Barry Dawson Swords

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wewilly

Joined
Jun 20, 2009
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Does anyone have any user knowledge of Dawson blades, I've owned one(combat wakizashi) since 1993 and it has never been used and was thinking about doing some cutting test.... cardboard tubes as starters maybe!
 
If by cardboard tubes you mean they things they roll carpet and such around I'd try something different and more forgiving first. My personal favorite in place of traditional cutting materials (if one wants something in place of traditional cutting materials if not then I'd suggest buying those) are those pool noodles that you find in pool supply and toy stores or even Wal-Mart in season. They at least teach you proper edge alignment in the cut and if you screw up the cut (likely if you've never done it before) they won't damage your blade.
 
I've seen Dawsons in different steels and with different grinds- it may help you to get a more meaningful answer if you give more details. Pics are always welcome too!
 
I'm not allowed to post pics? the steel is 440c and is dual tempered, thats about all I can tell you.
 
Contributing (paid) users can attach images. In lieu of that, free image hosting will allow others to share pictures quite easily. You can use sites as easy to use as www.tinypic.com to share one image at a time or other free sites to build and share entire galleries.

Inserting tags are as easy using the little
insertimage.gif
button to pop up a window to add the img tags automatically. Or, just share image links without them.

Cheers

GC
 
wewilly said:
I'm not allowed to post pics? the steel is 440c and is dual tempered, thats about all I can tell you.
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They are hollow ground and have a secondary bevel. Stock thickness averages 1/4" iirc.

There was(sadly passed on) a 2nd degree blackbelt(nidan) at my dojo who was given permission from our sensei to cut with his Dawson set(tanto, wakizashi and katana) during a tameshigiri session....using tatami omote, not cardboard tubes, which are ok for show, but not great for go.

The edge that Barry puts on the swords is very keen, and the swords cut well. They were also very heavy, and hard to stop, as well as being slightly tip heavy. This promotes bad form.

The lack of habaki dismisses proper scabbard design, and this makes them very hard to draw and cut with, as a matter of fact, I believe that my senpai did not even have a scabbard for them, just a carrying case(Pelikan).

Bottom line is that they will cut, and may cut very well, but there are many tools ideally more suited to the job.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks everyone. I'll probably just wind up selling the blade sometime or another and buy more infi.
 
I've often wondered about Dawson swords. It doesn't seem like 440C would hold up well for cutting........especially on mis-cuts with bad technique.
 
Bimmer1 said:
I've often wondered about Dawson swords. It doesn't seem like 440C would hold up well for cutting........especially on mis-cuts with bad technique.
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Unless it is a REALLY blown cut on big mats, it will just drag....the blade is generally harder as a whole than carbon steel swords...it could crack, but I have never heard of that.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
What is a hard medium?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Depends on your school of thought, I guess. A cardboard carpet tube certainly qualifies in my mind. When discussing swords, living tissue and bone is probably the standard medium to which we should be comparing. Personally I would not put my faith in a stainless sword blade for cutting any medium. Stainless has no business on a functional sword IMO. Most experienced sword users will tell you the same thing.
 
Justin King said:
Depends on your school of thought, I guess. A cardboard carpet tube certainly qualifies in my mind. When discussing swords, living tissue and bone is probably the standard medium to which we should be comparing. Personally I would not put my faith in a stainless sword blade for cutting any medium. Stainless has no business on a functional sword IMO. Most experienced sword users will tell you the same thing.
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A cardboard tube is not hard media......but it is less than ideal due to possible metal or silica particles embedded in the cardboard which scratch the hell out of the finish.

Living bone is comparitively soft compared to dried yellow bamboo. The Dawson 440C swords that I witnessed cutting at the dojo did very well, and I have a 420 series stainless steel Condor Machete that cuts thick green bamboo like a champ.

That said, there is NO ONE who will successfully argue that a stainless steel sword blade is preferable to a carbon steel sword blade.

If I needed a sword, I would rather have a Barry Dawson 440C katana than NO sword.:D

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
bone is certainly harder than a carpet tube i would think....right?

i would tend to agree that stainless is not an ideal steel for a "user" sword. But with a proper heat treat stainless would be fine for anything that a person nowadays would use a sword for.... barring of course a battle against someone with a better sword. Stainless will cut down an intruder, wild animal, zombie, etc. no problem. i would be more concerned about my opponent having a gun personally:)

now, would i pay a grand for a sword made of stainless...nope:thumbdn:
 
The histories of Dawson, Engnath and others are lost to many. Jerry Hossom is still quite active and might speak to his espada experiences. The arguments regarding "stainless" steels are certainly nothing new but it seems like more than care to, actually know of Barry's work or even bother to look for information.

Here is a recent possible some may know of.
http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98856

As to the tale of Barry clamping down one of kis 440c blades and scaring his customer; that is out there to be read as well.

Last I looked, Barry was doing more work in simpler steels (his daughter's? knives are cool too) and the properties of his katana and wakizashi belong to the lore of old. None of these facts are likely to sway any discussions about the evils of Sean Lefler breaking a sword on the air as absolutes that stainless steel swords explode just by looking at them. I have no doubt though that Chuck Norris could easily break any stainless steel with a glance, let alone a good round house kick.

Hossom's espadas will come up in the threads extant here at BF. IIRC, one quite pointy guy was proven brittle through abuse. Or, one could track down Bill Tsafa's (why BF was never blessed with his sermons and wisdom [lol]) and his bludgeoning a UC slab handled 420j2 katana for thousands of blows without failing. Then, one might even remember the days of Hank Reinhardt (Who?) and his endorsing these slab handled beauties on the Atalanta Cutlery and Museum Replicas catalogs. Why bother to explain this to any, time and again? I dunno, mebbe I was just bored.

Is too, is not, is too, not, is but why?

If someone is bored with their Barry blade, send it my way and I'll be able to put it on a display table as an example of "is too".

Ho, ho, ho

GC
 
I currently own several blades from Barry and his family that are made from 440c. They are quite functional and I would trust them as much as any of my 5160 blades. It all depends on the heat-treating method used. I agree that stainless is usually too brittle for a decent sword, but ultimately it depends on the maker. In the past I've cut tatami mats without any problems. As for edge geometry, Barry can do flat ground blades. I've got a bowie with a 9" blade and giraffe-bone handle that he made for me. At my request, he made it flat ground out of .25" stock and the result is one of the toughest knives I've ever seen.
 
I have several blades by Dawson, Dawson and Cook. Their heat treat is very good and they have great blades.
 
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