English made Kacchin Dha...

[spiral]

It seems the national archives have many records of Brades etc. apparently.

The 1878 & 1951 catalogue do not included the so called Kachin dha or dah.

In your experience Ian what percentage of pre.1950 dha are monosteel or shear steel, compared to the laminated & hairpin patterns?

spiral

[Ian]

Originally Posted by spiral

In your experience Ian what percentage of pre.1950 dha are monosteel or shear steel, compared to the laminated & hairpin patterns?

spiral

Spiral:

I have not etched all of my dha, and many more that I have handled have not been etched either, so it's really hard to say how many are laminated.

The older ones (pre 1900) that I etched were laminated, but not particularly bold patterns, sometimes best seen on the spine of the blade. As you know, hardened edges are found on some of the old dha.

First half of the 20th C dha I have seen very few examples of monosteel among those I have etched--perhaps 5-10%--but that is an educated guess and not based on a sample of any great number because I have not looked specifically for lamination on many of them.

I have most of my dha collection packed away at the moment because we are moving house in the next few months, so can't really be any more specific.

I did etch a number of recently made dha (made in the last 40 years) about 10 years ago and found them all to be unlaminated, but those were all of low quality blades and obviously made for the tourist trade/returning servicemen/etc.

Ian.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Ian

Spiral:

I have not etched all of my dha, and many more that I have handled have not been etched either, so it's really hard to say how many are laminated.

The older ones (pre 1900) that I etched were laminated, but not particularly bold patterns, sometimes best seen on the spine of the blade. As you know, hardened edges are found on some of the old dha.

First half of the 20th C dha I have seen very few examples of monosteel among those I have etched--perhaps 5-10%--but that is an educated guess and not based on a sample of any great number because I have not looked specifically for lamination on many of them.

I have most of my dha collection packed away at the moment because we are moving house in the next few months, so can't really be any more specific.

I did etch a number of recently made dha (made in the last 40 years) about 10 years ago and found them all to be unlaminated, but those were all of low quality blades and obviously made for the tourist trade/returning servicemen/etc.

Ian.

Thanks Ian, I ve had very similar experiences with kukri.

By WW2 most mono steel, before & early WW1 mostly shear or blister or laminated in some way.

Some very high quality mono steel kukris in the 1920s though.

spiral

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by spiral

It seems the national archives have many records of Brades etc. apparently.

The 1878 & 1951 catalogue do not included the so called Kachin dha or dah.

In your experience Ian what percentage of pre.1950 dha are monosteel or shear steel, compared to the laminated & hairpin patterns?

spiral

Spiral, the Kachin "sword-dao" with the flared pommel and flared, flat tips are often laminated steel.

Of the swords we collectively refer to as "dah", "dha", or "daab", I have only seen a handful with obvious laminate construction prior to etching. One such is pictured below, with the Burmese date of 1242 Chulasakarat (1880 C.E.) inlaid at the forte in gold (previously believed to be brass). The blade is extremely thin, for this type of weapon, light, flexible and razor-sharp. One of the finest Continental SEA sword blades I have ever seen. It also appears in an early W.D. Oldman catalog.

Many (even most) have differentially-hardened edges. Some have inserted edges similar to Chinese san-mei, and I have one very fine example that exhibits a crystalline structure when etched/polished I would like to believe is crucible-steel (but more likely shear ).

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Andrew

Spiral, the Kachin "sword-dao" with the flared pommel and flared, flat tips are often laminated steel.

Of the swords we collectively refer to as "dah", "dha", or "daab", I have only seen a handful with obvious laminate construction prior to etching. One such is pictured below, with the Burmese date of 1242 Chulasakarat (1880 C.E.) inlaid at the forte in gold (previously believed to be brass). The blade is extremely thin, for this type of weapon, light, flexible and razor-sharp. One of the finest Continental SEA sword blades I have ever seen. It also appears in an early W.D. Oldman catalog.

Many (even most) have differentially-hardened edges. Some have inserted edges similar to Chinese san-mei, and I have one very fine example that exhibits a crystalline structure when etched/polished I would like to believe is crucible-steel (but more likely shear ).

Fascinating Andrew, I do love the Kachin double hairpin ones, I think there amazing!

Sadley never had one, seen 2 in small UK auctions in the last 14 years, but one was before the kukris , so I couldn't bid high enough & the other time it was after the kukris & Id spent my money.

Looking back I should have got the Dha... The kukri were good , but A dha like that is special I think.

Sounds like you love that 1242 Chulasakarat dha, for a senior person then if thin light & razor sharp! {Not to mention a gold inlay.} No utility work for that one!


Have you any links or good pics of the one with crystalline structure to share?

It would be fascinating to see.

spiral

[Andrew]

Jonathan, the blade on that dated dha is really special. The fittings are pedestrian, and the scabbard that appeared with it in the Oldman catalog is long-gone, but doesn't look particularly fancy or highly decorated.

Perhaps a master swordsman? The body-guard of a wealthy individual? A professional dueler? Soldier? We are only limited by our imagination.

Parenthetically, I have not been able to find anything significant about that 1880 date in Burma. It was during the reign of Burma's last monarch, Thibaw, and five years prior to the third Anglo-Burmese war and Burma's annexation by Britain.

I have never been able to capture the "pattern" in the crystalline-structured dha, but haven't tried with a modern hi-res digital camera recently. I know you're familiar with the difficulty--tilting the blade 'just so' in certain lighting and the pattern becomes visible.

Best,
A

[spiral]

Interesting stuff Andrew, Great to have found it in Oldmans.

If you ever "catch" it in a photo it would be nice to see.

Spiral

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Ian

Spiral:

Apart from the Kachin dha, the other examples don't really resemble the indigenous forms very closely. The Burmese dha, for example, is a short curved chopper with a three part hilt that sort of resembles a Burmese dha hilt.

Ian.

Fascinatingly The "Burma dah" from the initial catalogue I posted interestingly looks very like the "Burma cleaver" posted by Andrew from the Oldman catalogue.

As Dha,Dah etc. means knife Id guess, It was a correct after all?

spiral

[Gavin Nugent]

Andrew, I can not bring to light any detail about your dated sword but there are others with the same blade types and markings known, also in basic dress....a reader here has shared one with me and other members...perhaps it will find its way to these pages when a new home has been found for it...

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by spiral

Fascinatingly The "Burma dah" from the initial catalogue I posted interestingly looks very like the "Burma cleaver" posted by Andrew from the Oldman catalogue.

As Dha,Dah etc. means knife Id guess, It was a correct after all?

spiral

Indeed Spiral, it is a known type throughout the region...I had a nice old one a while back and have seen many others in all styles and levels of quality...I think I listed mine as Thai but for all good intents and purposes it fits Burma too with its simple iron fittings...I have an even smaller example of kitchen size in silver and timber hilt dress, one that I traded back and Nathaniel was good enough to translate for me as it has text on the blade...dated 1910...