willow-leaf dao, sanmei.

kevin -the professor

kevin -the professor

Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
760
Greetings Everyone,
I have been working hard on this one for many months. Making this one, and making it as a sole author, was a challenge. I spent several months learning how to engrave with tagane and with Western-style gravers. I snagged an Ngraver hammer handpiece and a low-speed, high-torque foredom to drive it. This, plus some hot glue and a 15lb shaft cutoff gave me the setup needed for engraving and adornment.

The blade is in the style of the Ming Dynasty. There was clay heat treatment in China as well as Japan, though there was less by the Ming than there had been earlier. Still, this bit of license really enhanced the esthetic appeal of the blade.

It is a sanmei, with the outer plates each having about 720 layers of 1020, low Mn 1075, and W2. The center core is W2. There is a very active shuangxue (snow crystals - hamon to the Japanese school), and a nice, subtle pattern in the steel.

The sword is 27.5" working blade length, and should weigh just about 2lb. I haven't weighed, but the blade weighed about 26oz. This is a light and fast blade, and would be good for someone to do cutting and forms.

I also had to learn to do handle wrapping for this (and I have a long way to go). I have been wrapping and unwrapping a little nylon-nosed hammer at night while I sit on the couch.

This is the first blade in the Chinese style that I can really be proud of. Sure, it has a lot of places for growth, especially with the engraving (this Ngraver is a wonderful tool!). Still, I love it, flaws and all.

The welds have NO flaws. This time.

So... Many Pics to follow....

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Thanks for looking. I welcome your comments, advice, critique, etc.

take care,

kc
 
Fantastic! Definitely one of the nicest things I've seen pop up in the sword forum lately. The blade is gorgeous. If I had to pick something as a critique, it's that the blade looks awfully straight to me, and even a liuyedao should have some nice curvature, as the forms are primarily for cutting. The pommel end looks interesting to me as well, lacking the traditional downwards curvature again, which may just be the angle of the photo. I'd love to see another picture, of the pommel end of things. It's apparent that your sword-making skills are well beyond mine in most, if not all, respects, so please take my comments as coming from my side as a practitioner of Chinese MA. Great looking piece. Are you going to make a traditional scabbard as well? If so, I'd love to see what you do with the chape. I've been trying to figure out a relatively easy way to make one. Thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks for the comments.

Crimson - you are correct on all points. I handled some earlier swords, and they (Ming) seemed straighter and had straight handles. This shape is a departure from true willow-leaf, and I probably should not have called it that. Thank you for your comments.

kc
 
Kevin, I've followed your journey far a long time. I've seen and read about many of your success's and failures. So, from the perspective of a man who makes swords not nearly as good as this one, one of the things that struck me right away is the dragon engraving of the guard. It's just not..it's got a ways to go. I don't understand the shape of the guard itself (and that's probably because I am not familiar with Chinese swords) but why is it shaped like a lid, with the hollow part facing the blade?

The blade? Absolutely beautiful! Although I too would have liked to see some curvature. With all that nit-picking, I wish I had your talent, knowledge and dedication. Any man would be proud to own this fine work.
 
Great looking sword.

I think it looks fantastic. The shape made me think of the Chinese saber.
 
Thanks David. The guards are supposed to be exactly a lid. They cap the sword within the scabbard. Standard design for Ming and Qing blades. As for the engraving, well, this is an art unto itself and will take a great deal of time to master. I just started the engraving this year, while I started making blades in 2008. Hopefully, my skill at engraving will move at the same speed as my blade making.

take care,
kc
 
Yup, the lid shape seems pretty traditional to me. I've got one with a guard just like that. Engraving looks pretty decent to me. I mean, it's no Warenski or something, but pretty darn good nonetheless.

I think this one is closer to a yanlingdao (second one down), but with the liuyedao pommel (third one down):

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Crimsonfalcon, thanks for the pics. There were two standard military shapes for pommels during Ming and Qing, the squashed sphere, and the squared curve shape like this one. The brass I have won't take to forging. Next one, I will get some different alloys, and I will be able to forge the pommel into a more complex and rounded shape. This one is just made by brazing a curved strip to two shaped plates. Everything is 2-D.

kc
 
Looking forward to seeing more. I'm still working on my own dao project. Yours is gorgeous, and I love what you've done with the blade. How did you do the fullering?
 
good question... I have a variable speed die grinder (like a super dremel). I put a couple of hose clamps on the front of it, and clamped a bent piece of brazing rod to it to use as a guide so the wheel of the grinder tracks the right distance in from the spine to put the wheel where I want it. It is a good trick, and I stole it from Vince Evan's website.
 
Nice work! I'm not familiar with Chinese swords either so I can't really comment on accuracy but it's a very attractive piece.

Did the uneven fullers happen after polishing? (3rd photo up from the bottom). That's happened to me and the thought of trying to even them out is demoralizing knowing the time involved... fix one then the other back and forth until they are under the "habaki". :p
Love the "hada".

Nice copper work.

Thanks for the tip on the hose clamps. I did something similar but with duct tape. Hose clamps seem much more secure.:o
 
Good lord I like that!

My training is in FMA (with the just a smidgen on the Chinese jin and the katana) but nonetheless I just want to reach out and swing that!
 
Hard to say much of any consequence about it as a sword without handling it other than to admire the work and workmanship you put into it.

Guessing at feel, my first impression is to echo what crimsonfalcon07 said about the relative straightness of the grip. The longer, single-hand Filipino blades that I have handled tend to share the same slight downward curve of the grip as three of the four swords in comment #8 above, which helps with quick cuts that come from the wrist (and the forward weight balance of the blade). The bottom flare of the pommel helps with weapon retention in such a cut as it catches the pinky to prevent the hand from sliding backwards due to the momentum of the blade. A straighter grip tends to push into the heel of the palm more and restrict movement and can be a bit uncomfortable with a narrow grip (like on the typical aluminum FMA training sword). Hard to see the shape of the grip in the pictures to know how much of this applies to your sword. Same goes for guessing at a center of gravity, which would also affect the feel.

Someone with training in Chinese swordsmanship can probably comment in more detail about these matters than I can with regard to these specific sword types.
 
Stuart - the little bit of difference did in fact happen during polishing. It is a big deal to make sure that the fullers don't go under the blade collar (tonkou or tunkou for the Chinese). So, I just left that little difference. Thanks for the comments. I have liked your recent work, too.

Sexy Beast - I have done Tai Chi forms with training weapons with both straight and curved handles. The modern factory blades from China have curved handles, but this practice began in the 19th century. Before that, the handles were straight. The last couple I made had curved handles, so I decided to make this one straight.

Untamed - This sword is light and fast. Much more like a jian than a katana.

thanks again,
kc
 
kevin -the professor said:
Sexy Beast - I have done Tai Chi forms with training weapons with both straight and curved handles. The modern factory blades from China have curved handles, but this practice began in the 19th century. Before that, the handles were straight. The last couple I made had curved handles, so I decided to make this one straight.
Click to expand...

So, from a design view how did you envision this sword being wielded? Was the grip design a matter of variety or of wanting to emulate an earlier period or did you come at it from a functional approach and want to emphasize a different set of martial practices?

Does this blade encourage a more dao-like or a more jian-like approach when you move with it?
 
It is still a dao. I have worked through some of the forms with it. Works well. I cut some with it before I polished it, and it has enough curve that it feels like a curved blade when it cuts rather than a straight blade. It is probably 2/3 goosequill and 1/3 willow leaf. The false edge isn't really sharp enough to do the double edged techniques.
thanks for your interest
 
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