Typical historical dadao length vs modern versions.

[gomipile]

Cold Steel, CAS Hanwei, and soon Condor K&T all have versions of the Chinese dadao. All of them are in the 21"-24" blade length range. I was under the impression, however, that historically, the blade lengths on these ran from about 24" to 36"

Were 21" blade dadao seen historically? Are the longer blades so much harder to make that large manufacturers don't want to mess with them? Is it just that they know these will be used for "machete tasks" and they want to reduce the customer service requests and breakage by shortening the lever arm of the blade?

Granted, a 21.25" blade dadao should be mighty fearsome, and I wouldn't want someone to sneak up on me with one in a dark alley. And I'll probably buy one of the Condor ones anyway.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I personally haven't seen any originals that short, but that doesn't mean that they didn't exist. My guess as to shorter lengths being produced by manufacturers is it's cheaper to make, cheaper to ship, less likely to break if abused, and 99% of their customers have never even heard of a dadao before and just think it's awesome that it's a big nasty choppy thing.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

99% of their customers have never even heard of a dadao before and just think it's awesome that it's a big nasty choppy thing.

This. It could also be limitations imposed by their heat treat facilities. But I'd bet on it being mostly the former. They do look cool though.

 

[parbajtor]

It's probably also down to intended use. Tachi were long and became shorter as mounted warfare waned in use, eventually evolving into katana which was a more practical length for foot based use. The use of a sword as an execution/butchering tool or going up against mounted cavalry is less likely today so a more practical length for MA demonstrations etc. would probably better suit the customer base. Plus people who collect the originals are not likely to buy "modern" versions, anyway.