Couple history tips: 1, the ring pommel was designed to tie a rope around it and your wrist so you don’t loose your blade on horse back or cut your finger when thrusting. 2, the major enemy of the Han army was always the Xiongnu people, which are nomadic tribesmen from the north, since iron mines are lacking there and many raiders don’t have the money to afford armor, (many still use stone arrowheads) armor piercing isn’t really needed for most part. Nice video tho!
Using ring and rope to prevent slippery hands is always the thing I heard from Chinese weapon community, but I do question whether it was true. To me it really looks like an explanation people come up with later, trying to tie the Kongfu performance with military martial art together. I do think the cloth tied on the ring of Dadao (said to be a symbolic representation of this rope and ring thing) is for performance aesthetic purpose, and even if it's true, it doesn't solve the problem of risking injuring your finger when thrusting.
Jessie Guo The cloth on Dadao is for decoration and performance (and good luck) purposes, since it is a double handed weapon, it doesn’t make sense to tie it to one hand. In my opinion Kongfu performance could be compared with western dueling instead of military martial arts. I see your point tho, too many inaccurate movies blurs the true way of fighting.
kknews.cc/zh-hk/culture/r85k3x.html Check this out in Chinese, but lots pictures and details. also the cloth could be use as warning of danger. In Dao technique, stabbing is not easy to protect yourself, it may not be recommended at all.
Surface prep is everything when gluing anything together with any type of glue. Clean, but somewhat rough. Smooth is bad. Glue needs something to bond to. My guess is they didn't prep the brass fittings properly and that's why most of the glue is stuck to the fibers of the wood and not the brass. Clean off the old glue then hit the surfaces of both the wood and inside faces of the brass with 120 grit sandpaper to rough them up a bit (without ruining the fit) then clean with alcohol. The more edges for the glue to bond to, the better.
Actually that is not true. If surface prep and glue choice are right, it makes no difference if the surface is polished or rough. (source: adhesives seminary by the Fraunhofer Institute) Actually a rough surface can be worse if the glue is too thick. The really important part is that both surfaces are completely clean and you choose a glue that can adhere to both materials. I found that often the easiest way to get metal surfaces clean is to remove the old surface by grinding. Higher grit sandpaper works better and faster for metals. The problem in this case is that the fittings are brass. Brass is notoriously difficult to glue because very few glues will hold on to it securely. Also most copper alloys will oxidize quickly which is bad for adhesives. To glue brass you should use 2K glues like epoxy or PU and prepare the brass surface immediatly before glueing. Preparation is: general cleaning -> degreasing -> grinding -> degreasing and then gluing.
@@Landogarner83 bingo, at least where gluing wood is concerned (I've never glued metal myself). People often think you need a rough surface because there's more surface area for the glue to adhere to but you're really just creating small gaps that aren't as well joined. Clean and smooth with no more glue than needed to do the job is a lot better and you get joints that are stronger than the surrounding wood when you do it right.
With ebony and other oily tropical hardwoods, the natural oils can prevent glue from bonding, it's often recommended to clean the area to be glued with alcohol or another organic solvent, then wait just long enough for the solvent to evaporate before applying glue.
I'd love to see you test wavy flamberge/kris type blades... It'd be interesting to see how more surface area per length and the uneven wave of the edge affects cuts and thrusts
In regards to "armor penetration" abilities of this infantry sword, I'm reading a lot of assumptions from people who claim this Han infantry dao was designed to fight unarmored opponents. First, swords are very rarely meant to be used against armor anyways - even later era European swords are meant to avoid armor and attack unarmored parts of the soldier. You get much more armor penetrating abilities with ranged weapons and polearms than you do with a single handed sword. Second, the dao was a secondary/backup weapon and not the primary weapon to fight the Xiongnu. Crossbows, bows, and polearm weapons were all much more important than the dao in fighting the Xiongnu, and all of them had armor penetration potential. If you read about the major battles against the Xiongnu, the Han era writers talks about the importance of crossbows and polearms (eg. ji-halberds) and I haven't really read any accounts that mention the importance of the dao in these battles.
Crossb and pole arms have always dominated ancient battle field. They were the AK 47 and mortar. Swords and Dao were like pistol. They are always auxiliary weapons.
Considering that the armour of this era weren't like European or later styles in Chinese history, you could very well stab through the armour and penetrate it.
@@choiettech No, armor of this period included lamellar and scale made of iron, steel, bronze, and rawhide...which isn't that different from armor of later periods. Swords aren't going to stab through any of those types of small-plate armor. Swords even have a difficult time stabbing through chainmail, as Skallagrim's earlier videos show that the vast majority of sword stabs, even with swords with thin points, are stopped by chainmail. Swords are even often stopped by padded cloth or glued cloth armor (eg. gambeson and linothorax) too, so most swords in general perform pretty poorly against even lighter armors. Swords would be used against unarmored vulnerable parts of the body and not really used against armor.
@@Intranetusa th-cam.com/video/jz9bnH_YOxg/w-d-xo.html I'm pretty sure if spears can break through armour like this, it wouldn't be too impossible. Plus chainmail is different to lamellar armour. It would certainly protect you from cuts but a thrust would more powerful to penetrate the armour.
@@choiettech First, spears are very different from swords because spears are rigid (and thus better at penetration) while swords are more flexible. Skallagrim actually does armor tests with spears and swords against riveted chainmail where the rigid spear is effective at penetration but the swords do little to nothing: th-cam.com/video/ydjdBTV8ZbY/w-d-xo.html Second, chainmail and lamellar will both protect against any cuts from swords, but lamellar armor is far superior to chainmail in protection against stabbing. You can see this by watching Skallagrim and other videos on lamellar armor tests against arrows and crossbow bolts. Skallagrim's cheap lamellar armor stops a ~976lb draw weight, low powerstroke crossbow bolt, but these crossbow bolts penetrates deep into riveted chainmail armor with padding: th-cam.com/video/XMT6hjwY8NQ/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/O4sNcozOrkU/w-d-xo.html Finally, the link you provided is a low quality Chinese entertainment show that doesn't use historically accurate armor, weapons, etc. If you read the comments, I actually posted a comment on that video a few years ago about how bad the reproduction is. The armor they use is inaccurate leather (when it should be rawhide, bronze, iron, etc) and the people using the weapons seem to be acrobatics wushu practitioners (which is not for combat and is more of a performance art). There are other comments about how bad the show is and how clueless the people are sometimes.
The arsenal ledger he mentioned at 1:01 is a document written on wooden slips that records the number of various weapons stored in a Jun (an administrative division of the Han dynasty, its area is anywhere between a modern-day China's province and a city) level arsenal in 13 BCE. The full name of the ledger is 武库永始四年兵车器集簿, which translates to Weapons and Chariot Registry (of) Arsenal Warehouse (in) Year Yongshi 4 (13 BCE). Here are some of the weapons listed in the registry and their numbers: 537707 Crossbows, 11181 of which belongs to the royalty. 11458424 Arrows for Crossbows, 34265 of which belongs to the royalty. 77521 Bows. 1199316 Arrows for Bows. 142701 Leather Armours, 379 of which belongs to the royalty. 587299 Iron Lamellar Armours. 98226 Leather Helmets, 678 of which belongs to the royalty. 102551 Shields, 2650 of which belongs to the royalty. 615416 Various Forms of Spear and Lance. 99905 Jians, 24804 Daggers, 156135 Daos. 7174 Various Forms of Chariots.
This is basically the most primitive Chinese Dao you can get. At this stage, Dao was just separated from Jian (double-edged sword), and became a massive-produced side weapon for normal soldier s. So, its design was similar to Jian in many ways (straight, extremely light-weight and flexible).
This is primitive, but, perhaps just being biased towards straight swords here, but I sorta like this design better. What disadvantages does it have vis a vis later daos? Edit: It's a shame it doesn't have a guard. That's, like, the one thing it needs to be just as cool as the average straight-sword to me, precisely for the thrusting performance.
@098765 Craper Hmmm... True, that is a serious consideration, especially when dealing with more than one enemy at a time, and with the fact that people don't die nearly as fast as in Hollywood.
@@DarkwarriorJ Later Dao were more rigid and relative heavier, but still relative lighter than many medieval swords. Too much flexibility is a big problem for the cutting-predominant blade. The Infantry Dao is relatively good for cutting, since it's short. but the much longer Cavalry Han Dao is too flexible. In the video, Skallagrim couldn't get a very good cut because it‘s hard to line-up. But to be fair, I think it might have something to do with the steel LK Chen used: since the smelting technology wasn't so good back then, the blade might be more rigid than the modern reproduction Interestingly, staight blade didn't seemed to be a very big problem for ancient Chinese. Until Tang dynasty (618 to 907, around 400-700 years after Han dynasty), most of Dao were still straight blade, though the slighlty curved Dao gradually became prevalent in later period. As for the guard, some argue that it might have some sort of small stopper made by organic materials (such as the materials used for warpping the hilt) to prevent soldiers to cut their hands, not a guard, but at least served some purposes. I think that it's mainly because it was way easier to produce without a metal guard. the excavated Han Dao was basically just a piece of sharpened metal (us.v-cdn.net/5022456/uploads/editor/o6/uw3erawkn0vy.jpg). It was very easy to massive produce, an very important factor if you want to arm ten thousands of soldiers. And soldiers could make some customizations themselves to make them more usable.
I left the same comments in Scholagladiatoria's video as well, basically: The Han switched to the dao because it's more more efficient (easier to make, easier to train, easier to maintain) for a large infantry force. The infantry at the time was also awfully under-armored, making a slashing weapon viable. If you dig around, you'll find that the lowest of the Han infantry were not armored, and if a foot soldier was lucky, he would get a very modest chest piece that only covered the torso from below the shoulders (granted infantry were given shields).
@@Zander10102 cutting corners on equipping soldiers is as old as armies. Even cheap equipment begins to add up when you're talking about thousands of soldiers. Considering these were intended for low-status troops, there's not much purpose to spending more.
@@Zander10102 such was the case with a lot of ancient civilizations where the non-elite infantry were either unarmored or armored with the bare minimum. such units were commonly referred as "light infantry", although the term is not official. in most cases their main protection comes from a shield and some sort of head covering, either a skull cap or a legitimate helmet. even the Greeks and Romans had those, with the hoplite and legionary being more of elite/heavy infantry. even during the middle ages you have foot soldiers who can only afford a gambeson
This knife, ancient Chinese name: huan shou dao its ring object is used to wrap half a meter long square scarf, usually this scarf tied around the neck, when used with a scarf wrapped around the hand, so that the user's hand, with the handle of the knife fixed. That's why all huanshoudao sno.s a hand guard. With a scarf through the iron ring handle and weapon fixed, chopping time will not be caused by violent vibration caused by loose hands, this is an extremely simple method of profiteering, born in China's Spring and Autumn Period cruel siege war. My English is not good, I hope you don't care
@@peterm4675 I think he was trying to say that back in the days the common infantry practice is to tie a piece of fabric on the ring at the end of the handle and then wrap the rest of the fabric tightly around one's hand, this helps to properly affix the weapon to the user's hand (the blade truly becomes an extension of one's arm), thus a handguard was not required for thrusting attacks. From a manufacturing/logistics point of view, this approach saves precious metal and shortens the time required for swordsmiths to produce such weapons. From a usability aspect, this also prevents the user from losing his weapon in the heat of battle, especially when they are exhausted and lost the ability for fine motor control with their hands and fingers, having one's hand tightly tied to the weapon's handle can guarantee a certain degree of control even when their fingers are fatigued.
@@rotoruaboy @VIKI thank you both for your explanations. I have seen this technique before but never thought of it as a general practice. (to be fair I saw it in a movie called "The Grey" with Liam Neeson)
The mobilization of ancient China depends more on the tricks. This determines that the ordinary soldiers are not professional soldiers, they do not have sophisticated equipment, but the scale of the war is very large, often with the nomadic people for decades of tug-of-war, which means huge equipment consumption, so the birth of huanshoudao is the inevitable result of large-scale war in ancient China, winding fixed hands, so that the liberation of the other hand, so ordinary untrained people, relying on the combination of shields and huanshoudao can still be effective combat.
I've bought the infantry dao as my first sword recently and had a similar problem with the guard. I've only cut with it twice and its already come loose. When I messaged LK Chen about it he was very kind about it and suggested to add more glue to it. Still enjoy it just didnt expect it to get loose so quickly
These swords were manufactured for peasant conscripts. It was basically a long knife with no user considerations. Only families with wealth could afford swords with embellishments and a jeweled guard and scabbard. As per your instructions, we should all hold off from purchasing these two a mentioned in this review. Glad to see a new video post regardless! :)
I have bought a long Katana from them and couldn't be happier with the value I got for the money..The steel is excellent pattern welded steel, scabbard is beautiful and well done. Sharpness is cutting competition ready right out out the box. Details are mostly spot on. I could easily see that sword going for 1,000's from a custom maker. They offer it for under 500$ if I remember correctly.
LK Chen himself made a video talking about the overwhelming number of orders and issues caused by the pandemic so that might be the cause of the quality drop. You can find the video by looking up Reflections in times of a Pandemic on TH-cam by kkcheungus1it should be about 12 minutes long.
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
@@lkchensword2276 The swords are still garbage. Specially the "cavalry sword". There would hardly be anyone that could use such a flexible sword from a horseback in a good way. That flexibilty would make it close to impossible to make a clean cut from a moving horse. And the average foot soldier would have huge problems using the shorter sword well too, because it is to flexible and to unforgiving. You should make them both stiffer and not rip off people with the 2 "rubber" swords you make and sell now. Have pride in what you do and don't just focus on fast and easy money. I don't even understand why you sent something of such poor quality for a review.
@@The_Judge300 You should do more research before calling these swords garbage simply for being thin and somewhat flexible. These swords are thin because they are based off of historical examples, not because the maker is trying to save a few pennies by using less steel (which is extremely cheap nowadays). The Han Dao is almost the same price as their Han era jians ($40 difference), and their Han jians are excellent and have gotten great ratings from Skallagrim and Scholagladitoria's review videos. The fact that the swords are made of the more expensive process of being pattern welded high carbon spring-steel that allows them to be flexible yet retain its straightness under stress means they are not simply trying to make a quick buck. If the maker was really trying to make an easy buck, they would have made these swords out of thick mild steel like mall ninja swords, and they would just bend and stay bent without springing back to true. Maybe the maker got the carbon proportion incorrect and the blades really should have had higher levels of carbon (which would make them stiffer and less flexible), but that's not a quality issue and more of a historical interpretation issue.
I once had a nightmare about ridiculously flexible blade. It was a jian sword, and I was supposed to be fighting with it, but it started flexing like it was made of paper. It just didn't hold still or stiff at all. It reminded me of those Indian blades that are more like whips. It still made some cuts, but was difficult to use. Well it was only a dream, but a really weird one... That long Dao in that slow motion reminded me of that.
There are flexible Jian that cut extremely well though. Idk if this is on the Western internet, but there’s a sword called the Tangxi Treasure Jian, it is one of the 8 great mythical swords of China. The way to make it was lost, but since there are some records about it, this one Chinese sword hobbyist spent half a century (literally 50 years) trying to recreate that specific sword, and he succeeded in making a sword that fit all of the descriptions/requirements. It can slit through a metal stick, cut through bamboo, stab cleanly through a metal drum, and cut a stack of coins in half. All the while, it is extremely flexible, able to bend 50 degrees. However, just because it is flexible doesn’t mean that it flops around. It is still a proper sword.
I'd like to commend you on the skill inherent in detecting the slip of your hand on that thrust, and having the reaction speed to unclench your fingers and avoid cutting yourself. I'm not any kind of swordsman, but to me that seems like something that would be very difficult to pull off instead of instinctively doubling down and trying to tighten your grip. Excellent video, as always!
I feel like the Heavenly Horse Dao would greatly benefit from harder steel and different heat treatment to get the proper hardness to be usable. If one was not bound by the limitations of replicating the original, I would simply suggest widening the blade by a centimetre or so and reprofiling the distal taper so as to make it more rigid while also enhacing its cutting potential.
Do we know of any cases of people tying strings from the ring on the bottom to the index finger (kind of like a bow sling) in order to prevent slippage and give more leverage?
Just recieved my own infantry dao! Can confirm they've upped most of the things Skall pointed out here. From a first impressions standpoint, the only things I see are some minor gapping in the brass fitting on the tip of the scabbard and a noticeable glue residue around some of the fittings,.which shows they've added more glue lol. But the belt attachment is now attached using cord as well as glue and it seems super secure! And the handle is a bit more polished! Only actual complaint is the belt attachment is too small for any of my belts!
For thrusts you can palm the pommel to drive in the thrust and use it as the primary force for the thrust instead of using just hand grip, which protects your hands from slipping and just grip to guide and swing the sword.
I brought his phoenix jian a few yeards ago, the scabbard have the same issue, I heard it's fixed now. I hope he would improve the crafts on these dao.
@@hanliu3707 Sorry to confirm... nope, not for me. My phoenix is actually shocking in bad quality. Truth is it's "hit or miss" at that relatively cheap price range.
crawlFace Wow I wish they would establish at least a waiting period like Albion Swords or Lockwood Swords.... also maybe require a deposit. At least some form of quality control otherwise it just goes downhill pretty fast. You might want to try emailing them back and see if they can send you a replacement depending how banged up yours is... they did that with A few other people who got messed up swords.
I'm sure im not the only one who would like to see these properly sharpened for testing, Even though they have a good profile manufacturers seem to air on the side of caution when it comes to sharpness, These light nimble swords live and die by the sharpness of the blade, Would be excellent to see a test with the blade sharpened to terrifying level.
I picked up the Tang dao I ordered last night. Personally I prefer the Tang dao design. (Actually despite being called the “Tang” dao this particular form of Chinese sword first emerged in the 5th century CE during the Northern Wei Dynasty) Historically speaking the Tang dao is based on and derived from the Han infantry and cavalry dao design, with a blade length that is intermediate between the two and hence a more general-purpose sword weapon that can be used both on foot and on horseback. The Tang dao has 2 design and 1 material improvements compared with the Han dao. It has a hand guard which makes it more useful as a thrusting weapon. It also has a longer sword hilt but is still relatively light so potentially can be used either one-handed or two-handed. When people make replica Han Dynasty swords today, generally the same quality of steel is used, but historically Han swords had a lower carbon content than Tang swords and the quality of the blade was not as advanced. So the Tang dao basically has all the advantages of the Han infantry/cavalry dao as well as the Han jian but virtually none of their drawbacks. The Tang dao is a very versatile general-purpose sword weapon, it is effective at both slashing and thrusting, it can be used either one-handed or two-handed, and it can be wielded both on foot and on horseback. It is an improvement upon the basic Han sword design. One could even argue that ancient Chinese sword design never really surpassed the Tang dao.
Ok just an update: since making the last comment here I have learned more into this topic. While it is certainly true that the dao was generally more effective on the battlefield and the Tang dao was an upgraded version of the Han dao, the Han jian (double-edged sword) remains very important in Chinese culture for ceremonial purposes and martial arts. In fact, the Chinese People's Liberation Army today still uses Han jian for certain formal ceremonial settings. Most Chinese martial artists, historians, hobbyists and collectors would agree that both the Han jian and the Tang dao are the two most prominent and famous hand weapon designs from ancient China. This is partly why after getting the Tang dao from the Swords of Northshire, I have also ordered a Han jian from LK Chen to add to my Chinese swords collection.
The main drawback of the Tang dao compared to the Han one that I can think of is weight. Tang dao have a normal weight compared to other swords of their size, whilst Han dao are wtf levels of minimalist and light at a glance. The Tang dao generally looks like the perfect kind of dao to replace the jian, whilst the Han infantry Dao looks like a 'I want my sidearm to be as encumbering as a glock even though I could be carrying a SMG' type of weapon xD
I just saw Scholagladiatoria's reviews of the same swords. He had no problems with bits falling off and his scabbards were solid. His only real beef was thinking the brass bits were too square and sharp to be user-friendly but after some cutting tests he said that was not a real problem. I'm thinking the whole "current world situation" is impacting quality control- some will be fine, others not so much, and you got some of the "not so much" ones
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
For thrusts you could tie a hand loop to the ring and hold the loop between the thumb and the index finger and grip it along the hilt. If that description makes sense to you.
The old saying is Han Jian-Tang Dao. The pinnacle of this type of Dao was reached in the 6/7th century. Here's hoping LK Chen will start do Tang Dynasty weapons as well.
Ni hao Skallagrim 😁 Is it possible that with all of the interest in their products lately that they are just speeding up production to the point where it has outrun their quality control? I certainly hope not. I was seriously considering getting one of their jians. Seriously , you will be wearing hanfu in your next video😁
It's strange because Matt Easton had zero issues with the blades he was sent by LK Chen. Seriously, everything was tight and Matt even chopped some fairly thick branches with his. Skal definitely got sent a bad batch. Even Matt's White Arc remained absolutely fine after chopping thick branches And now YT comments are being vile as per usual and talking all kinds of shit about the country of origin and its peoples
I haven't seen any of the comments you're referring to, but in regards to the varying quality between these and the swords Matt Easton reviewed, it's worth noting that Skal has also reviewed other LK Chen products with no issues. The problems may be specific to the particular blade design or he may have gotten a bad batch, but it definitely can't be completely dismissed.
@@kylestanley7843 It makes a certain amount of sense though. As a mass produced and mass issued weapon I would expect a few flaws you know. After all when you're arming hundreds of thousands of illiterate peasants who have only received the most basic of training quality in manufacturing is bound to take a dip. So really a bit of historical accuracy really. Besides it's nothing a bit of smoothing down and proper glue can't fix.
Hey, Skall, that's some really cool stuff. I was wondering if you would look into possibly reviewing some Eastern European swords? Maybe a shashka? If not, that's alright too. Love your content, been here since forever.
The flexibility of the LK Chen blades has me rather intrigued as to how the traditional alloys differed and whether they might be stiffer (if less springy)
Hey Skall, maybe you can chat with Swordsage about the flexibility of the cavalry sword? It seems strange that something mass-produced for field use would be that flimsy (esp when such equipment would typically be made more robust to stand up to abuse and lower need for maintenance). Matt Easton was reviewing this and he mentioned the overlap in time period with thrust-centric swords, so it's not like the historical folk didn't know about the value of a stiff blade. There might be some obscure way they use it that makes a flexible blade desirable.
This is used for Han xiongnu battle during Han Dynasty. They switch to huang shou dao. Because Xiong nu doesn’t wear strong armor, so this usually were used for cutting cloth and animal skin armor. They should have some small guards. But this design is used for cutting not exactly thrusting. Because Xiong nu didn’t have much defense, they really just want to hit them with big movements. Also because it’s a mass produced weapon. It probably didn’t develop bigger guard because they want to mass produce. Also I don’t think the one used in Han Dynasty were nearly as flexible as these two blade. So they shouldn’t have an overly flexible problem. I don’t think these two swords are historically correct. Due to the fact they are extremely flexible.
Should be possible to fix. A better glue up with a bit of roughening on the inside of the bolster should do. Use a center punch to dimple the bolster a few times will help it hold to the wood. If you're not worried about historical accuracy then a bit of brass plate, or even rod, brazed to the bolster should work has a guard.
Couldn't you make a ring pommel during forging by keeping some extra material at the end of the tang and splitting it down the middle and forming it into a ring? I think you might end up with a really solid construction that way. Pommels can come lose after much use and many years after all. But a ring pommel formed out of the tang itself should theoretically stay in the same spot forever.
This is basically the most primitive Chinese Dao and the most authentic one. The anachronistic ones we often seen in movies such as Ox Tail sword（牛尾刀）and big sword（大刀） were actually used by the law enforcement officer from the late Qing/early Republican era and the Nationalist troops during WW2.
Back, back in the day... The crucible steel they were making in S and SE Asia must have been superb for these slick blades. Superplacticity at its finest.
next time you have a bad day..watch some samuria cut kubuki....never forget there is a zen..this is why waaaaayy back in the day i was little upset you didn't like katanas...you've sure come along way since then...and got me into chinese blades and well all sort of blades you've really peaked my interest in your videos....hey use the right tool for the right job...no country for old men...when i stab without a hand guard i'd put my off hand on the hilt and push..even just a hard tap ...but i wouldn't play with that.skill the comments below have more understanding of the weapon than me
As an infantry soldier, you would mosr likely be issued a polearm as well as a sword. In a large battle the polearm obviously takes priority over the sword,so the sword has to be quite light since it will spend hours unused
The proper way to hold the sword is hold on the end parts and put the little finger into the ring. That you don't need the guard to counter the resistance. Is light enought to swing on the horse back. Use the bow and leave the blade hang on your hand. Use both hand to grab on handle if need.
As a means to keep your hand from sliding up onto the blade, have you considered putting your pinky in the ring? Yes I know some later models had the ring filled in with some ornamentation but it seems the most expedient solution to me.
I´ve went over some of your older videos, and I must say your beard got a lot better looking. Do you take better care of it or does the density improve with age? Looks more dense, and it has a better shape. 10/10 Beard points for you sir.
More European weapons please.Medieval ,Renaissance or even Victorian but most people came here for European swords and armour and i'm sure the vast majority of them are still to be presented and tested by your channel.I would very much like to see budget weapons that are new to the market,like Cold Steel's Competition cutting sword...
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
Excellent review as always. While historically accurate, I am surprised they went with such early dao designs. Simply put, why reproduce, especially from such a premium company, something that was, honestly, munitions grade during it's day? Now, if they had gone with later Oxtail or Willowleaf styles, those have a lot more room for both being historically accurate and high quality. But in the Han period... a tall order. What a paradox, when one wants to make a high quality reproduction of something that wasn't high quality...
Not as easy, these aren't guards they are just caps going over the brip. With no shoulder at the base of the blade you can only really glue your guard and it's going to be a pain to make a guard that fits over the grip (because you can't glue to the blade). That looks like an aweful lot of work to give these a proper hand protection. Best thing he can do is grind the tang to make some small shoulders like on japanese blades, but that might just make the handle even worst
Just a quick thought. For thrusting how comfortable would it be to wrap one or two fingers around or through the ring pommel to stop the hand from sliding up? It seems like an odd idea and I can't say I am aware of it being used on Chinese swords, still there is the fact that rings are are often used on European swords for fingers and in the case of the karambit. I have no idea if that the intended purpose still I was wondering if it might help as opposed to death gripping the weapon. I am of course refering to the pinkie and ring finger obviously not some weird and stupid reverse grip.
I agree If you look at the historical oringinals There are always some room left, size of a finger, even if the ring is heavily decorated So i believe its is plausible that the soldiers combined the cloth tying method and this method to prevent it from slipping
I have the infantry dao and quite like it. It doesn't seem to have the quality issues that Skall's has. The grip wrap end isn't loose, the brass bolster seems to be on tight, though I haven't hit anything harder than water bottles, and the scabbard is still in good shape. Disappointing to see the inconsistency of quality, especially since I've been eyeing more of their swords.
Hey Skallagrim, been a fan of the channel for a long time, love your work. Was wondering, could you do a fight scene analization for some of the scenes in the two Zorro movies, especially the first one?
If I had to guess, swords were used on horse back in raid formation, when you don't want to get your spear stuck and don't have room to swing a glaive around.
I would imagine that exploiting the ring for some leveraging lanyard would help pull the blade forward when thrusting, as well as keep fingers away form the edge
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
The loose brass fitting isn't a flaw, it's a feature! With the right motion, it becomes a projectile in a sort of modified "end him rightly"!
A front pommel? Tell me more.
I am rolling on the floor. This joke ages really well
That would make the weapon the most OP of them all. The actual back pommel is lacking, but that can be fixed.
Looks like the chinese invented the prototype of ending someone rightly
End him rightry.
Couple history tips: 1, the ring pommel was designed to tie a rope around it and your wrist so you don’t loose your blade on horse back or cut your finger when thrusting. 2, the major enemy of the Han army was always the Xiongnu people, which are nomadic tribesmen from the north, since iron mines are lacking there and many raiders don’t have the money to afford armor, (many still use stone arrowheads) armor piercing isn’t really needed for most part. Nice video tho!
The rope with the ring is an interesting way of preventing thrusts from hurting the user. Cheaper too.
Using ring and rope to prevent slippery hands is always the thing I heard from Chinese weapon community, but I do question whether it was true. To me it really looks like an explanation people come up with later, trying to tie the Kongfu performance with military martial art together. I do think the cloth tied on the ring of Dadao (said to be a symbolic representation of this rope and ring thing) is for performance aesthetic purpose, and even if it's true, it doesn't solve the problem of risking injuring your finger when thrusting.
Jessie Guo The cloth on Dadao is for decoration and performance (and good luck) purposes, since it is a double handed weapon, it doesn’t make sense to tie it to one hand. In my opinion Kongfu performance could be compared with western dueling instead of military martial arts. I see your point tho, too many inaccurate movies blurs the true way of fighting.
@@jiamingzhang147 Oh I see! That makes so much sense now.
kknews.cc/zh-hk/culture/r85k3x.html Check this out in Chinese, but lots pictures and details. also the cloth could be use as warning of danger. In Dao technique, stabbing is not easy to protect yourself, it may not be recommended at all.
Surface prep is everything when gluing anything together with any type of glue. Clean, but somewhat rough. Smooth is bad. Glue needs something to bond to. My guess is they didn't prep the brass fittings properly and that's why most of the glue is stuck to the fibers of the wood and not the brass. Clean off the old glue then hit the surfaces of both the wood and inside faces of the brass with 120 grit sandpaper to rough them up a bit (without ruining the fit) then clean with alcohol. The more edges for the glue to bond to, the better.
Actually that is not true.
If surface prep and glue choice are right, it makes no difference if the surface is polished or rough. (source: adhesives seminary by the Fraunhofer Institute)
Actually a rough surface can be worse if the glue is too thick.
The really important part is that both surfaces are completely clean and you choose a glue that can adhere to both materials.
I found that often the easiest way to get metal surfaces clean is to remove the old surface by grinding. Higher grit sandpaper works better and faster for metals.
The problem in this case is that the fittings are brass.
Brass is notoriously difficult to glue because very few glues will hold on to it securely.
Also most copper alloys will oxidize quickly which is bad for adhesives.
To glue brass you should use 2K glues like epoxy or PU and prepare the brass surface immediatly before glueing.
Preparation is: general cleaning -> degreasing -> grinding -> degreasing and then gluing.
@@Landogarner83 bingo, at least where gluing wood is concerned (I've never glued metal myself). People often think you need a rough surface because there's more surface area for the glue to adhere to but you're really just creating small gaps that aren't as well joined. Clean and smooth with no more glue than needed to do the job is a lot better and you get joints that are stronger than the surrounding wood when you do it right.
i thought its kinda the same when you put locktide on screw. Clean the screw first with something like acetone or ethyl
With ebony and other oily tropical hardwoods, the natural oils can prevent glue from bonding, it's often recommended to clean the area to be glued with alcohol or another organic solvent, then wait just long enough for the solvent to evaporate before applying glue.
Aladine might also help. Get that surface chemically activated
I'd love to see you test wavy flamberge/kris type blades... It'd be interesting to see how more surface area per length and the uneven wave of the edge affects cuts and thrusts
He has an old video testing a kris but that was years ago. Agree, would love to see him make another or similar video.
In regards to "armor penetration" abilities of this infantry sword, I'm reading a lot of assumptions from people who claim this Han infantry dao was designed to fight unarmored opponents. First, swords are very rarely meant to be used against armor anyways - even later era European swords are meant to avoid armor and attack unarmored parts of the soldier. You get much more armor penetrating abilities with ranged weapons and polearms than you do with a single handed sword.
Second, the dao was a secondary/backup weapon and not the primary weapon to fight the Xiongnu. Crossbows, bows, and polearm weapons were all much more important than the dao in fighting the Xiongnu, and all of them had armor penetration potential. If you read about the major battles against the Xiongnu, the Han era writers talks about the importance of crossbows and polearms (eg. ji-halberds) and I haven't really read any accounts that mention the importance of the dao in these battles.
Crossb and pole arms have always dominated ancient battle field. They were the AK 47 and mortar. Swords and Dao were like pistol. They are always auxiliary weapons.
Considering that the armour of this era weren't like European or later styles in Chinese history, you could very well stab through the armour and penetrate it.
@@choiettech No, armor of this period included lamellar and scale made of iron, steel, bronze, and rawhide...which isn't that different from armor of later periods. Swords aren't going to stab through any of those types of small-plate armor. Swords even have a difficult time stabbing through chainmail, as Skallagrim's earlier videos show that the vast majority of sword stabs, even with swords with thin points, are stopped by chainmail. Swords are even often stopped by padded cloth or glued cloth armor (eg. gambeson and linothorax) too, so most swords in general perform pretty poorly against even lighter armors. Swords would be used against unarmored vulnerable parts of the body and not really used against armor.
@@Intranetusa th-cam.com/video/jz9bnH_YOxg/w-d-xo.html I'm pretty sure if spears can break through armour like this, it wouldn't be too impossible. Plus chainmail is different to lamellar armour. It would certainly protect you from cuts but a thrust would more powerful to penetrate the armour.
@@choiettech First, spears are very different from swords because spears are rigid (and thus better at penetration) while swords are more flexible. Skallagrim actually does armor tests with spears and swords against riveted chainmail where the rigid spear is effective at penetration but the swords do little to nothing: th-cam.com/video/ydjdBTV8ZbY/w-d-xo.html
Second, chainmail and lamellar will both protect against any cuts from swords, but lamellar armor is far superior to chainmail in protection against stabbing. You can see this by watching Skallagrim and other videos on lamellar armor tests against arrows and crossbow bolts. Skallagrim's cheap lamellar armor stops a ~976lb draw weight, low powerstroke crossbow bolt, but these crossbow bolts penetrates deep into riveted chainmail armor with padding:
th-cam.com/video/XMT6hjwY8NQ/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/O4sNcozOrkU/w-d-xo.html
Finally, the link you provided is a low quality Chinese entertainment show that doesn't use historically accurate armor, weapons, etc. If you read the comments, I actually posted a comment on that video a few years ago about how bad the reproduction is. The armor they use is inaccurate leather (when it should be rawhide, bronze, iron, etc) and the people using the weapons seem to be acrobatics wushu practitioners (which is not for combat and is more of a performance art). There are other comments about how bad the show is and how clueless the people are sometimes.
The arsenal ledger he mentioned at 1:01 is a document written on wooden slips that records the number of various weapons stored in a Jun (an administrative division of the Han dynasty, its area is anywhere between a modern-day China's province and a city) level arsenal in 13 BCE. The full name of the ledger is 武库永始四年兵车器集簿, which translates to Weapons and Chariot Registry (of) Arsenal Warehouse (in) Year Yongshi 4 (13 BCE). Here are some of the weapons listed in the registry and their numbers:
537707 Crossbows, 11181 of which belongs to the royalty.
11458424 Arrows for Crossbows, 34265 of which belongs to the royalty.
77521 Bows.
1199316 Arrows for Bows.
142701 Leather Armours, 379 of which belongs to the royalty.
587299 Iron Lamellar Armours.
98226 Leather Helmets, 678 of which belongs to the royalty.
102551 Shields, 2650 of which belongs to the royalty.
615416 Various Forms of Spear and Lance.
99905 Jians, 24804 Daggers, 156135 Daos.
7174 Various Forms of Chariots.
This is basically the most primitive Chinese Dao you can get. At this stage, Dao was just separated from
Jian (double-edged sword), and became a massive-produced side weapon for normal soldier
s. So, its design was similar to Jian in many ways (straight, extremely light-weight and flexible).
This is primitive, but, perhaps just being biased towards straight swords here, but I sorta like this design better. What disadvantages does it have vis a vis later daos?
Edit: It's a shame it doesn't have a guard. That's, like, the one thing it needs to be just as cool as the average straight-sword to me, precisely for the thrusting performance.
@098765 Craper the sword is not curved my friend
@098765 Craper Hmmm... True, that is a serious consideration, especially when dealing with more than one enemy at a time, and with the fact that people don't die nearly as fast as in Hollywood.
@098765 Craper Or his shield, or his armor, or a tree that got in the way xD
@@DarkwarriorJ Later Dao were more rigid and relative heavier, but still relative lighter than many medieval swords. Too much flexibility is a big problem for the cutting-predominant blade. The Infantry Dao is relatively good for cutting, since it's short. but the much longer Cavalry Han Dao is too flexible. In the video, Skallagrim
couldn't get a very good cut because it‘s hard to line-up. But to be fair, I think it might have something to do with the steel LK Chen used: since the smelting technology wasn't so good back then, the blade might be more rigid than the modern reproduction
Interestingly, staight blade didn't seemed to be a very big problem for ancient Chinese. Until Tang dynasty (618 to 907, around 400-700 years after Han dynasty), most of Dao were still straight blade, though the slighlty curved Dao gradually became prevalent in later period.
As for the guard, some argue that it might have some sort of small stopper made by organic materials (such as the materials used for warpping the hilt) to prevent soldiers to cut their hands, not a guard, but at least served some purposes. I think that it's mainly because it was way easier to produce without a metal guard. the excavated Han Dao was basically just a piece of sharpened metal (us.v-cdn.net/5022456/uploads/editor/o6/uw3erawkn0vy.jpg). It was very easy to massive produce, an very important factor if you want to arm ten thousands of soldiers. And soldiers could make some customizations themselves to make them more usable.
nice video. I might have to get one of those cavalry swords and try it out. It's a very different design that I'm used to.
I left the same comments in Scholagladiatoria's video as well, basically:
The Han switched to the dao because it's more more efficient (easier to make, easier to train, easier to maintain) for a large infantry force.
The infantry at the time was also awfully under-armored, making a slashing weapon viable. If you dig around, you'll find that the lowest of the Han infantry were not armored, and if a foot soldier was lucky, he would get a very modest chest piece that only covered the torso from below the shoulders (granted infantry were given shields).
That is the case in the early Han dynasty where average soldiers were lightly armoured, the crossbow and bow infantry were likely unarmored.
Were they really that hard up on resources that they couldn't afford to provide armor? Or was it a result of the military doctrine of the time?
"Tactical" isn't the word you want. "Logistically efficient" is where you want to go. Possibly even 'strategic.'
@@Zander10102 cutting corners on equipping soldiers is as old as armies. Even cheap equipment begins to add up when you're talking about thousands of soldiers. Considering these were intended for low-status troops, there's not much purpose to spending more.
@@Zander10102 such was the case with a lot of ancient civilizations where the non-elite infantry were either unarmored or armored with the bare minimum. such units were commonly referred as "light infantry", although the term is not official. in most cases their main protection comes from a shield and some sort of head covering, either a skull cap or a legitimate helmet. even the Greeks and Romans had those, with the hoplite and legionary being more of elite/heavy infantry.
even during the middle ages you have foot soldiers who can only afford a gambeson
This knife, ancient Chinese name: huan shou dao its ring object is used to wrap half a meter long square scarf, usually this scarf tied around the neck, when used with a scarf wrapped around the hand, so that the user's hand, with the handle of the knife fixed. That's why all huanshoudao sno.s a hand guard. With a scarf through the iron ring handle and weapon fixed, chopping time will not be caused by violent vibration caused by loose hands, this is an extremely simple method of profiteering, born in China's Spring and Autumn Period cruel siege war. My English is not good, I hope you don't care
could you write the explaination in Chinese?
@@peterm4675 I think he was trying to say that back in the days the common infantry practice is to tie a piece of fabric on the ring at the end of the handle and then wrap the rest of the fabric tightly around one's hand, this helps to properly affix the weapon to the user's hand (the blade truly becomes an extension of one's arm), thus a handguard was not required for thrusting attacks. From a manufacturing/logistics point of view, this approach saves precious metal and shortens the time required for swordsmiths to produce such weapons. From a usability aspect, this also prevents the user from losing his weapon in the heat of battle, especially when they are exhausted and lost the ability for fine motor control with their hands and fingers, having one's hand tightly tied to the weapon's handle can guarantee a certain degree of control even when their fingers are fatigued.
You are quite right.
@@rotoruaboy @VIKI thank you both for your explanations. I have seen this technique before but never thought of it as a general practice. (to be fair I saw it in a movie called "The Grey" with Liam Neeson)
The mobilization of ancient China depends more on the tricks. This determines that the ordinary soldiers are not professional soldiers, they do not have sophisticated equipment, but the scale of the war is very large, often with the nomadic people for decades of tug-of-war, which means huge equipment consumption, so the birth of huanshoudao is the inevitable result of large-scale war in ancient China, winding fixed hands, so that the liberation of the other hand, so ordinary untrained people, relying on the combination of shields and huanshoudao can still be effective combat.
I've bought the infantry dao as my first sword recently and had a similar problem with the guard. I've only cut with it twice and its already come loose. When I messaged LK Chen about it he was very kind about it and suggested to add more glue to it. Still enjoy it just didnt expect it to get loose so quickly
These swords were manufactured for peasant conscripts. It was basically a long knife with no user considerations. Only families with wealth could afford swords with embellishments and a jeweled guard and scabbard. As per your instructions, we should all hold off from purchasing these two a mentioned in this review. Glad to see a new video post regardless! :)
"I'll take about that later" face expression is so good xD
Thanks for the review, your testing has just shown why the dao got stiffer over time.
The dao needs some brass dowels to stop things falling off.
I have bought a long Katana from them and couldn't be happier with the value I got for the money..The steel is excellent pattern welded steel, scabbard is beautiful and well done. Sharpness is cutting competition ready right out out the box. Details are mostly spot on. I could easily see that sword going for 1,000's from a custom maker. They offer it for under 500$ if I remember correctly.
LK Chen himself made a video talking about the overwhelming number of orders and issues caused by the pandemic so that might be the cause of the quality drop. You can find the video by looking up Reflections in times of a Pandemic on TH-cam by
kkcheungus1it should be about 12 minutes long.
not really an excuse unless they drop the price...
yeah if quality is dropping that bad drop the price as well if your gettin sloppy on your work
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
@@lkchensword2276 The swords are still garbage. Specially the "cavalry sword".
There would hardly be anyone that could use such a flexible sword from a horseback in a good way.
That flexibilty would make it close to impossible to make a clean cut from a moving horse.
And the average foot soldier would have huge problems using the shorter sword well too, because it is to flexible and to unforgiving.
You should make them both stiffer and not rip off people with the 2 "rubber" swords you make and sell now.
Have pride in what you do and don't just focus on fast and easy money.
I don't even understand why you sent something of such poor quality for a review.
@@The_Judge300 You should do more research before calling these swords garbage simply for being thin and somewhat flexible. These swords are thin because they are based off of historical examples, not because the maker is trying to save a few pennies by using less steel (which is extremely cheap nowadays). The Han Dao is almost the same price as their Han era jians ($40 difference), and their Han jians are excellent and have gotten great ratings from Skallagrim and Scholagladitoria's review videos. The fact that the swords are made of the more expensive process of being pattern welded high carbon spring-steel that allows them to be flexible yet retain its straightness under stress means they are not simply trying to make a quick buck. If the maker was really trying to make an easy buck, they would have made these swords out of thick mild steel like mall ninja swords, and they would just bend and stay bent without springing back to true. Maybe the maker got the carbon proportion incorrect and the blades really should have had higher levels of carbon (which would make them stiffer and less flexible), but that's not a quality issue and more of a historical interpretation issue.
I always ask myself why isn't there a sword that looks this way or that way... Skallagrim shows me every time, that it actually existed.
I'm glad to see you doing so many different types of swords
I once had a nightmare about ridiculously flexible blade. It was a jian sword, and I was supposed to be fighting with it, but it started flexing like it was made of paper. It just didn't hold still or stiff at all. It reminded me of those Indian blades that are more like whips. It still made some cuts, but was difficult to use. Well it was only a dream, but a really weird one... That long Dao in that slow motion reminded me of that.
There are flexible Jian that cut extremely well though.
Idk if this is on the Western internet, but there’s a sword called the Tangxi Treasure Jian, it is one of the 8 great mythical swords of China.
The way to make it was lost, but since there are some records about it, this one Chinese sword hobbyist spent half a century (literally 50 years) trying to recreate that specific sword, and he succeeded in making a sword that fit all of the descriptions/requirements.
It can slit through a metal stick, cut through bamboo, stab cleanly through a metal drum, and cut a stack of coins in half.
All the while, it is extremely flexible, able to bend 50 degrees.
However, just because it is flexible doesn’t mean that it flops around. It is still a proper sword.
Mmm nothing better than waking up and drinking coffee to Skal talk about... Well, anything.
The insight you offer is amazing, sir. Very appreciated.
I'd like to commend you on the skill inherent in detecting the slip of your hand on that thrust, and having the reaction speed to unclench your fingers and avoid cutting yourself. I'm not any kind of swordsman, but to me that seems like something that would be very difficult to pull off instead of instinctively doubling down and trying to tighten your grip.
Excellent video, as always!
Perticulary good video, it feels like youve gotten better at constructing the video, the format is perfect. I enjoyed it greatly, keep it up!!
I feel like the Heavenly Horse Dao would greatly benefit from harder steel and different heat treatment to get the proper hardness to be usable. If one was not bound by the limitations of replicating the original, I would simply suggest widening the blade by a centimetre or so and reprofiling the distal taper so as to make it more rigid while also enhacing its cutting potential.
You wearing your knitted helm was adorable.
Do we know of any cases of people tying strings from the ring on the bottom to the index finger (kind of like a bow sling) in order to prevent slippage and give more leverage?
I don't know, but that's an interesting idea.
My name is Han Dao, and I'm the fastest sword in the world.
汉道？😂
this is 环首刀（ huan shou dao 。and（han jian）is wrong name ，That sword in history is called “jian” （剑）mean sword，no special name
After the rapier of course 😂👌
Rin best girl
@@Aldersees75 simp
Just recieved my own infantry dao! Can confirm they've upped most of the things Skall pointed out here. From a first impressions standpoint, the only things I see are some minor gapping in the brass fitting on the tip of the scabbard and a noticeable glue residue around some of the fittings,.which shows they've added more glue lol. But the belt attachment is now attached using cord as well as glue and it seems super secure! And the handle is a bit more polished! Only actual complaint is the belt attachment is too small for any of my belts!
For thrusts you can palm the pommel to drive in the thrust and use it as the primary force for the thrust instead of using just hand grip, which protects your hands from slipping and just grip to guide and swing the sword.
LK Chen must be crammed with order, the details are drastically different from their older swords
I brought his phoenix jian a few yeards ago, the scabbard have the same issue, I heard it's fixed now. I hope he would improve the crafts on these dao.
@@hanliu3707
Sorry to confirm... nope, not for me. My phoenix is actually shocking in bad quality. Truth is it's "hit or miss" at that relatively cheap price range.
crawlFace Did you get the updated version?
@@Wingzero90939
My Phoenix came a couple if weeks ago :(
I was pretty heart broken over it.
crawlFace Wow I wish they would establish at least a waiting period like Albion Swords or Lockwood Swords.... also maybe require a deposit. At least some form of quality control otherwise it just goes downhill pretty fast. You might want to try emailing them back and see if they can send you a replacement depending how banged up yours is... they did that with A few other people who got messed up swords.
8:01 I want that hat! 10 year old me is jumping up and down chanting "Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?"
Looks like a bicycle helmet...
Your arguments for a quick mass production of swords all fit too for the Katana, specially because it didn’t even have a ring pummel at the end.;)
I'm sure im not the only one who would like to see these properly sharpened for testing,
Even though they have a good profile manufacturers seem to air on the side of caution when it comes to sharpness,
These light nimble swords live and die by the sharpness of the blade,
Would be excellent to see a test with the blade sharpened to terrifying level.
Sick choices! Have a great day, Skall!!
I picked up the Tang dao I ordered last night. Personally I prefer the Tang dao design. (Actually despite being called the “Tang” dao this particular form of Chinese sword first emerged in the 5th century CE during the Northern Wei Dynasty)
Historically speaking the Tang dao is based on and derived from the Han infantry and cavalry dao design, with a blade length that is intermediate between the two and hence a more general-purpose sword weapon that can be used both on foot and on horseback.
The Tang dao has 2 design and 1 material improvements compared with the Han dao. It has a hand guard which makes it more useful as a thrusting weapon. It also has a longer sword hilt but is still relatively light so potentially can be used either one-handed or two-handed. When people make replica Han Dynasty swords today, generally the same quality of steel is used, but historically Han swords had a lower carbon content than Tang swords and the quality of the blade was not as advanced.
So the Tang dao basically has all the advantages of the Han infantry/cavalry dao as well as the Han jian but virtually none of their drawbacks. The Tang dao is a very versatile general-purpose sword weapon, it is effective at both slashing and thrusting, it can be used either one-handed or two-handed, and it can be wielded both on foot and on horseback. It is an improvement upon the basic Han sword design. One could even argue that ancient Chinese sword design never really surpassed the Tang dao.
Ok just an update: since making the last comment here I have learned more into this topic. While it is certainly true that the dao was generally more effective on the battlefield and the Tang dao was an upgraded version of the Han dao, the Han jian (double-edged sword) remains very important in Chinese culture for ceremonial purposes and martial arts. In fact, the Chinese People's Liberation Army today still uses Han jian for certain formal ceremonial settings. Most Chinese martial artists, historians, hobbyists and collectors would agree that both the Han jian and the Tang dao are the two most prominent and famous hand weapon designs from ancient China. This is partly why after getting the Tang dao from the Swords of Northshire, I have also ordered a Han jian from LK Chen to add to my Chinese swords collection.
The main drawback of the Tang dao compared to the Han one that I can think of is weight. Tang dao have a normal weight compared to other swords of their size, whilst Han dao are wtf levels of minimalist and light at a glance. The Tang dao generally looks like the perfect kind of dao to replace the jian, whilst the Han infantry Dao looks like a 'I want my sidearm to be as encumbering as a glock even though I could be carrying a SMG' type of weapon xD
To prevent the hand sliping on to the blade, perhaps thay used a cloth loop from the ring pumel to go around the wrist.
Man! I musta been early! Catching a Skallagrim review only 23 minutes after he posted it.
I just saw Scholagladiatoria's reviews of the same swords.
He had no problems with bits falling off and his scabbards were solid. His only real beef was thinking the brass bits were too square and sharp to be user-friendly but after some cutting tests he said that was not a real problem.
I'm thinking the whole "current world situation" is impacting quality control- some will be fine, others not so much, and you got some of the "not so much" ones
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
Left a like for a not “it’s awesome” review of anything!
You should do a review of the “Chinese Han Dynasty Folded Steel Jian” from kultofathena. I want to see the test cuts and quality of blade.
For thrusts you could tie a hand loop to the ring and hold the loop between the thumb and the index finger and grip it along the hilt. If that description makes sense to you.
The old saying is Han Jian-Tang Dao. The pinnacle of this type of Dao was reached in the 6/7th century. Here's hoping LK Chen will start do Tang Dynasty weapons as well.
Ni hao Skallagrim 😁
Is it possible that with all of the interest in their products lately that they are just speeding up production to the point where it has outrun their quality control?
I certainly hope not. I was seriously considering getting one of their jians.
Seriously , you will be wearing hanfu in your next video😁
Great Review as always. Good job!
I just received the new versions and everything seems much better. I'll give an update after I get some cutting time with them
Right up there with the Uruk-Hai mass-produced cannon-fodder blades, when it comes to equipping the masses.
Never really thought about Chinese swords but I love the simplicity! I think my first real sword might be a Chinese style
It's strange because Matt Easton had zero issues with the blades he was sent by LK Chen. Seriously, everything was tight and Matt even chopped some fairly thick branches with his. Skal definitely got sent a bad batch. Even Matt's White Arc remained absolutely fine after chopping thick branches
And now YT comments are being vile as per usual and talking all kinds of shit about the country of origin and its peoples
I've yet to see any such bigotry.
@@kylestanley7843 Just read through some of the comments.
I haven't seen any of the comments you're referring to, but in regards to the varying quality between these and the swords Matt Easton reviewed, it's worth noting that Skal has also reviewed other LK Chen products with no issues. The problems may be specific to the particular blade design or he may have gotten a bad batch, but it definitely can't be completely dismissed.
@@xPumaFangx WOAH there buddy. "China" and "cheap" are not always synonymous.
@@kylestanley7843 It makes a certain amount of sense though. As a mass produced and mass issued weapon I would expect a few flaws you know.
After all when you're arming hundreds of thousands of illiterate peasants who have only received the most basic of training quality in manufacturing is bound to take a dip.
So really a bit of historical accuracy really. Besides it's nothing a bit of smoothing down and proper glue can't fix.
Just looking at those makes me scared of thrusting into something. Looks really dangerous for your fingers.
Edit:YIKES. Yup...
Mr. Skall make a Video about the Razmafzar Team and have interviews with them.
still loving my lk chen white arc
Just an opinion on my part; No guard and a ring pommel, attach a braided cord to wrap around my hand to keep said hand from sliding.
Thanks for the information
Looks like they perform very well. Sucks about the pieces falling off.
Seems to be machete like in its preformance. Tie a lynard on the ring to keep your hand from sliding up and it could be a great bush wacker
Hey, Skall, that's some really cool stuff. I was wondering if you would look into possibly reviewing some Eastern European swords? Maybe a shashka? If not, that's alright too. Love your content, been here since forever.
The flexibility of the LK Chen blades has me rather intrigued as to how the traditional alloys differed and whether they might be stiffer (if less springy)
Hey Skall, maybe you can chat with Swordsage about the flexibility of the cavalry sword? It seems strange that something mass-produced for field use would be that flimsy (esp when such equipment would typically be made more robust to stand up to abuse and lower need for maintenance). Matt Easton was reviewing this and he mentioned the overlap in time period with thrust-centric swords, so it's not like the historical folk didn't know about the value of a stiff blade. There might be some obscure way they use it that makes a flexible blade desirable.
I like the grain pattern, but I can see your point
Those ballistic torsos really help to show how gruesome swords can be, even without blood.
Honest as always, thanks!
The handao is simple,cheap and cruel which can made large of soldier equipped.I like it.
This is used for Han xiongnu battle during Han Dynasty. They switch to huang shou dao. Because Xiong nu doesn’t wear strong armor, so this usually were used for cutting cloth and animal skin armor. They should have some small guards. But this design is used for cutting not exactly thrusting. Because Xiong nu didn’t have much defense, they really just want to hit them with big movements. Also because it’s a mass produced weapon. It probably didn’t develop bigger guard because they want to mass produce. Also I don’t think the one used in Han Dynasty were nearly as flexible as these two blade. So they shouldn’t have an overly flexible problem. I don’t think these two swords are historically correct. Due to the fact they are extremely flexible.
Should be possible to fix. A better glue up with a bit of roughening on the inside of the bolster should do. Use a center punch to dimple the bolster a few times will help it hold to the wood. If you're not worried about historical accuracy then a bit of brass plate, or even rod, brazed to the bolster should work has a guard.
Couldn't you make a ring pommel during forging by keeping some extra material at the end of the tang and splitting it down the middle and forming it into a ring?
I think you might end up with a really solid construction that way.
Pommels can come lose after much use and many years after all. But a ring pommel formed out of the tang itself should theoretically stay in the same spot forever.
what a coincidence that Matt Easton just dropped a dao video three days ago.
This is basically the most primitive Chinese Dao and the most authentic one. The anachronistic ones we often seen in movies such as Ox Tail sword（牛尾刀）and big sword（大刀） were actually used by the law enforcement officer from the late Qing/early Republican era and the Nationalist troops during WW2.
3:15, Damn that's a nice looking cut
I love that royal armory dao.
I would try gluing with JB Weld. I've had good results with adhesion under those conditions.
Back, back in the day... The crucible steel they were making in S and SE Asia must have been superb for these slick blades. Superplacticity at its finest.
next time you have a bad day..watch some samuria cut kubuki....never forget there is a zen..this is why waaaaayy back in the day i was little upset you didn't like katanas...you've sure come along way since then...and got me into chinese blades and well all sort of blades you've really peaked my interest in your videos....hey use the right tool for the right job...no country for old men...when i stab without a hand guard i'd put my off hand on the hilt and push..even just a hard tap ...but i wouldn't play with that.skill the comments below have more understanding of the weapon than me
As an infantry soldier, you would mosr likely be issued a polearm as well as a sword. In a large battle the polearm obviously takes priority over the sword,so the sword has to be quite light since it will spend hours unused
The proper way to hold the sword is hold on the end parts and put the little finger into the ring. That you don't need the guard to counter the resistance.
Is light enought to swing on the horse back. Use the bow and leave the blade hang on your hand. Use both hand to grab on handle if need.
As a means to keep your hand from sliding up onto the blade, have you considered putting your pinky in the ring? Yes I know some later models had the ring filled in with some ornamentation but it seems the most expedient solution to me.
I´ve went over some of your older videos, and I must say your beard got a lot better looking. Do you take better care of it or does the density improve with age? Looks more dense, and it has a better shape. 10/10 Beard points for you sir.
More European weapons please.Medieval ,Renaissance or even Victorian but most people came here for European swords and armour and i'm sure the vast majority of them are still to be presented and tested by your channel.I would very much like to see budget weapons that are new to the market,like Cold Steel's Competition cutting sword...
The Cavalry sword reminded me of Bayonetes and I'd be interested in seeing a review from you on a Bayonette and maybe think of a new way to use them
Bayonet = A military knife intended to turn a rifle into a ad hoc spear.
Bayonetta = A okay action RPG that is often compared to Devil May Cry.
Purge Blade #231 Bayonetta is not an RPG. If you say hack and slash, then you got something.
You see a sword falling apart I see a quick throw pummel
LK Chen really seems like a "hit or miss"... They're close to greatness, that's a shame.
In fact this is an early prototype we submit to Mr. Skallagrim early this year for review. For current version please see th-cam.com/video/soKp1t3bdIg/w-d-xo.html This current version use cotton cord wrapping for better grip and solve the bronze wood bonding issue with an alternative glue.
Hope they will sent a guan dao next. That weapon is actually more impressive i think than a jian
Do you think they ever customized these by adding guards? These are really impressive for the time period they were made in.
All you need is a 7.62 round, and the test will be complete!
lol not again 😂
I like these 2 swords. Just wanted to say something short but sweet. No big reason and its not my favorite. But I do like them
I think in the ring on the back of the handle passed a piece of silk or a loop of rope that served as a stop and protected the hand from slipping.
Excellent review as always.
While historically accurate, I am surprised they went with such early dao designs. Simply put, why reproduce, especially from such a premium company, something that was, honestly, munitions grade during it's day? Now, if they had gone with later Oxtail or Willowleaf styles, those have a lot more room for both being historically accurate and high quality. But in the Han period... a tall order.
What a paradox, when one wants to make a high quality reproduction of something that wasn't high quality...
Its crazy how the cavarlry sword flexes.
The guard comes off? Great opportunity to put on a larger guard of your choice!
Not as easy, these aren't guards they are just caps going over the brip. With no shoulder at the base of the blade you can only really glue your guard and it's going to be a pain to make a guard that fits over the grip (because you can't glue to the blade).
That looks like an aweful lot of work to give these a proper hand protection.
Best thing he can do is grind the tang to make some small shoulders like on japanese blades, but that might just make the handle even worst
Just a quick thought. For thrusting how comfortable would it be to wrap one or two fingers around or through the ring pommel to stop the hand from sliding up? It seems like an odd idea and I can't say I am aware of it being used on Chinese swords, still there is the fact that rings are are often used on European swords for fingers and in the case of the karambit. I have no idea if that the intended purpose still I was wondering if it might help as opposed to death gripping the weapon. I am of course refering to the pinkie and ring finger obviously not some weird and stupid reverse grip.
I agree
If you look at the historical oringinals
There are always some room left, size of a finger, even if the ring is heavily decorated
So i believe its is plausible that the soldiers combined the cloth tying method and this method to prevent it from slipping
use lanyard probem solved
Perfect for the Bear Cavalry.
I'm definitely curious to buy one of these, but I'll have to give it a wait regardless since it's hard to rationalize buying a sword in College.
Your sanity is a perfectly reasonable use of student loan money.
@Skallagrim maybe the ring-pommel was used for a lanyard, so that your hand doesn't get on the blade while cutting?
it is indeed, there are pictures of that
又是我最愛的中國刀劍系列！
Upgrade that short one with a bit of a guard and a kydex sheath and it's looking pretty appealing.
I have the infantry dao and quite like it. It doesn't seem to have the quality issues that Skall's has. The grip wrap end isn't loose, the brass bolster seems to be on tight, though I haven't hit anything harder than water bottles, and the scabbard is still in good shape. Disappointing to see the inconsistency of quality, especially since I've been eyeing more of their swords.
I've informed him. He's flooded with orders and I think he can fix these problems. I kinda feel bad to see this happen.
Hey Skallagrim, been a fan of the channel for a long time, love your work. Was wondering, could you do a fight scene analization for some of the scenes in the two Zorro movies, especially the first one?
In ancient China, some of these Dao and Jian are not for battle, instead people carry one as decoration.
If I had to guess, swords were used on horse back in raid formation, when you don't want to get your spear stuck and don't have room to swing a glaive around.
I would imagine that exploiting the ring for some leveraging lanyard would help pull the blade forward when thrusting, as well as keep fingers away form the edge