Wobbly guards on Jians and Daos

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

A fellow collector brought some pieces around to my place, amongst which was a fairly bog standard late 19th/early 20th Jian, with a really rattly guard.
I only have one Chinese sword at present, a rather large Dao, which also has a really rattly and rather ill fitting guard.

Anyway, I commented that I've only ever had one Dao, and every Jian I've ever had (and TBH none were exactly top of the range) always seemed to have rattly ill fitting guards.

He said thats how they are meant to be, but I cant see it myself.

The guards on these pieces should NOT be rattly at all but most often are, though more so on the Shuang Jian in my experience.

I suspect it is for the most part due to shrinkage of materials such as timber and horn. The 18th century examples I have in my gallery have become slightly loose, it can be plainly seen that over time the collar has worn away parts of the timber and they no longer press hard against the guard as they should to hold it tightly in place. I suspect a little removal of some timber, some compression from the pommel end with a little further peening of the tang would fix it. I have however when the moments right earmarked these to be sent to Philip for proper restoration and loose guards are something he can correct.
The Dadao would suffer from the same issue. New grip slabs hard against the guard and some tight new binding would also remove play in the guard.

My two cents worth is that they are not supposed to be at all, it is just the ravages of time that have made them so.

Gav