Great River Taoist Center Forums

Scott M. Rodell wrote:There is also a record of a bandit in the south with a 60 layer armor that made him "practically invulnerable."

Here is my article on Paper Armor for HAND PAPERMAKING, issue 24, 2009 going by that very name:
http://www.mandarinmansion.com/articles ... Armour.pdf

-Peter

This question of proper terminology also demonstrates how young the renaissance of Chinese Historical Swordsmanship is. Currently, we are largely working on oral transmission. For many subjects we are still hunting for primary sources to back up or improve our understanding. Concerning mu jian , to...

I can't comment on Tony Mosen jian versus antique examples, as I don't own a Tony Mosen jian . On grips, I much prefer a traditional grip wrap over anything else. But there is a night and day difference between wraps. A good wrap should at least be: 1. Wrapped tightly with cord that does not slip or...

In the Qing we often see elm as a handle for lower grade weapons such as village militia jian . Another type of wood is an unknown smooth dark red wood. High quality examples came with huanghuali or zitan wooden handles. I guess many kinds of wood were used. I personally haven't had trouble with han...

Hi, I normally don't lurk on this section of the forums so I overlooked this post before. I keep seeing refferences to a taiji ruler, this object is represented as just under a foot long and made of wood. However I also see evidence of another object called a ruler, often Iron Ruler, which is a trad...

By the way, here is an alternative method to repair twists by professional restorer Philip Tom:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=433

There are modern swords around that are less susceptible for taking a permanent set, but the way your Zhi sword bent is much like how an antique would look like after cutting with an improper alignment. I've got many antiques in with all kinds of twists and bends. So although per today's standard we...

Hi, This is a very interesting discussion... Personally I believed the Moroha Kissaki was a separate class altogether , made for purposes unknown. Do you think there was a possibility that before that there was already a double edge curve sword in China either in bronze or steel ? Possibly. I haven'...

It is a Chinese short sword. I sold this one a while ago through Mandarin Mansion, it was a consignment of one of my clients. I'm not sure but I believe he bought it at a U.S. auction. It has a rather early blade with very clear demarcation of the hardened edge, much like you see it on some Japanese...

Here an example of an antique guard in this style. This is a comparatively high quality example, note the deep relief and well-defined shapes. Lower quality work of the time would have about as deep relief, only chiseled out in a rather coarse fashion. http://www.mandarinmansion.com/reference/taotie...

Although it may have looked old, it is most certainly a reproduction. There were ceremonial jian indeed, but usually they looked much like functional jian but with the addition of symbolic decoration. Often they would be forge-folded just like functional jian , only lacking the final heat-treatment....

Hi, During recent translations it became clear that our terminology needs a little update. As most of us know, a waist-worn saber is called a peidao . There is also another term floating around which is yaodao . Both terms mean practically the same: A saber which is worn suspended from a waist belt....

Phew, what a conversation! to go back to historical precedent, I have not yet come across any references on a wooden jian . We're pretty sure they must have existed, it's just something that little, if anything, has been written about. I did find something else useful: The qinding zunqi zeli , a tex...

These paintings have puzzled me for a while. If it were one it could be dismissed as a weird pose but there are too many men depicted in this position for it to be meaningless. What I don't get is that they draw the hilt in the opposite direction they are looking at, and once it is out they are also...

I haven't seen these blades with octagonal cross-section yet, but the only historical ones that come to mind are very early bronze weapons. Having so much metal behind the edge was a necessity with bronze because it was inherently weaker than steel. When making steel swords it wouldn't make much sen...