Great River Taoist Center Forums

Something that the Home Office has neglected to address is that reproduction Japanese swords are available with straight blades. In other words, the Government has failed in its objective of banning all 'samurai swords' but has succeeded in banning many other types of sword which have not been impli...

The Token Society of Great Britain have the latest news from the Home Office. It does indeed appear that any curved sword with a blade length of 50 cm or over is now going to be banned from sale, hire, manufacture or import in the UK. There are exemptions but without proper legal interpretation, it ...

I would be very surprised if this split had been caused by pressure from the nut. When you remove the nut, does the gap close up automatically? If not then does it close up when you squeeze the wood together? If it will close up then it is a fairly simple job to fix it: Remove the wooden handle from...

Hi Albert, Can you post pics of the crack so we can see exactly what the problem is? One of the functions of the ferrules is to ensure that the handle stays together if the wood should ever split - so the wood will probably repair ok and still be functional. If you have an internal nut tightened aga...

My main question is just how much of an issue is the shrinkage of the wood and for a cutting sword am I better of to get the tang peened? Shrinkage along the grain of wood is negligible so this won't be a cause of hilt fittings coming loose. If the only part of the wood in contact with the metal is...

Hi David,

The Silk bag in your picture is from Lisa and Alex Huangfu of Huang Chao Dynasty armoury. You can find them for sale here.

I'm very happy to say that I have now received a Huanuo LiuYeDao. Many thanks to Peter Dekker for sorting it out for me. Peter has also done a great job of modifying the grip and wrapping it in a more authentic cord. After all the wait, I must say that I'm really pleased with the sword. It feels nic...

This one appears to be quite similar to The Yang taiji dao: Ebay - "Antique 19C Dao Sword"

Hi Albert, I'm in the process of designing boxes for both dao and jian. Unfortunately, most of my time at the moment is being taken up by our Sword Society and the impending UK sword ban. It could be a while before I get a design finalised. Here's a pic of a prototype - made in softwood for the purp...

I assume that this worker is shaping handles for the swords.....

The shaving horse that he's sitting on and the drawknife that he's using to shape the wood with are very similar to those used by traditional English chair bodgers and swill makers.

This is the Home Office news bulletin as it appears on their website: Samurai swords to be banned 12 December 2007 The government will ban the import, sale and hire of samurai swords from April 2008. The decision followed a 12-week consultation conducted earlier this year, which received hundreds of...

The Home office has just published its Summary of Responses to the Offensive Weapons Consultation. There is still no official news bulletin from the Home Office, however, the BBC website states: Under the proposals, the government will ban the import, sale and hire of Samurai swords from April 2008....

I have some good news about this book: Alex and Lisa do intend to publish an English language edition. They are currently negotiating with publishers. Hopefully, the English version will not be too far away.........

Graham, what kind of wood did you use? Poplar and alder aren't easy to find in the UK. Hi Euan, I'm still trying to get around to that job! American yellow poplar is widely available in the UK under the name of tulipwood (liriodendron tulipifera). I've also seen it sold as magnolia. You might have ...

Our Society has one signed copy of Alex Huangfu's Iron and Steel Swords of China to give away (kindly donated by the author).

You can find full details of the competition here.