- Joined
- Oct 29, 2006
- Messages
- 2,912
This is one I have been working on slowly since last December. As much as I like using W2 for Japanese styled pieces, one important aesthetic aspect of the blade is the "hada", the grain of the steel made by the repeated folding and drawing of the steel. A friend of mine from Alberta sent me a box of old worn out lathe files a couple years ago and combined with some other small pieces of steel I had lying around, I decided to try forge welding and folding. The blade has about 2000 layers made up of 1095,W1,W2,1084,1070/80.
The geometry is shinogi zukuri with a nice o-kissaki.
The blade is 2.41 shaku or about 28 3/4".
Other measurements will follow but it weighs in at 1200g on the dot without the saya, or 2lbs 10oz. A robust blade but it should be good and strong as a cutter.
I still have some polishing to do so maybe a few grams will get shaved off that. I'll measure the sori then but it's a tori-sori with the peak of the curve pretty much in the middle of the blade.
The saya is alder with cane wrap and buffalo horn koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri. I'll have to take a detail shot of the koiguchi as it's the best I've done yet.
The tsuka is about 11" and is alder core with full same wrap (side seam) and black silk ito (with hishigame)
The fuchi/kashira are Fred Lohman and are very large. To compensate I made the tsuka a ryo ryugo (rikko), or hourglass, shape.
The tsuba is an Edo period antique I have been saving.
I pushed myself on this one.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
And a last one with a 6 1/2' Japanese style bow I made earlier this summer to do a little backyard archery with the kids.
The geometry is shinogi zukuri with a nice o-kissaki.
The blade is 2.41 shaku or about 28 3/4".
Other measurements will follow but it weighs in at 1200g on the dot without the saya, or 2lbs 10oz. A robust blade but it should be good and strong as a cutter.
I still have some polishing to do so maybe a few grams will get shaved off that. I'll measure the sori then but it's a tori-sori with the peak of the curve pretty much in the middle of the blade.
The saya is alder with cane wrap and buffalo horn koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri. I'll have to take a detail shot of the koiguchi as it's the best I've done yet.
The tsuka is about 11" and is alder core with full same wrap (side seam) and black silk ito (with hishigame)
The fuchi/kashira are Fred Lohman and are very large. To compensate I made the tsuka a ryo ryugo (rikko), or hourglass, shape.
The tsuba is an Edo period antique I have been saving.
I pushed myself on this one.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
And a last one with a 6 1/2' Japanese style bow I made earlier this summer to do a little backyard archery with the kids.
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Just a fantastic effort. Beautiful.
