blade done 28" sanmei pweld goosequill dao

[kevin -the professor]

Here is a profile shot.

And another

Here you can see false edge and fullers. Notice the pattern in the bottom of the fullers. That took a whole day of filing and sanding.

pattern porn

STUPID WELD FLAW! I ground the edges of the billet clean before forging, and I did not see this one. Oh well, it doesn't ruin the blade, but I wish it wasn't there.

One last bit of pattern porn.

I want to thank everyone who has given me advice and encouragement for the last couple of months. If nothing else, the shear amount of work to get to this point makes this a significant blade for me. It is also the first blade I have made that is true to historical Chinese form and proportions.

The blade is 28" long, and it weighs 612g. 1075 and 15n20 for the outter plates, w2 for the core.

thanks for looking.

Kevin

 

[Manix2]

Purdy.:thumbup:

 

[quint]

That looks like one challenging blade to make. I have no clue about the larger guys or damascus but was wondering, do you think you will be able to take it down enough to get rid of the weld spot or try and work it into the overall package.

 

[kevin -the professor]

Nah, there is not any way to get rid of that weld flaw. It is just going to be there. It is not as big as it seems in the photo, that is a pic from about 8" away from the blade with the macro setting on. Weld flaws of that size are often found on originals. If this was a commission blade for a museum or a very exepensive collector piece I would have to make another blade. But, this blade is meant to be bought and used by a regular person who is interested in swords. The blade is something like a thousand dollars worth by itself and with fittings will be in the twelve hundred range. More with scabbard and scabbard fittings. a serious collector piece would start around 5K and go up fast from there.

I can't grind that much off without ruining the geometry, though.

thanks for looking,
kc

 

[kevin -the professor]

Hello Everyone,

I have made some progress. I am going to make the fittings myself on this one. We will see how things go. I have to learn to do this some time.

Jesus - if you read this - the Dynaflow worked like a charm. Thanks.

Here is my new toy that helped a lot. This torch is great, I had been using little propane torches before. First time I tried to braze two pieces of brass together, I melted them. I need a smaller tip, and more practice. On the other hand, I can weld and braze with this thing (after a lot of practice).

The standard for Chinese daos is a guard with a flange to keep water out of the scabbard. So, I am making this one by a flat disc (sort of), with flange brazed on.

here it is all clamped and wired. The wire was first, and I decided that I needed clamps as an afterthought.

This is the guard as it sits. I am going to polish it some more and then try to etch a geometric design in with ferric and nail polish resist.

Here is a side view that shows the joint where the flange meets itself and also where it is brazed to the flat disc. These guards are lighter than I thought they would be. I measured 8 of them from originals from the Ming (1700's) through Qing (up to early 1900's). They all weighed between 125 and 230 grams. I haven't measured this one, yet.

I hope the etching works. If not, I will have to either file or carve the design. I am not good enough with burrs or flex shaft. So, its this or hand power.

thanks for looking.
Kevin