stamp in the design
5. The silver sheeting was laid on a pan of pitch and the design hammered in from the back then wrapped around the pommel to measure and soldered (little mix up in the design - these pieces weren't used)
6. After six months this is where it stood

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

For the sake of brevity we'll skip the next two years of frustration. Let's just say it's better to be around to answer questions and do your own quality control than hope a labeled design will be executed correctly. Special thanks need to go out to Serge who came along about this time and really got this project back on track as well instilling some needed business ethics. Thanks Brother!

Let's not dwell but warp forward to the finished product.

The outside first.
Huge fan of ivory carving always have been

The three headed elephant god Erawan is the patron of the Thai airborne troops (based in Lop Buri -my wife's home town) with whom I've worked for years and is also the badge for their Jump Wings (the first foreign wings I ever received) thus that design choice.

The Monkey God Hanuman was the protector in the Ramayana and Lop Buri is known for it's monkeys. As many of you know I'm a soldier that image fit perfectly.

The last image I wanted to incorporate was one that said Thailand, a country I dearly love. I did some research on Thai design features but the one image that I kept coming back to was one that you see everywhere in Thailand - the sweeping intricate roof eaves of every temple terminating in the bird with the recurved beak.

Twisted wrapped silver wire for grip, plated silver wire on the scabbard complete ensemble (should've been a fashion announcer)

It's a rather large two handed presentation sword, however I did have an extended tang with bolt built in cause I wanted it to be a usable weapon balance is a little point heavy - it's a chopper!

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

This really is a hefty blade and yes they did actually chop a nail in half with this particular blade before it was hafted to prove it. The blade is 27 1/8" long, 5/16" thick at the spine and 1 5/8" at the belly swell (which was deeper but had to be trimmed so as not to stick in the scabbard)

The design features on this are all the work of the apprentice, I only chose the copper, brass, and silver spine inserts and the names (Thai on one side English on the other). For stability and to take up some of the shock to the ivory at the hilt he melted down a bunch of old US quarters he had to make a silver disk insert.

As I said this is one of a pair the other is on the mainland with my brother holding it to be gifted to my son upon some significant event (like he gets married). Mine will eventually go to a grandson and so on each time adding the name of the father.

I had a jeweler in Lop Buri fill the stamped areas on the blade with silver and gold and another created the plaited silver wire wraps on the scabbard that replaced the original twisted wire.

I think the boy will be pretty pleased - I am!

Dan

[KuKulzA28]

that looks beautiful. I don't know much about dha/darb, but that will make quite the heirloom. Do you plan for this to be a user? Ya know, out in the woods/jungle, hacking away at the vines and gathering the kindling, etc. ?

[Gavin Nugent]

I saw the initial post and thought what a nice shaped blade, then the time warp happened and whao, what a show stopper, quite an inspiration!!!
I'd love to have something like this done in Chinese form, absolutley stunning!!!

Gav

[David]

Just plain WOW!
KuKulz, i hope you were just kidding about hacking away at vines.

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

Thanks guys, and while this is a presentation piece it is a sword and to fulfill it's purpose in life (for me at least) it had to be designed as a useful weapon. While it is rather large even for my hands and strength it sliced right through about a 1 1/2 inch sapling with no problem. I was actually most scared of the ivory cracking but it held up - had it cracked the maker and I would have had to have further negotiations Course I did manage to catch it right on the harmonic point near the belly swell.

I'm thinking I probably won't test it again unless it's in self defense

[Ferguson]

Stunning work!
Steve

[migueldiaz]

Super! Congrats, Dan.

Hmm, an heirloom by way of an ethnic weapon ... that's a very good idea. Why didn't I think of that?

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

Can't really claim originality - the thought occurred to me after reading in this forum how weapons were handed down through the family and experiencing it in person down in Mindanao. I just like the whole legacy aspect of it as we become more global and less nuclear family.

[Spunjer]

definitely heirloom material dan! excellent work!!!

jeez, now you're in republic of hawaii... haha, next thing, youll be speaking pidgin.

go to boots and kimo's at kailua, and have the macadamia nut pancake and pulehu rib steak for breakfast. garans to broke da mouth, brah... oh, and there's a waiting line, so be there early


*i will now accept your sulu kris for divulging da island's best kept secret*

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

E Da Kine Bra! I do find myself calling everyone "bruda"

Sorry my personal trainer (the wife) has me on a strict diet -no pancakes

The deal I cut on the Sulu kris was a rental agreement, if the family ever finds themselves in a good position financially they can buy it back from me for what I paid (I left them my contact info). Probably never happen but they really didn't want to let it go and I completely understand.

Dan

[Battara]

Great work on that puppy (woof !)

[Jason Anstey]

Very nice sword.

Serge is a good bloke to deal with, sometimes at the mercy of his craftspeople. But the quality is certainly worth the wait.

Congrats on your fine sword.

Cheers

Jason

[ariel]

May it have many inscriptions on the blade!

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

Ariel,
Thank you so much!

Dan

[kronckew]

nice one, especially the ivory and inlaid decorations. i prefer the dha style grips to the daarb style. would you like to adopt a slightly more senior heir?

i've got two cozun daarbs thru serge's efforts (with ebay's assistance - someone else bought them from serge)



top one has etched decor, the bottom one has been incised like yours, just not yet inlaid.

[Mark]

Beautiful dha, Dan! A thoroughly personal design, yet adhering to tradition. I like that you had the engraving inlaid, and also the tri-metal inlays on the spine. The use of ivory is brilliant.

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

High praise Mark - I'm humbled

Sorry kronchew you'd have to wait in line - all my brothers have put in genealogical paperwork to lay a claim

I love the scrollwork on those two you got. The scrollwork on the acid etched one is very reminiscent of the tattoos that many of the Thai soldiers wear (protects them in combat) usually received from a Buddhist priest.

Obviously I prefer the stamped work - it looks like Serge has found some real artisans.

Just had a thought - I wonder if the next generation of Dha collectors will come up with a era or category for these pieces as they share such common design features?

"In the Bumiphol era there emerged a much more intricately detailed dha incorporating modern materials......"

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by wilked aka Khun Deng

...
I love the scrollwork on those two you got. The scrollwork on the acid etched one is very reminiscent of the tattoos that many of the Thai soldiers wear (protects them in combat) usually received from a Buddhist priest.

Obviously I prefer the stamped work - it looks like Serge has found some real artisans.
...

interesting. those two are at least 3 years old, he's mentioned that the smaller bottom one is likely the first one he had made with the full tang and double pinning in 2006. he also mentioned that it would have left the shop in the darker steel with a differential temper line as in the top one.

it's been polished by an expert, the incised scroll work is crisp and not at all rounded. the edges of the main blade also not rounded. one can see where the polisher did it by hand carefully in between each stamped mark. must've taken quite a while .

serge mentioned that one of the decorations on the blade is the makers logo which is horizontal, only a few in april 2006 were done that way and they stopped doing that & returned to making them vertical thereafter . the similar mark on the larger one is also horizontal. i see from yours that he must have had a series of skilled artists on tap over the period since.

[Nathaniel]

LOL, Much laughs Dan as I see you are picking up da local pidgin already, da kine is da kine brah.

Khun daeng darb bpen dee mak mak. Suay mak mak. I really like the ivory carving makes it really unique and it's neat to see the inlaid which I you don't see modernly either. I do admire the repousse metal technique the thai use. Nice motifs worked into the design. I can see this was quite the project to monitor and coordinate. I must say applause to the craftsman and Serge. It is great that they are improving their product with experience in such projects as this.

How long did this take start to finish? What was the timeline?

[Nathaniel]

Also curious what type of wood did was use?