Antique Chinese Swords

The Sophisticated Craftsmanship of Antique Chinese swords

Being the arms for potential lethality, swords entail care and respect. Reconstructed from the weapons of the grand kings, antique Chinese swords embody the superb craftsmanship of sword making that brilliantly demonstrate the skills of sword smiths of the China Imperial.

Antique Chinese swords are mostly embellished with exquisite and beautiful silver and gold inlay on the covering, which is suggestive of artistic motifs as well as the knack of Warring States Period.

Dao, the single-edged kinds of swords are common of China’s sword making art. The gold-covered dragon motif on the swords’ fittings provided in the ancient and archaic style stand for the glory of the medieval Chinese. This stylistic dragon design frequently appears on the bronze and jade sword vessels.

Basically there are two types of antique Chinese swords: the Dao and the Jian. Jian is a double-edged sword and documented to have been created three thousand long years ago. The earliest Jian antique Chinese swords were made using bronze and they have shorter length compared to the modern Jian swords. The typical blades for Jian swords were measured from 26 to 32 inches. Practitioners before favored the longer blades.

Dao, the other kind of antique Chinese swords, is single-edged. Its blade was curved, which dated from 13th to 14th century. Dao’s curved blades were brought in China as an effect of Mongolian invasions. Its popularity is exposed being the dominant military weapon starting from 15th century on.

Most antique Chinese swords underwent a challenging sword blade construction especially that they are mainly proposed for combats. For this, sword makers make sure that they have used sword blades that combine flexibility and hardness. If blades are made out of steel which is hard to hold and take, it will easily brittle and break under constant stress. Meanwhile if the steel of the blades are soft and flexible, it won’t get an adequate edge. The blade of the sword should get the major attention when you one is purchasing or collecting Chinese antique swords since usually, they are rusted. Avoid superficial rusting caused by too much moisture exposure.

Some of the ancient Chinese swords came from the relics of the different history and battles that China went through. Ancient weapons were destroyed and damaged thereby, restorative work was done.

The art of making antique Chinese swords involve sophisticated process of heat treating and forging, guaranteeing its functionality and beauty. Ever since the ancient Chinese empires witnessed great progress in metallurgy, the creation of Chinese swords were designed with large-scale and efficient mastery.