- Joined
- Dec 23, 2006
- Messages
- 15,019
Through my love of Japanese styled swords and the Japanese sword arts I’ve come to appreciate a certain aesthetic in my personal swords.
from my kendo background I have learned to appreciate longer Tsuka‘s (handles) and a 26 to 27 inch blade
I have many antique Nihonto and modern adaptations of the Japanese Sword but I have 2 that are built to my exact dimensions that are very important to me. Both commissioned when 2 of my kids were born. One from my dear friend the late great Phill Hartsfield the other while Similar dimensions a piece that could not be farther from Phill’s adaptation a very traditional piece forged from iron ore sand by the late great Louis Mills and Rick Barrett.
well my Katana collection would not be complete with out a piece in these dimensions from my dear friend David Mirabile
David as everyone knows is a blade Smith that hails from Alaska and has an innate ability to make a wicked blade that has a visceral look and feel that makes his work standout as some of the very best in the world.
I have a ton of expierence cutting with his Wakizashi’s , Tanto’s and a Jungle Honey and they are extremely high performance cutting tools
for this piece while we wanted to stick to my ideal dimensions of the perfect Katana we wanted to do a blade that reflected the greatest period IMHO of the Katana and that was when the Japanese were switching from the Tachi to the Katana to deal with the Mogol Hordes that were invading them so we looked at some great pieces from the past and David struck out to build a Shobu ZUKURI piece with deep Sori that carried into the curved Tachi style handle and what he came up with with the blending of ancient designs and modern materials like Carbon Fiber etc has made a one of a kind piece that would would hopefully give confidence to a warrior that was watching the Hordes poor in on their beaches that their blade would cut strong and true through the boiled leather Mongol,Armor
the video shows the complete construction and David’s masterful way of combining the old with the new to complete my perfect Blade trilogy.
David worked on this through the winter into the spring finishing it up a few weeks ago. If your going to have. A custom Blade commissioned like this you might as well fly the maker in to deliver it which I did so that we could do some shooting and some test cutting before we both traveled to the Blade show to exhibit it.
it was received incredibly well as it truly is a magnificent piece
I was very impressed with James Williams thoughts when I showed him the piece and he very much liked the curvature etc
without further ado let me present the third TONBOKIRI (dragonfly cutter) in my collection
thank you David
from my kendo background I have learned to appreciate longer Tsuka‘s (handles) and a 26 to 27 inch blade
I have many antique Nihonto and modern adaptations of the Japanese Sword but I have 2 that are built to my exact dimensions that are very important to me. Both commissioned when 2 of my kids were born. One from my dear friend the late great Phill Hartsfield the other while Similar dimensions a piece that could not be farther from Phill’s adaptation a very traditional piece forged from iron ore sand by the late great Louis Mills and Rick Barrett.
well my Katana collection would not be complete with out a piece in these dimensions from my dear friend David Mirabile
David as everyone knows is a blade Smith that hails from Alaska and has an innate ability to make a wicked blade that has a visceral look and feel that makes his work standout as some of the very best in the world.
I have a ton of expierence cutting with his Wakizashi’s , Tanto’s and a Jungle Honey and they are extremely high performance cutting tools
for this piece while we wanted to stick to my ideal dimensions of the perfect Katana we wanted to do a blade that reflected the greatest period IMHO of the Katana and that was when the Japanese were switching from the Tachi to the Katana to deal with the Mogol Hordes that were invading them so we looked at some great pieces from the past and David struck out to build a Shobu ZUKURI piece with deep Sori that carried into the curved Tachi style handle and what he came up with with the blending of ancient designs and modern materials like Carbon Fiber etc has made a one of a kind piece that would would hopefully give confidence to a warrior that was watching the Hordes poor in on their beaches that their blade would cut strong and true through the boiled leather Mongol,Armor
the video shows the complete construction and David’s masterful way of combining the old with the new to complete my perfect Blade trilogy.
David worked on this through the winter into the spring finishing it up a few weeks ago. If your going to have. A custom Blade commissioned like this you might as well fly the maker in to deliver it which I did so that we could do some shooting and some test cutting before we both traveled to the Blade show to exhibit it.
it was received incredibly well as it truly is a magnificent piece
I was very impressed with James Williams thoughts when I showed him the piece and he very much liked the curvature etc
without further ado let me present the third TONBOKIRI (dragonfly cutter) in my collection
thank you David
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