A long time coming....Warning, Zubeng knife content

Cobalt

Cobalt

Platinum Member
Joined
Dec 23, 1998
Messages
17,951
So, people that know me know that I like large knives in the 15" OAL size. They use to work for my purposes, to which these days I have not much need for anything. My friends in here also know that my favorite brand is Busse. Especially the old line. But I have always purchased and owned customs as well as other brands which I enjoy. Well, since I met mr Zubeng in 2008 at blade east, I have been wanting one of his big knives. Problem is he doesn't get here often and his knives take a long time to make as well as being expensive. But he is one of the few in the world who makes tamahagane steel. I will spare the history of Zubeng forge, just suffice to say he makes the tamahagane in the old way. He also folds differently than the other sword makers of tamahagane. He does tripple folding. The knives are tripple folded 15 times. Not sure how many layers that ends up being but it is a lot. In any case, he made a total of three, one which I am sure sold either at blade last year or before he made it to blade. I could not make it to blade, but thanks to a friend(oldphysics), Zubeng delivered them to Jamie for me. And they ended up with me a short time later(thanks Jamie and fam, I owe you for this one).

So I thought I would share some pics of these monsters. The blade length is 10", thickness is between 3/16 and 1/4 inch. My pics are terrible since take with a cheap camera so forgive:













 
Cobalt said:
They are. One of the very few people that still makes tamahagane steel...
Click to expand...

What is special about that particular steel? I've never heard of it, and am genuinely curious.
 
Its the steel katanas are traditionally made from. Very few people know how to make it nowadays.
[video=youtube_share;VE_4zHNcieM]http://youtu.be/VE_4zHNcieM[/video]

Cobalt, congratulations, those are absolutely beautiful. Will you use one of them or are they both collector pieces ?
 
I like them, two good gets.
Congrats on your tamahagane steel knives, Cobalt !

Haven't heard about Zubeng in a while.
So, thanks for sharing.
Collector and/or user impressions appreciated.
Again, nice score(s).

I knew you dig INFI, too. :)

Doug
 
C_Becker said:
Its the steel katanas are traditionally made from. Very few people know how to make it nowadays.
[video=youtube_share;VE_4zHNcieM]http://youtu.be/VE_4zHNcieM[/video]

Cobalt, congratulations, those are absolutely beautiful. Will you use one of them or are they both collector pieces ?
Click to expand...

I know I am answering this late, lol, I am not in the forums very often. But one is a collector, the other is a user. So yes, I have used it.

About the only complaint was the handle is smoother than I'd like it to be. I have considered texturing it a little. But I wrap most handles with a grip stretch camo stuff that really works anyway. The blade performs well on wood. I'll try to post some pics later if anyone cares this much later. Again sorry for the late response. The blade itself is impressive. It held up well to all manner of hardwoods. It did not feel as sharp as I would want it to be, but it actually was sharper than I thought. The steel is very stiff. Much stiffer than very hard steels I have had. I went through about 100 small pieces of wood 4 inch diameter or less and the edge showed no discernible loss in sharpness.
 
I'm in, and thanks for the chance, very nice and generous of you!

just kidding :) beautiful set you have there!
 
Yo Mama said:
Yeah but that also adds to the mystique of the steel!
Click to expand...

True. These knives were a bargain, relatively, still not cheap. There is probably as much steel in these as there is in one of his Katana's and his Katanas go for big money while the knives do not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top