Making a Chinese rattan shield
Ever since I acquired an antique Chinese tengpai (籐牌) or "rattan shield" I had been wanting to figure out how to make these. I ordered rattan of appropriate type and dimensions at a local rattan supplier and got working…
Treating a broken wrist
(This is a very old article so the image resolution is somewhat low.)
Major surgery on an old Teutonic war-horse
(This is an old article so the images are fairly low resolution) Over the past few years, local collectors and antiques dealers have brought in a number of different variations of the Prussian Dreyse needle-fire rifle…
Military sabers of the Qing dynasty
According to Chinese symbolism, the strength and martial spirit of a soldier is embodied in the single-edged blade (dāo, literally meaning “knife”) whereas the double-edged sword (jiàn) represents the noble character of…