Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I’ve been experimenting with making my own trainer swords for Chinese dao (saber/knife), having discovered very quickly how the typical red oak pieces available from most suppliers simply splinter and crumble when you do even light contact drills. I shaped this from a single piece of hickory, finished it with linseed oil and teak oil, glued on a hand guard made from heavy, stiff shoe sole leather, and then glued another strip of leather over the blade covering the edge, hopefully to help it last longer and resist the inevitable denting that happens during contact. Hopefully it will perform well.