Ban sword of the Lepcha people of Sikkim

[josh stout]

Great to see this example. I have one without a scabbard that I thought was Eastern Chinese/Tibetan/Bhutanese. It's nice to see i was close, but even nicer to know exactly what I have.

You mention that yours is mono-steel. Are you sure? Mine has Tibetan style hairpin folding, and it seems as though yours might as well.
Josh

[dennee]

I'd say that one that shows hairpin folding would probably be 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th, Claude White talked about the loss of the traditional methods with the importation of billets of Indian steel.

Bans do bear a resemblance to Bhutanese swords---if you disregard or look beyond the finish of the upper-class patag. Reduced to their basic blades and wood hilts and scabbards, some of the working knives and commoners' short swords look more like bans, if you were to remove half the scabbard. It is the ends of the blades that difer more in shape. I have some photos at home somewhere that I can post later.

[Ferguson]

Originally Posted by josh stout

Great to see this example. I have one without a scabbard that I thought was Eastern Chinese/Tibetan/Bhutanese. It's nice to see i was close, but even nicer to know exactly what I have.

You mention that yours is mono-steel. Are you sure? Mine has Tibetan style hairpin folding, and it seems as though yours might as well.
Josh

Hi Josh,
The sword had been polished, with little patina, so I etched it. It is forged, differentially hardened monosteel. I was hoping for hairpin, but it's still a nice piece.

Dennee,
thanks so much for your earlier thread on these swords.

Steve

[CharlesS]

Very attractive example and great work Steve.

[josh stout]

Originally Posted by Ferguson

Hi Josh,
The sword had been polished, with little patina, so I etched it. It is forged, differentially hardened monosteel. I was hoping for hairpin, but it's still a nice piece.

Steve

In mine, there are two very indistinct U shaped rods around a single central rod. There are no very dark rods as found in Tibetan blades, just bands of the same colored steel with fine pitting marking the welding lines similar to what an inserted edge looks like, but on both sides of the blade and following the contour of the tip. When I look at the acid darkened blade on yours, I see a dark area at the edge, then a lighter line in the middle, then a darker line again, then a lighter line, then a darker. Is it my imagination? Could differential tempering produce that effect alone?
Josh