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Old 15th September 2020, 08:49 AM   #21
Peter Dekker
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Posts: 63
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I would beg to differ in terms of usability.

These well-decorated dha come in several different classes and by the late period, a thinner, not so good blade is very often seen. We're talking about the 1920s onwards, mostly. The silver overlay also tends to become indifferent in this period.

Back to these earlier silver overlaid dha, quite a few of them are no less utilitarian than the average "fighting dha", they just have a better finish. Steel construction is usually an outer casing of high-carbon steel, much like the kobuse construction among Japanese swords, and also like Japanese swords they may exhibit a fine hamon when polished although they were never finished to show this aspect off traditionally.

As for weight it is a matter of personal preference. 600-900 grams is pretty much the weight range you see for sabers of all cultures, from Europe to Japan, and you also see this weight range among practical dha.

The dha I posted with silver, copper and brass inlays is a fully-fledged fighting piece. Here some numbers:
Overall length 86.9 cm / 34.2 inch
Blade length 62.2 cm / 24.5 inch
Blade thickness; forte 7 mm, middle 5 mm, near tip 4 mm.
Blade width; forte 35 mm, middle 33 mm, widest 35 mm, near tip 25 mm.
Weight; 816 grams

Well-tempered, with a gentle hum going through the piece when tapping the pommel.

Last edited by Ian; 15th September 2020 at 09:59 AM. Reason: Links to commercial web sites are not permitted.
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