- Joined
- Oct 29, 2006
- Messages
- 2,912
I have been really enamoured with Japanese styled blades recently and made a few tantos. The tantos gave me the bug so I decided to try a little larger. This is my first sword. I had to stay at wakizashi length as that is the longest that will fit in my kitchen oven for tempering.
If this WIP seems a little simplistic, I originally started it on another forum where the members are more "gun people" and less knowledgeable of swords and the process of making them.
Starting off, in this first photo you can see the size of the W2 steel bar I started with and the "sunobe" or the preform. For thickness, this "sunobe" is about 3/8" at the "machi", ie. the place where the notches are for the "habaki" or copper collar and where the tang begins. From there it tapers to about 1/4" near the tip. It also tapers from the machi towards the end of the tang.
It also tapers from about 1 1/4" wide at the machi to just under 1" at the tip and also tapers towards the end of the tang.
This is a very long process (as is everything I'm discovering) and took about 4 hours of forging.
This next one shows the amount of reduction at the tip.. Lots of hammering.
This next shot ain't so great at showing anything but it's supposed to show the next step, forging the bevels. This particular sword will have the "shinogi-zukuri" geometry which is this but rather than just parallel sides, they taper towards the "mune" or spine ridge.
This is also a very long process as hammering the bevels makes the sword want to curve backwards but straightening the blade makes it want to corkscrew. This took me another 3 hours, then another 2 the next day as I didn't like how the first session turned out.
The next shot is of some of the rough grinding stage. I started to feel like I had bitten off way more than I can chew with this one. You have to try to keep the angle between the 2 side facets at 11 degrees and have the upper flat, the "shinogi" taper relative to the width of the blade at a 1/3rd ratio. I mean the shinogi is 1/3rd the width of the blade and should stay that way all the way from just back from the tip to the end of the tang. Needless to say, I gave up on the grinder and went to draw filing... How many hours?? no clue but it is a lot more than I would have thought.
Then there's the tip. That is a whole special case where there's a geometry change... More filing... The bad part is that I know that if this survived the quench, all that work will likely be wrecked as I try to do the finish work.. Well that's turned out to be true.
So.. onto the heat treating. Here's some pics of the clay layout. I am going for a "choji" hamon but will take anything at this point.
Here I took a little diversion. I didn't like my HT set up so I made a new forge that I can rest the blade on and "spot heat" by having the burner focussed on one spot. Also, I wanted this forge for little blades and small fittings, something I could rest the blade on the floor rather than in the big vertical forge.
The tank is a portable air tank from Walmart for $30. Safer than a propane tank.
And for quenching, I quickly put this together at work one day after hours. Only took about 40 minutes but with epoxy it holds water well. I filled it with hot water, measured about 130 degrees.
And here it is after the quench and temper, the clay scraped off. Hopefully you can see the "sori" or the curve that developed. The spine was straight going in. It's such a graceful thing.
I did have some warping and it was a struggle to straighten it. I didn't get all the warp out and fixed the one small part with the grinder.
I had a helluva time finishing this on the grinder. It's so so difficult so I actually went back to the file for the shinogi. It will add hours of work but the lines will be straight and in the right place. I'm using the blue layout dye to help me see the lines.
The blade is 22" from the machi to the tip. I haven't decided how long to make the handle yet so the tang may shorten some.
What a long long process this will be to completion. I still have to hand sand, do the etch, finish the tang, do the handle and wrap, make a tsuba or guard, make the saya or scabbard...
If this WIP seems a little simplistic, I originally started it on another forum where the members are more "gun people" and less knowledgeable of swords and the process of making them.
Starting off, in this first photo you can see the size of the W2 steel bar I started with and the "sunobe" or the preform. For thickness, this "sunobe" is about 3/8" at the "machi", ie. the place where the notches are for the "habaki" or copper collar and where the tang begins. From there it tapers to about 1/4" near the tip. It also tapers from the machi towards the end of the tang.
It also tapers from about 1 1/4" wide at the machi to just under 1" at the tip and also tapers towards the end of the tang.
This is a very long process (as is everything I'm discovering) and took about 4 hours of forging.
This next one shows the amount of reduction at the tip.. Lots of hammering.
This next shot ain't so great at showing anything but it's supposed to show the next step, forging the bevels. This particular sword will have the "shinogi-zukuri" geometry which is this but rather than just parallel sides, they taper towards the "mune" or spine ridge.
This is also a very long process as hammering the bevels makes the sword want to curve backwards but straightening the blade makes it want to corkscrew. This took me another 3 hours, then another 2 the next day as I didn't like how the first session turned out.
The next shot is of some of the rough grinding stage. I started to feel like I had bitten off way more than I can chew with this one. You have to try to keep the angle between the 2 side facets at 11 degrees and have the upper flat, the "shinogi" taper relative to the width of the blade at a 1/3rd ratio. I mean the shinogi is 1/3rd the width of the blade and should stay that way all the way from just back from the tip to the end of the tang. Needless to say, I gave up on the grinder and went to draw filing... How many hours?? no clue but it is a lot more than I would have thought.
Then there's the tip. That is a whole special case where there's a geometry change... More filing... The bad part is that I know that if this survived the quench, all that work will likely be wrecked as I try to do the finish work.. Well that's turned out to be true.
So.. onto the heat treating. Here's some pics of the clay layout. I am going for a "choji" hamon but will take anything at this point.
Here I took a little diversion. I didn't like my HT set up so I made a new forge that I can rest the blade on and "spot heat" by having the burner focussed on one spot. Also, I wanted this forge for little blades and small fittings, something I could rest the blade on the floor rather than in the big vertical forge.
The tank is a portable air tank from Walmart for $30. Safer than a propane tank.
And for quenching, I quickly put this together at work one day after hours. Only took about 40 minutes but with epoxy it holds water well. I filled it with hot water, measured about 130 degrees.
And here it is after the quench and temper, the clay scraped off. Hopefully you can see the "sori" or the curve that developed. The spine was straight going in. It's such a graceful thing.
I did have some warping and it was a struggle to straighten it. I didn't get all the warp out and fixed the one small part with the grinder.
I had a helluva time finishing this on the grinder. It's so so difficult so I actually went back to the file for the shinogi. It will add hours of work but the lines will be straight and in the right place. I'm using the blue layout dye to help me see the lines.
The blade is 22" from the machi to the tip. I haven't decided how long to make the handle yet so the tang may shorten some.
What a long long process this will be to completion. I still have to hand sand, do the etch, finish the tang, do the handle and wrap, make a tsuba or guard, make the saya or scabbard...