Richard338
Gold Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2005
- Messages
- 7,327
I'm posting a summary since my katana project has finally come together except for a sageo cord that should arrive this week.
The completed sword is 38" long, 3/16" thick CPM 3V, heat treated at Peters to 60 hardness.
You may recall a thread about the basic grind.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/katana-grind-part-2.1607893/
The tsuba (guard is A2, hand filed...yes I now own a jewelers saw)
The fuchi and kashira are Devin Thomas damascus.
You may recall a thread about me etching them (I had to have them hardened to bring out a good contrast).
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/damascus-etch-contrast.1614579/
The handle has a full covering with a nice piece of rayskin (red lacquer), black silk ito, and gold plated menuki (all from Lohman).
The handle core is not wood, but rather terotuf, two corby bolts and plenty of epoxy.
This of course is not traditional and can't be taken apart, but since my habaki and other fittings have a touch of jb weld behind the scenes, I also don't need to worry about anything coming loose. The ito has a little bit of marine epoxy soaked in and isn't likely to come off either.
Overall, I'm glad I made it. If I simply bought a sword, it would just have a handle and a blade. By making each of the many pieces I had to understand their design and function.
I learned a lot (including that I'm not Stuart Branson...).
Each and every component could have been executed slightly better, but there were no disasters beyond my current standards for fit and finish.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. It is already sharp and I plan to try cutting with it.
It feels very light with the balance point about 5" in front of the tsuba.
Finally some pictures. Comments are welcome.
The completed sword is 38" long, 3/16" thick CPM 3V, heat treated at Peters to 60 hardness.
You may recall a thread about the basic grind.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/katana-grind-part-2.1607893/
The tsuba (guard is A2, hand filed...yes I now own a jewelers saw)
The fuchi and kashira are Devin Thomas damascus.
You may recall a thread about me etching them (I had to have them hardened to bring out a good contrast).
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/damascus-etch-contrast.1614579/
The handle has a full covering with a nice piece of rayskin (red lacquer), black silk ito, and gold plated menuki (all from Lohman).
The handle core is not wood, but rather terotuf, two corby bolts and plenty of epoxy.
This of course is not traditional and can't be taken apart, but since my habaki and other fittings have a touch of jb weld behind the scenes, I also don't need to worry about anything coming loose. The ito has a little bit of marine epoxy soaked in and isn't likely to come off either.
Overall, I'm glad I made it. If I simply bought a sword, it would just have a handle and a blade. By making each of the many pieces I had to understand their design and function.
I learned a lot (including that I'm not Stuart Branson...).
Each and every component could have been executed slightly better, but there were no disasters beyond my current standards for fit and finish.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. It is already sharp and I plan to try cutting with it.
It feels very light with the balance point about 5" in front of the tsuba.
Finally some pictures. Comments are welcome.
