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The emergence of the ridged cross-section on bronze and steel daos...

Below: Another Han Dynasty bronze dao with a ridged cross-section and a prominent edge bevel. Blades of this type were also excavated / found in the Zhejiang province of China and at the Han Dynasty military base/colony in Lolang, North Korea.





The diagram below shows the ridged cross-sections and blade profiles of the bronze dao and the two steel daos exhibited on this webpage. It is obvious that the cross-section of this Han Dynasty bronze dao was influenced and derived from that of a typical Warring States Period bronze jian (as shown).

I speculate (based on the excavated steel daos shown below) that ridged cross-sections on steel daos were developed as early as 3rd Century AD, sometime around the late Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms Period. The benefits of a ridged cross-section for bronze and steel daos were that daos equipped with this feature exhibited a greater cross-sectional area, which led to greater lateral stiffness to resist bending / breakage as well as to provide more bronze / steel material to support the cutting edge -- to prevent chipping or bluntness (loss of sharpness).





Below: An excavated steel dao owned by a private collector which I believe (based on its dimensions and stylistic profile) to belong to the later part of the Han Dynasty:



 





Below: Another excavated steel dao which I speculate to probably belong to the period between 100 AD to 300 AD. The saber shown below is for size comparison purposes only...



 



The ridge-line is clearly shown below...