Bowie in Progress (lots o' pics)

I have seen shibuichi and shakudo used for habaki and like the look very much from both of these materials. I also like copper and coin silver.
 
Thanks for sharing Burch, I love these threads. I like the way it's coming along, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the rest of the project is completed as smoothly.

Bailey, ivory and pearl are such beautiful materials but the fact that they're so fragile would put me off. I guess some small cracks might add some character and give it some appeal, but I would be too worried about it to really enjoy the finished piece. Different strokes for different folks though, nothing wrong with that.
 
Alrighty -- looks like a change of plan -- we're going with copper for the habaki w/ a ns seppa to break up the color between the mokume and copper.

Bailey -- I just got off the phone with a guy that has some copper locally in sheets, he said he had it from 1/16, up to 1/4. I'll see if he has some 1/8th for you.
 
If you are going to us copper you can still fabricate it, but your solder lines will show. There is a way to hide them but I will need to see your omish face so I can show you in peson.
 
mullerforge said:
If you are going to us copper you can still fabricate it, but your solder lines will show. There is a way to hide them but I will need to see your omish face so I can show you in peson.
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You mean I can't just use a copper-colored crayon? :D I think I'll definitely be giving you a ring soon.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I have seen shibuichi and shakudo used for habaki and like the look very much from both of these materials. I also like copper and coin silver.
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Of course, Keith, shibuichi and shakudo are traditional materials, and are copper alloys.

Those of you that understand Japanese swords and the like, are certainly entitled to get what you like, and interpret where yer' feelin' it.

I have, like Bailey, seen VERY many "un" traditional mountings. Crushed pearl or abalone mixed in with lacquer, same' wraps on saya, red laquer motifs, very very small or very large tsuba.....the list goes on.

Once the unification of Japan was underway, and there was not constant warfare, the daisho became one of the only ways for a samurai to wear "jewelry", so those that could afford to, pimped it up to the max.

My personal aesthestic, and one that has been reinforced by serious Iaijutsu studies, is that it is the wielder of the sword that should shine, not the sword itself.

Although I can be a bit of a dandy, I have kept to fairly simple fittings for this reason. Not bound by tradition because I "am bound by tradition", I simply like the way certain things look.

- Copper habaki for the contrast to the blade, and hamon, and the(to me) attractive patina it develops over time.
- White same' because it shows the skill of the wrappers' diamonds in the ito.
- Black silk ito because it hides a lot of dirt. White ito is definitely for those that do not sweat like I do.
- Gold menuki for the contrast, without being too busy.

I LOVE nanako fuchi/kashira, with gold accents, but will not spend the money on it. A primo set of antiques in interesting themes are WELL over $1,000. Try finding someone to hand cut each "cod roe" design, and check out what contemporary pieces cost. Lohman does offer some nice repros, but they are not shakudo, or steel base, they are silver, with lacquer.

My point in this meandering is that there is so much to choose from, and it really helps that you have a strong idea of what you like.

That is why I recommended copper to Michael for this habaki. He is however, always free to tell me to pack my suggestions in the "out" box.:D

Best Regards,

Steven Garsson
 
Alrighty -- the tutorial is officially "on-hold" until after Christmas. Have a good one everyone. :)
 
Mark Williams said:
Well Crap, Now what am I going to do? :( :D
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Make some knives and give them to me for free? :D

Actually, I'm heading out tomorrow to do the Christmas stuff and no shop time for me (what am I going to do????? :confused: :D )
 
I really enjoyed looking at each step!! Thanks, that was really neat!! I can't wait to see more pix!
 
Damn, I figured you'd get up on Christmas day, open you r presents and then head out to the shop and get back to work on this knife. I can't believe what kind of slacker some people are. :p

Merry Christmas. :D
 
Hey Bailey, I can get you 1/8" copper plate cheap from the local scrap yard they have a whole bin full of the stuff. I think the price comes out to around $7 a square foot. Let me know if you want some and I'll pick some up next time I'm there.
 
Wow, it has been a long time since I visited this thread. :D

I had forgotten that I still had this thread going and since I'm working on the same type of blade, I figured I'd finish it up.

I ended up scrapping the first blade and the one shown is a different one, but with the same dimensions, etc. Alot of the work has been done, but I still wanted to shoot some pics of how they were accomplished.

The first one shows the "psuedo habaki" (I scrapped the "traditional" habaki idea) piece that will be in the front of the three-piece guard part of the blade. I had used my mini-mill to do the initial slot, but still did a lot of filing to get it right. I then used the disk sander to clean it up and a ball pien to hammer the surface:

koitutorial1.jpg


The "main" part of the guard is a piece of mokume (provided by customer) that I had slotted out (oversized and no filing needed as it will be sandwiched) and roughed to size on the grinder, then finished on the disk. It still needs work, and will have the colors brought out:

koitutorial2.jpg


I used a round file last night and went around the edge with it. It still needs clean-up, but you get the idea:

koitutorial3.jpg


Here is a pic of the tang and the three guards. The one on top has some weird stuff going on, but you'll see why in a bit:

koitutorial4.jpg


The handle is pretty much done, but I wanted to show how I shaped it. The whole was drilled out and broached and the hole was drilled while the block was still square. Most of the shaping was done on the rubber wheel on the flat platen of the KMG. Clean up was done with a flap-wheel on a drill, but there was still quite a bit of handsanding that went into it.

koitutorial5.jpg


And finished with one coat of danish oil. It'll get another light coat once it is all put together and the mosaic pin gets ground down --

koitutorial6.jpg


This is a little trick I learned from Nick Wheeler. I attached the third part of the guard to the handle so that I could grind them together so that they had a perfect fit. After finishing, I took it off and textured it with the ball pein:

koitutorial7.jpg


Well, that's it for now, but I promise I'll finish this up in a couple of days. The blade still needs handrubbing and there are a lot of little details to finish out, but it is close.
 
Just love these pictoral presentations on a knife being made... Don't get to see it in real life often enough, so these threads make for a very nice coffee break!
And I especially like watching the process as it changes over time... Your decision processes on materials and construction elicited several enlightening responses...
Really look forward to your finishing this thread! :cool:
 
Can't wait to see this one finished! The handle metal looks very, very cool!

Contemporary, yet classic.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Alrighty -- I time to get back to it a little last night and this morning.

The hardware was pretty much finished, so it was time to finish the blade. I have a pretty simple set-up for handrubbing. A 2x2 square piece of metal that I put in the vise. I use a piece of cut-out wood and the rubber sandpaper holder you see to do hollows. Personally, I hate handrubbing hollow-ground blades. :D

koitutorial8.jpg


I'm sure more skilled bladesmiths could do this easier, but this grind was a pain at the plunges. I had to grind one way, then shift its orientation at the grinder to bring the plunges back toward the ricasso. I spent a bit of time with a very soft stone to clean up the plunges (makin' vertical lines horizontal! :) ).

koitutorial9.jpg


I forgot to take a picture of me etching my logo, but it isn't too exciting anyway.

I use different ways to bring out the hamon in knives, and the most aggressive is dipping it in the ferric chloride. You get a dark etch, but it usually doesn't catch some of the subtler activity. What I use just depends on the knife. This one has a nice "main" line and since I'm using guard material that will gather patina with age, I wanted the blade to be a little darker. Here it is spending just a bit of time in a light FC solution:

koitutorial10.jpg


It actually ended up in the etchant longer than I wanted and this is how she came out (after sitting in the open for about 5 minutes.) I neutralized with baking soda and went at it with simichrome to remove the dark oxides

koitutorial11.jpg


After getting the blade cleaned up, I touched up the hardware and glued the pseudo ferrule to the blackwood handle.

BTW -- the tang looks a bit squared, but it has been rounded off to avoid stress fractures:

koitutorial12.jpg


All JB welded up and wiped down with a lot of q-tips and rubbing alcohol. It is squeezed together in some cheap clamps, but they do the job. Now it sits overnight and tomorrow I put in the mosaic pin, and she'll be done. :D

koitutorial13.jpg
 
Cool knife!

Is that your new logo, Burch?



Dang...you're almost as slow as I am....:(


:p
 
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