A highlight of Blade, a request and a story and Pics you will never see again

Ren the devils trailboss

Ren the devils trailboss

Joined
Feb 27, 2001
Messages
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O.K. folks, This is going to be a multiple post thread of mine. But I think you will find yourself coming back to this thread for a while I hope. But first the Story.


While at blade I received an email from a fellow forumite 3 hard boiled eggs. He asked me to give him a call if I was at blade and provided his phone number. I called and we met each other on the back loading dock. Bobby took me to his booth and introduced me to Master Sword Smith Rich Chen of Zubeng Forge. Mr. Chen forges Tamahagane Damascus steel into some of the sharpest and most precision swords that are known throughout Asia. Mr. Chen and Bobby then took the time to show me in pictures the amazing process that he uses to make his swords. It was an amazing 45 minute lesson and opportunity to see what few people in the west get to see and that is of a sword being made by a master sword smith from Iron Ore to completion.

Where does RTDTB fit into this equation? Well Mr Chen will make 10 swords a year that are perfection. But out of forge many other blades are forged but they might have a small occlusion in the steel making them unfit for a sword. So Mr. Chen then reforges this steel into Knives and introducing the same Tamahagane Damascus to the American Knife market as knife blades.

Here is a picture of me receiving a knife that Mr. Chen Gave to me. I was deeply honored.
blade09001.jpg


here are a few bad pics that I took of the blades. The light was bad and the mosquitoes were dive bombing me terrible this day so they are not pretty shots.

blade09006.jpg


blade09013.jpg


blade09012.jpg


blade09009.jpg



What Master Chen seeks from myself and you fellow knife knuts is good solid advice as to handle material, Handle design, Blade style. You cannot touch the quality of this steel and it is not the focus of the discussion here. But how should Master Chen who knows swords beyond compare be able to work into the US knife market with his knives. He asked me for help with this and I know there are many of you guys here who would be more than willing to lend a hand.

I'm hoping Bobby ( who works with Master Chen) can jump in and post some additional comments and tomorrow I will start posting pics of the sword making process. Most amazing..
 
Wow, he gave you that knife? Very cool; I came close to buying one of those, quite the camp knife/chopper.

I spent some time talking with Rich and Bobby on Thursday, and again later in the weekend. The slideshow of the tamahagane process was most impressive, a tremendous amount of work to make the steel, even before beginning the bladesmithing. The various hunters and utility knives were very nice, and reasonably priced. The kitchen blades were tempting as well, but I had exceeded my budget.

I assume you ( or Bobby) will be posting pics of the various knives, so that folks here can offer comments and suggestions.
 
What is the material that was used to make the handle for your knife?

That knife would look great with one of many different woods used for the handle. The wood should be nicely contoured to fit comfortably in the hand. Micarta would also work well. Corby bolts would look much better than what was used on that handle.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
What is the material that was used to make the handle for your knife?

That knife would look great with one of many different woods used for the handle. The wood should be nicely contoured to fit comfortably in the hand. Micarta would also work well. Corby bolts would look much better than what was used on that handle.
Click to expand...

the reason mr chen wanted the micarta handle was because he thought it would be more durable. also in taiwan where mr chen is from they go pig sticking. they are not allowed to have guns so they take a knife and cut a notch out of a bamboo pole and tie the knife to the bamboo and its a spear. now these pigs have got teeth or tusks and the longer the bamboo pole for me the better.

the pins in the handle are also pretty strong. they are 303 stainless. the pattern in the micarta is also cut into the pins. we thought that would be a nice touch.
 
Always interested in forged blades . Show pics of more of his knives and or swords. This model looks kinda similar to the Busse line. It looks to be a very nice camp knife . Does he do fighters. Does he do more traditional Japenese kwaikens , tanto's etc.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
What is the material that was used to make the handle for your knife?

That knife would look great with one of many different woods used for the handle. The wood should be nicely contoured to fit comfortably in the hand. Micarta would also work well. Corby bolts would look much better than what was used on that handle.
Click to expand...

I think the scales were a composite, like micarta or G10. They were contoured nicely, but IIRC, the handle was a little on the short side.
 
convex sex! That looks extremely efficient with a very tight convex cross section. I'll bet that steel is awesome too!

I would love to try one out...

Personally, I don't like the hollow pins cross hatched like that. Maybe I'm a wuss, but they look like they could do some damage to my hand. I'd prefer smooth, solid pins myself.
 
I also stopped by that table and Mr. Chen showed me the process and the molecular structure of the edges. We had a bit of a communication problem due to the language differences, but he showed me the series of steps on a laptop. It was fascinating.

To the touch, the edges don't feel so sharp, but they are!

Peter
 
Really good stuff, Ren. I can imagine that chooper to be off-the-charts effective. That handle looks grippy. :)

A worthy recipient, and a proper thanks!

Coop
 
3_hard_boiled_eggs said:
i talked to mr chen about this web site. he said they were his knives from a long time ago. he also said that they have been modified with out his authorization. they were changed so the structural integrity is in doubt. he will not guarantee any knife from that web site.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
Wonder what the current owner's motivation was in modifying the knives to such a degree?
 
Kevin Jones said:
Interesting.
Wonder what the current owner's motivation was in modifying the knives to such a degree?
Click to expand...

that you will have to direct the question to that man.

when they changed the shape they used a belt sander and that will heat up the blade. since these are handmade and hand heat treated you lose the heat treatment. one blade i noticed was ground on the spine. that is bad. it will heat it up and change the hardness of the hand heat treatment. the steel he uses is soft on the spine and hard on the edge. if you use a belt sander to change the blade in any way you will also change the hand heat treatment. then they used a strong acid to bring out the grain in the steel. this coarse finish causes more oxidation. since this steel is high carbon it will rust and if you expose more area to the oxygen it will rust faster.

a mirror polish will not rust as fast since less surface is exposed to the oxygen.


this is mr chen's reply.

sorry i can not be more helpful at this time
 
I can't read anything on that site - are those modified knives being offered for sale? If so, are the modifications disclosed?

Roger
 
The blade pictured looks just fine as is. With Guy expressing a thought that the handle may have been on the short side, I will ask you if you thought so?

There is a difference in stature between Asians and North Americans on the average, so perhaps this is something for him to consider. The handle overall looks to be very grippy, how were the edges rounded off? Potential for hot spots when using the blade aggressively?

As far as form goes, the blade pictured has the appearance of a camp knife, perhaps more along that line such as a Bushcraft would be well received. But as far as that goes, about anything he could come up with as long as it is not too far fetched and fantasy driven should be a seller.

What were your impressions of the market segment he was aiming for? Survivalist, Defensive, Millitary, Everyday outdoor use, etc........

I would think that among informed knife nuts a blade like that would be well received. Blending traditional methods of forging, with modern construction and knife form is a bang up idea.

Chuck
 
That's a nice one Ren!:thumbup:

I like the handles.What steel did Mr Chen use on it?
 
Ren it was really nice meeting you at the big show, we all had a great time.

Good thread.

TA
 
Ren--I too got to speak with bobby and Mr Chen a the Blade Show. The knives are incredible and the styles he had on the table were all very functional. As far as handle material, I am a fan of exotic woods. Are there any exotic wood native his area of China that we may not see much of here?
 
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