short pweld goose quill dao blade

kevin - the professor

kevin - the professor

Well-Known Member
Hello Everyone,
I am really intrigued by the flowing curves and overall shapes of the many types of dao.

There are not many people making these in the custom bladesmith world despite the long history and the huge range of geometries, methods of construction, methods of welding/assembly, and the use of regular and clay heat treatment.

Sure, many of the examples were made fast to give to a soldier who was not expected to live through many battles with it. But, a number of European "arming" swords were also shoddy.

But, there are a lot of really beautiful ones. The fittings of the best ones are out of my league.

I plan to spend some time studying and making various dao - it is a rich area with a ton of room for creativity and interpretation.

This is the blade for my first one. Let me know what you think. I have never made a single-edged blade with such a complex geometry before.

17" working length (18" of steel from guard to point, but curve beginning at center of percussion makes working length shorter)

Just over .25" at ridge at forte, just under .125" at thickest part of "lens" near point.

The blade has a ridged construction, with the fuller ground just above the ridge. This changes to "egg-" or "lens-" shaped just after fuller ends. The back edge is sligthly sharpened (could scrape but not cut).

Acute point, good for stabbing and cutting.

Convex edge much like a katana or wak.

let me know what you think about my plan in general and this blade in particular. This is my first in what I hope to be several daos.

thanks for looking,
kevin
 

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I've never heard of a dao before. I'll have to go do some poking around. What material is that blade from?
 
Tracy - Dao is the name for the single-edged blades of China. Interesting facts: the Japanese learned pattern welding, laminate construction, san mai, etc., and clay heat treatment all from the Chinese. The Chinese sword tradition is one of the richest and oldest, and they were doing the same types of complex constructions that the Celts and Vikings were, at about the same time. The things that katana, etc. are known for all were adapted from the Chinese (prior to the 12th Century).

China, however, has had more social upheval than Japan, and the tradition is harder to trace. There are also a lot of daos (especially lately) that are CRAP!

here is a good into for anyone:

http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/
 
Tracy - I forgot - 400 layers of 1075 and 15n20.
straight random damascus.
fuller cut using ancient Chinese Angle Grinder

by the way - everyone who loves Japanese swords - the Chinese discovered and taught a lot of these techniques to the Japanese. Interestingly, the Chinese lost a lot of the techniques and were at a disadvantage when fighting Japanese pirates. So, they began modelling the Japanese sword constructions.

The Chinese discovered many techniques, passed them to the Japanese and then lost them. The Japanese had more cultural stabililty, and eventually re-taught the Chinese what they had lost.

cool cultural interplay.
kc
 
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OK, the color shift in the photo threw me. Thanks for the information. I see the Chinese influence in that blade.
 
man i need to go back to history class great info guys and that blade sure looks good cant wait to see how you finish it
 
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