First Wak

peter nap

peter nap

Joined
Nov 27, 1999
Messages
3,745
A number of years ago I made my first Wak. I gave it to my son and I hadn't seen it since. He's home for the holidays and brought it home for me to clean up. I took some pictures.
20" blade
Rosewood
Brass and Copper saddle habaki

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Woah! That's really nice Peter! Beautiful work on the blade and sheath. Pretty wood too. What did you use in the damascus and what is this type of knife used for? I take it that it is Japanese....
 
Thanks Peter. The steel is Damasteel. It's a powdered damascus but it's stainless and takes and holds an unbelievable edge. When I put the final edge on it the wire edge came off like a minature bandsaw blade.
The Wakashashi (Spelling?) is a short sword and a companion to the Katana. The masters recommended using it in tight quarters. They, just like the Katanas were made in straight and curved blades. Not all had tsubas (guards) and of the ones that did some were integral wooden ones like this one. The saddle on the Habaki was just the result of playing around with it to see if I could.

Unlike the traditionals, I used a full tang. I expected it to get some rough use. The tang stops 1" short of the end of the grip. The rest of the grip has lead to improve balance and move the nodes further forward. As a result the COB is right at the font of the Habaki and the COP is 1" back from dead center of the blade.

It's far from perfect but it was enough to keep me interested in swordmaking.
 
That is super!

I practice alot of bokken and jo in the style of Aikido that I take. One of these days I have to do a waki or a katana.

Is it hard to handle a large piece of steel like that?


Great package all the way around!

Greg
 
The Wak's aren't too bad Greg. The first sword I made was a 31" katana. It was not pretty. After about the 10th I got the hang of working on it in sections (I'm talking about forging it). As far as grinding, it really isn't too bad to about 30 inches. It gets awkard after that. The real trick to them is getting them to balance and controlling the vibration nodes. This is done both in the grind and in the construction of the grip.

Think of taking a baseball bat and hitting a steel post. You want your sweet spot, COP(center of power) as far out as possible. You also don't want the vibration to sting your hand. It should humm just forward of your index finger. Beauty aside, that's why the masters like Howard Clark get the big bucks.:rolleyes:
 
Man that is great looking,One of these days I still have to try one of these myself.Just haven't had the guts to mess it up yet..
Bruce
 
Well I'm looking forward to it Bruce. Your mess-up's are always a thousand times better than my best.
 
I don't think so Peter.I don't think I have ever seen one of yours that looked bad at all.
Bruce
 
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