The Blade
This really is a hefty blade and yes they did actually chop a nail in half with this particular blade before it was hafted to prove it. The blade is 27 1/8" long, 5/16" thick at the spine and 1 5/8" at the belly swell (which was deeper but had to be trimmed so as not to stick in the scabbard)
The design features on this are all the work of the apprentice, I only chose the copper, brass, and silver spine inserts and the names (Thai on one side English on the other). For stability and to take up some of the shock to the ivory at the hilt he melted down a bunch of old US quarters he had to make a silver disk insert.
As I said this is one of a pair the other is on the mainland with my brother holding it to be gifted to my son upon some significant event (like he gets married). Mine will eventually go to a grandson and so on each time adding the name of the father.
I had a jeweler in Lop Buri fill the stamped areas on the blade with silver and gold and another created the plaited silver wire wraps on the scabbard that replaced the original twisted wire.
I think the boy will be pretty pleased - I am!
Dan
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