- Joined
- Feb 27, 2006
- Messages
- 5,191
this is a japanese inspired short sword, but it is far from traditional. it was made by stock removal and is W2 steel. my objective was to make something more traditional looking than my past japanese styled projects, and the challenge of making all the proper parts from scratch, excluding the menuki. the blade is 13 3/4" long from the hand guard to the tip. it has a clay hamon. it was done on a grinder but from 220 grit and up, by hand sanding i managed to add a convex edge and brought it to approx .008" before sharpening. i left the scale intact on the tang. the copper blade collar (habaki) in front of the hand guard was braised with hard solder, and has a cat scratch or rainfall pattern on it. the hand guard (tsuba) is nickel silver. it has a flanged edge. i made my own hammer and chisel and cut in a simple illustration i call " cattails by a brook". i had watched ford hallam's tsuba videos on youtube ( highly recommended) and was compelled to try something, however simple. the japanese kanji character = april. i added patina/age. the collar on the front of the handle (fuchi) is nickel and copper, hard soldered and patina added. i tried to replicate the handle wrapping and knots with tutorials on youtube. the cap on the end of the handle ( kashira), mouth of the scabbard (koiguchi) and the piece on the scabbard (kurigata) that the cord goes through and all made from brown buffalo horn with streaks. i decided to make the scabbard a little thicker and beefier than usual, as well as adding a copper spacer to the mouth to reinforce it for more safety. the scabbard and handle are poplar wood. thanks for checking it out 
