Damascus steel Miao Dao Damascus steel 汉鼎花纹钢苗刀

HD6212 -Han Ding Miao Dao -Water wave pattern - Damascus steel汉鼎花纹钢苗刀

This beautiful Dao features antique brass fittings and is uniquely designed. The blade is forged by the bai Lian Hua Wen Gang (百炼花纹钢) "water wave pattern Damascus steel" technique. Ebony wood (hei tan 黑檀) handle and scabbard. *Dao Blade Length: 43 inches (Sharp) *Total Dao Length: 61 inches *Dao Weight: 4.3 lbs. *Dao and Scabbard Weight: 6.3 lbs. Collection series Daos are presented by HanDing Martial Arts and LongQuan Dao smiths, distributed to you by KungFuDirect.com. This Dao is individually hand crafted, forged by traditional Chinese Dao artisans, and has high collection value.

In ancient China, this type of blade was also called "Hua Tie" (花铁) or "wen tie" (文铁), flower iron, or wave mark iron. Polishing the steel shows patterns like water waves, clouds, wood grain, or jasmine flowers. The oldest record of this Dao technique goes back to the Han Dynasty, Miao Dao was used during the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. During the West Jin Dynasty, the writer Fu Xuan(傅玄), in his book Zheng Du Fu(正都赋), documents the use of the Bai Lian Hua wen gang Dao making technique. During the Song Dynasty, Song Shen Kuo's (宋沈括) book Meng Xi Bi Tan (梦溪笔谈) also says the "fish scale" (鱼肠剑) and the "redwood mark" (松文剑) Daos are all made by Bai Lian Hua Wen Gang." Creating the pattern on the blade takes a high level of skill and technique. The master Dao smith works with great attention to craft each Dao. Special attention is one the temperature of the forge to create specific conditions. A Dao blade can be folded up to eight times, creating 768 layers. These blades are folded into 384 layers, which provides the best balance of "ren xing" (韧性), a combination of "spring" and strength, and is the best quality for showing the blade design. The unique technique requires the master smith to hammer the blade with a small hammer to guide the work, simultaneously as an assistant beating the edge with a large hammer. If the conditions are imperfect, the metal layers will fail to merge, and the Dao will be discarded.