Hi folks..
 
Here is a project I'm finishing up.  It's based on a Qing period 'militia jian' that was sold by Seven Stars Trading company a number of years ago and I was grabbed by it's rustic simplicity.  Not a lot is known about these militia jian (or tuanlian jian as called by Scott Rodell the taichi jian swordsman) but it is assumed that they were stored in a village armoury and dolled out in times of war.  They are certainly what you would call 'munition grade' and so far none have been found with scabbards.  The example I found would be considered very highly made for this class.. and also much longer.  Most were more in the range of 25". 
 
So I wanted to make a version that was true to form in terms of hilt construction and handling.... but with a more contemporary feel to the overall finish.  The blades on these were typically very 'lumpy' and poorly finished even if they were very well built in other respects.  Many of them bore the seven star constellation theme on the blade in the form of brass plugged holes.. a powerful talisman in Chinese martial culture.
 
Mine has a 29" 5160 blade, wrought iron fittings and Castellian boxwood grip. The weight is 1 pound 14 ounces with a POB of 6.5 inches from the guard (many originals were as much as 8 inches!) Here are some pictures:
 
The original sword:
 
 
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I have lots of build pictures on my website:  http://www.bigrockforge.com/a-tuan-lian-or-militia-jian/
As well as availability information.  This sword is available for purchase but is temporarily being sent to Scott Rodell for test cutting and handling evaluation. He is a scholar of the Chinese sword and an accomplished taichi jian swordsman and has handled an inordinate number of jian.. so it will be very valuable feedback for me. 
 
Thanks for looking!

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This jian looks nice to me.
Is it currently on sale?

That's a really very nice sword Scott. I like the constellation and the fittings, great job!

At one time I really thought about trying to learn some Chinese swordsmanship but the opportunity never came about. This looks like a great sword for it, wish I knew more.

It's nice to see someone working with Chinese swords!

I've found those militia jian to be fascinating from the time that Scott first discussed them on his website. I've played with dozens of ideas for a custom jian over the years and the jian you used for inspiration is one I've used as well. I have a couple of other militia jian photos and my custom designs also borrow heavily from them:

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Hey Scott,
you know that I love this sword. I am just posting here because I know how much research you did for this one, and what great care you took to get it just right.

Outstanding example of what would have been used by a militia. Great work, as usual.

kc

Hi, Scott. Beautiful sword. I look forward to seeing what Scott has to say. You have become one of my favorite smiths.

Thanks for the responses everybody! Sorry to lapse in responding. I've had another Chinese sword project fail miserably and have been trying to pick up the pieces.

Scott Rodell did test this sword in very cold weather and it handled seasoned, old growth bamboo wonderfully. Not even a scratch. He did mention that I need more mass in the grip for indexing. I can solve this by adding a silk wrap.

Here are a few pictures of Scott Rodell handling the sword by the way:

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