- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
A little while back, Stuart and I started to discuss what he would do for our next project. With the Fowler bowie / hunter set having been executed so well, I had a fighter in mind for this project. I didn't know what I wanted in particular, other than something a bit different from anything I have owned before.
We tossed a few ideas back and forth:
And while many options were appealing (and indeed, may well be revisited), none said "That's the one!" real loud and clear. So I did what I have done with many makers over the years, I said "Forget everything we've talked about so far - is there something out there, or something in your head, that you've wanted to build? Some project that's in you to make just because you want to?"
As it happens, there was. As Stuart explained:
"I was out at the forge making some fittings and thinking about the knife.. Then I had a great idea about another geometry I've wanted to try. The Osoraku Zukuri. It's characterized by the kissaki or tip area comprising more than half the blade. It would make for an interesting geometry change and the balance should make it handle like a fighter."
I thought it sounded cool. Or rather, I liked Stuart's enthusiasm for the project, but hadn't the first freakin' clue what he was talking about. So I asked for an explanation that used a bit more English:
Now I thought it was genuinely cool, though trying to figure out that blade geometry made my head hurt. So I stopped thinking so hard, 'cause I didn't have to make it.
Now let me pause here and say that this piece is not in any way intended to be a precise reproduction of any historical piece - rather, it is drawing from historical precedent as inspiration for a contemporary fighting knife. Much as Don Fogg has done with many of his Japanese "fusion" pieces, such as his famous Yakuza Bowie.
I left Stuart to just build what he had in mind, and this is what he came up with:
"The handle would carry the shinogi/ridge line through it and with the drop in the handle, and that line, it will mimic in reverse the upswept shinogi line in the blade. A very elongated "S" curve. The drop in the handle gives the blade a stabbing function rather than a pure slashing blade if the handle were to follow the curve upwards as a traditional knife."
Now, what follows won't be a detailed WIP, as the project is actually well advanced, but this will give you the backdrop, followed by some pics of Stuart wrestling with the complex blade geometry, then on to the finished piece in fairly short order.
Roger
We tossed a few ideas back and forth:
And while many options were appealing (and indeed, may well be revisited), none said "That's the one!" real loud and clear. So I did what I have done with many makers over the years, I said "Forget everything we've talked about so far - is there something out there, or something in your head, that you've wanted to build? Some project that's in you to make just because you want to?"
As it happens, there was. As Stuart explained:
"I was out at the forge making some fittings and thinking about the knife.. Then I had a great idea about another geometry I've wanted to try. The Osoraku Zukuri. It's characterized by the kissaki or tip area comprising more than half the blade. It would make for an interesting geometry change and the balance should make it handle like a fighter."
I thought it sounded cool. Or rather, I liked Stuart's enthusiasm for the project, but hadn't the first freakin' clue what he was talking about. So I asked for an explanation that used a bit more English:
Now I thought it was genuinely cool, though trying to figure out that blade geometry made my head hurt. So I stopped thinking so hard, 'cause I didn't have to make it.
Now let me pause here and say that this piece is not in any way intended to be a precise reproduction of any historical piece - rather, it is drawing from historical precedent as inspiration for a contemporary fighting knife. Much as Don Fogg has done with many of his Japanese "fusion" pieces, such as his famous Yakuza Bowie.
I left Stuart to just build what he had in mind, and this is what he came up with:
"The handle would carry the shinogi/ridge line through it and with the drop in the handle, and that line, it will mimic in reverse the upswept shinogi line in the blade. A very elongated "S" curve. The drop in the handle gives the blade a stabbing function rather than a pure slashing blade if the handle were to follow the curve upwards as a traditional knife."
Now, what follows won't be a detailed WIP, as the project is actually well advanced, but this will give you the backdrop, followed by some pics of Stuart wrestling with the complex blade geometry, then on to the finished piece in fairly short order.
Roger
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:thumbup:
