Matthew Gregory
Chief Executive in charge of Entertainment
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
- Messages
- 6,006
Ben Seward
and I met a while ago, but it wasn't until talking about the finer points of heat treat while watching the Bladesports World Cutting Championship Finals during this year's Blade Show that we hit if off. After sharing our experiences in that stinking convention center parking lot in the oppressive Atlanta heat, we agreed to stay in touch. From that point on, we've just about talked weekly. Despite our styes and methods being rather dissimilar, the end products of our labors are somehow complementary. In mid-July, he mentioned that he'd be up my way (sort of) visiting family, and asked if I could give him a quick tutorial on how I wrap handles.
We ate some grilled chicken, laughed on the back deck a bit, and he even broke out the guitar:
When he came, he brought along a blade that maybe we could do a project together with...
Made of his gorgeous stainless-clad carbon steel San Mai, the sweep and flow just oozed his style. His original thoughts were that I'd run with it as a kwaiken, but something about the blade shape told me to head in a slightly different direction...
Shifting to a stick tang, I elected to use some modern materials to feed off of his new/old material blade construction. A stainless steel seppa and carbon fiber guard:
After a bit of fiddling and scootching:
For the handle, I wanted to do something very different. The core is TeroTuf...
...which I sleeved in carbon fiber fabric, and coated in numerous coats of resin and polished to a sheen.
Getting closer:
...then some fancy details to complete the package, and some carbon fiber tsukaito:
The final results:
The blade is 6-1/2" long, with a 5-3/8" long handle, and an overall length of just shy of 12". Weighs in at 9-5/8 ounces. The tiger-and-bamboo menuki are sterling silver and gold plate.
Fun project! Ben's a good time, and I'm glad he and his family got the chance to swing by. I hope he thinks I made the best of his work. Hope you like it, too, and thanks for looking!
