An antique ox-tail saber
 

Just got a chance to take some pictures. They aren't the best pics and I'll take better ones tomorrow hopefully. The "village" Dao are some of my favorites 'cause you know a local martial artist, bandit, and/or villager owned it, treasured it, and used it. These aren't the luxurious weapons of aristocrats, just simple, functional, quality, and no less deadly.

This is a kinda short Niu-wei-dao, having a ~24" blade. Feels like a heftier machete with much better balance. Blade finish is rough. Handle is mostly secure but has a crack in the wood. Rust seems stable.

The dao, lighting is bad
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9564/78002145.jpg

Rust, seems to be stable
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8175/82974525.jpg

Simple Pommel, secure handle
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7963/18537314.jpg

Distal Taper
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5159/76054375.jpg



What do you guys think? :)

Could you possibly tell me more about this blade?

Better pictures tomorrow hopefully.

cool sword. here's a link on how to re-wrap the grip. it's in chinese of course. ;)
luckily the pictures are worth a thousand words.

Linky

Quick question - were all Dao handle wrapped or were many left unwrapped?

I may not end up wrapping this since it currently fits my hand very well...

Any suggestions on the type of cord to wrap it in if I do decide on wrapping?

As for the article being in Chinese, well, it never hurts to brush up on my first language I guess! Though I am almost illiterate, learning to speak is very different than reading and writing! But doesn't hurt to try... And yes the pictures will help A LOT... maybe more than any accompanying text!

Very nice dao, thank you for sharing. I like the straight forward service weapons too. In regards to your wrapping question, I have a couple similar to this one, and have handled others as well as gathered a large photo collection of this type of sword. From my experience it seems that some times they are wrapped, and sometimes left just with the wood bare. I asked another very experienced Chinese sword collector the same question recently and he too has had the same experience. I know in the past I have looked very closely at the wood grip material and seen residual evidence of a tight wrap from the past. I bet you have already tried that. Also, some materials like wide bands of cloth are less likely to leave the marks that a cord might. In any case, if you are interested in wrapping it in a pattern often seen on military dao I have a pdf of a method in English I would be happy to send you, just pm me.

Sounds good, I'll PM you in a little bit...


Here's a better picture of the dao:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6233/daoj.jpg

The first wrap was perfect in the link. The second was not very satisfactory. Both were done almost 10 years ago. Now the polisher knows better and does a much better job with woven silk fabric close to antique.

Apart from silk cord, fish skin, leather stripe, cloth stripe or just naked unwrapped wooden handles are possible for such ox-tail sabers. They are late Qing weapon, not only for civilian use, but also a standard weapon for the local level officials. Nowadays they are used in martial art practice.

Usually they are thin, light and wide, casually forged or not forged using modern steel, more as an apperial than for practical use.

The last veteran in Chinese cold weapon history.

I hope by that you mean the modern-made flimsy ones used in "Wushu" performances...

This antique is nothing like that - it's strong and functional. Problem is I don't want to use it because of its age, only swing it and admire it. I have owned/cut with some quality modern reproductions (which one can cut things with no concern), and they are generally decent but without quite the same balance as good antiques. Still, improvements are being made and I'm hopeful of owning a quality pair of modern made Shuang Dao someday. :)