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Timo Nieminen




Location: Brisbane, Australia
Joined: 08 May 2009
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PostPosted: Fri 05 Jul, 2013 6:49 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Scott Roush wrote:
Why did you not include this quite long example?


Maybe 4cm wide, or less. Not wide in proportion to the length like the "broadswords" shown above.

Double fullers are common enough on bronze jian. The dagger-length one up-thread is not exceptional. All sorts of blade cross-sections on bronze jian. Hexagonal, diamond, octagonal, double-fullered (which is the octagonal with concave surfaces along the ridge), round ridge with edges (like a lot of bronze spears), lenticular, and lenticular with ridge. Much less diversity in early iron/steel jian cross-sections.

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz




Location: Michigan, USA
Joined: 08 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Sat 06 Jul, 2013 10:02 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm no expert on Chinese swords, and I I've been calling these " Chinese broadswords "
just for ease's sake, as they are swords and do seem broad ... B-) Length, from a bit I've
read, seems to be anywhere from knife-length, to a reasonably sized shortsword ... I'd
guess 17 - 25 inches ...

Another pic with a variety of sizes ...



SR, I hope you post pics and progress on your Chinese Bronze Sword project, should be
very interesting to see the results ...
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Timo Nieminen




Location: Brisbane, Australia
Joined: 08 May 2009
Likes: 1 page
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 1,504

PostPosted: Sat 06 Jul, 2013 4:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz wrote:
I'm no expert on Chinese swords, and I I've been calling these " Chinese broadswords "
just for ease's sake, as they are swords and do seem broad ... B-) Length, from a bit I've
read, seems to be anywhere from knife-length, to a reasonably sized shortsword ... I'd
guess 17 - 25 inches ...


I just call them "bronze jian" ("Chinese broadsword" is used by the modern martial arts community to mean oxtail dao, or dao in general). Also, I don't think they're especially broad. Average is, I guess, about 4.something cm, so, e.g., at the narrow end of Roman gladii. We don't call the Roman gladius a "Roman broadsword", and, on average, they're broader (and longer).

Lengths are very variable. The disc pommel ones vary from 30cm to 70cm; 50-55cm appears to be most common; the 65-70cm examples stand out as unusual. Tanged ones and other hilt/pommel types are, on average, shorter (there are more in the dagger range, 25-40cm (10-16") total length), but there are some very long (i.e., about 70cm) tanged blades.

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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