Da Dao of Little Raven Studios

Recently a few of us old timers decided to add the Chinese “Big Sabre” or “Da Dao” to our practice. However, finding reliable, reasonably priced practice versions of the Da Dao was not as easy as we had hoped.

Most of what we encountered fell into two camps: lightweight and sometimes poorly constructed “wushu” swords, or swords in the $200 to $500 range; sturdy enough but too heavy and razor sharp. Neither camp fully fulfilled my desire for an inexpensive, durable, and realistic yet safe practice weapon.

The unrealistic balance and potential risk of the weak “rat tail” tang made the former camp undesirable; and the risk of practicing new material with a heavy & sharp sword should need no elaboration .

Luckily, I’d heard of Raven Studios a couple of years ago and decided to try them out. Owner Carina Cirrincione crafts every sword in her catalog by hand so I was willing to bite the bullet; waiting 6 – 7 weeks should be worth the hickory and Purple Heart Da Dao.

I sent several email inquiries to Little Raven, and always received prompt replies directly from Carina herself, so I was confident my money hadn’t just disappeared down a hole — a circumstance one of us had already experienced attempting to buy swords.

In the end the sword arrived when promised, well packed and free of shipping damage.

When it comes to materials and workmanship, the sword shines from first glance. The hickory “blade” and purple heart grip/crossguard are beautiful and assembled well. The finish is also high quality, from the beveling of the blade edge to the clean glue lines at the crossguard.

The sword is obviously hand-made. The beveling is a little uneven in some places around the hilt; I like this lack of precision on such small details, as it adds character and testifies to the hand crafting. The sword is thankfully not finished with a glossy varnish, but a Tung and linseed oil blend that leaves the wood natural looking and strengthens it as well. It also makes it easy to maintain the sword and remove the minor scratches that come up in practice. Over all, expect a beautiful sword from Little Raven, just not one that looks like it was stamped out on a machine.

While this sword is a serious slab of wood, the shape, balance, and weight were all surprisingly accurate.

At a couple of ounces shy of two pounds and balancing 4 inches or so past the guard, the handling was spot on. After just a few passes through some cuts and movements from the form… I was handling this sword as well as anything I have ever practiced with.

Other than the fact that wood and steel have an inherently different “feel” in play, I would have to give the realisim of handling award to the Little Raven sword over the limited selection of metal options I have tried recently.

Other swords can be purchased with blunted tips for sparring, and while the one I bought is intended mainly for forms practice, I believe sparring with one of these swords would be far more realistic feeling than any metal waster.

Every metal “stage combat” (thick, dull edge for blade-on-blade contact) I have ever handled, and I own a couple of my own, has been, even if well balanced, on the order of TWICE as heavy as a real sword of the same type.

Although I intend to order one for sparring at some point, I plan on and suggest you use protection and caution liberally, as one of these Little Raven Da Daos can easily break bones or crack skulls.

And in all probability, suffer no damage to itself.

At $75 for a practice weapon of this quality, durability, and cosmetic appeal, there is simply no competition at the price point. At this price, buying an extra to spar with would be no big deal. I’m sure it would last a long time in use, and the one I have for forms practice should last a lifetime — short of dropping it in the wood chipper!

I’ve already dumped buckets of sweat on this thing, and with a little linseed oil it looks as good (or maybe even better?!?) as new.

Kudos to Little Raven Studios for getting it right, and look for more impressions of their work as it passes through our hands here at PATHS Atlanta.

The Ox-Tail Dao is already in the works .