[QUOTE=Jim McDougall]Josh,
The comment on the Chinese painting blades red that are no longer in use is most interesting. Could you elaborate a bit on that? Some time ago I was trying to discover more on the color red being used on weapons....QUOTE]
Sorry that is about all I know. Chinese villagers often paint over a blade rather than oiling it. The ones I have were done with silver paint, one on a folded blade and one on a practice/performance piece. Phillip and Scott discussed the occasional piece with red paint, and I think there may be a Taoist component, but you would have to ask them. Tibetan things often have traces of red on the fittings or scabbard, but that would have been part of the original decoration and related to Buddhist iconography.
Josh
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