Hi everyone, here's a blade that I've been working on for the past couple months. I don't get a lot of time in the shop during the winter and fall months so it took me a long while to do this one, but i'm happy with how it turned out. I kind of ramble on about the blade, so I won't be offended if you just skip to the pictures, they are down below 
My objective with this piece was to fuse elements from both eastern and western blade culture and still form a cohesive end result. The blade was hand forged from W2 into a fighting bowie shape that also draws a lot on the form of the falcata. There is a strong recurve along the first half of the blade, and a harpoon style swedge on the second half. It was differentially quenched for a nice hamon running down the length of the blade and swedge. The false edge is not sharpened, but it IS hardened. The blade was polished to 2000 grit, lightly etched, then brushed for a nice satin finish that shows a natural hamon. Much of the furniture draws on the japanese style of mounting blades. There is a copper habaki that fits over most of the ricasso, followed by a copper seppa, a wrought iron guard, another seppa, and finally a fuchi. All the copper fittings were simmered in a niage solution for around a half hour to patinate them a deep leathery plum color. The wrought iron for the guard is from the 1800's and was hand forged to shape, repeatedly heated and quenched to reveal the grain pattern, then rusted and boiled to give it a stable black patina. The handle itself is made from wenge and is in the traditional bowie hunter shape. It was split and hand carved to fit the tang of the blade (similarly to how the japanese tsuka is made) then glued back together, shaped, polished to 2000 grit and oiled for a nice finish. A copper mosaic pin rests in the center of the handle.
The sheath itself is really interesting, I wanted to tie it together with the blade's theme, so I went for a leather sheath with a wenge wood inlay down the center. the wenge inlay also has a piece of wrought iron and two pieces of copper inlayed into it. All the copper and wrought in the sheath was treated and patinated the same as it was in the blade furniture so it matches. All the leather in the sheath was dyed black to match the wenge and wrought, and stitched with black waxed thread. On the back of the sheath is a belt loop for vertical carry and a hand forged copper d-ring that holds the retaining strap. You could also attach a strap to the copper ring if you wanted to carry the blade slung. The retaining strap is made from a piece of black silk ito and is held together with a copper wire wrap. It attaches on the front to a wrought iron hook hand forged from an 1800's railway nail. I would like to add that the retaining strap isn't even necessary to use (I know some of you guys really hate retaining straps
) as the habaki grips the mouth of the sheath and gives it great retention.
Now for the specs!
Blade length: 9.5"
Blade width: 1.5" at its widest point
Blade thickness: .25" at its thickest point
OAL: 15"
Materials used: W2 steel, wrought iron, copper, leather, wenge, waxed thread, mosaic pin, silk ito, copper wire
Oh and just as a side note, the props in the picture are some pieces of century old coal I found washed up on a sandbar at beaver island. Pretty cool stuff!
I'm asking $950 (PayPal preferred) for this one and it ships free USPS priority anywhere in the contig. USA. If you'd like this to be insured, I would be happy to do so, just please add $12 to the total cost. And if you live outside the contig. USA, just let me know and I'll do what I can to find a shipping option that works for you. First one to say "I'll take it" gets it, please make sure the blade is available before sending funds. If you have any comments or questions, I can be reached at YozakuraForge@Gmail.com, or you can feel free to post down below
Thanks!
-Grant
My objective with this piece was to fuse elements from both eastern and western blade culture and still form a cohesive end result. The blade was hand forged from W2 into a fighting bowie shape that also draws a lot on the form of the falcata. There is a strong recurve along the first half of the blade, and a harpoon style swedge on the second half. It was differentially quenched for a nice hamon running down the length of the blade and swedge. The false edge is not sharpened, but it IS hardened. The blade was polished to 2000 grit, lightly etched, then brushed for a nice satin finish that shows a natural hamon. Much of the furniture draws on the japanese style of mounting blades. There is a copper habaki that fits over most of the ricasso, followed by a copper seppa, a wrought iron guard, another seppa, and finally a fuchi. All the copper fittings were simmered in a niage solution for around a half hour to patinate them a deep leathery plum color. The wrought iron for the guard is from the 1800's and was hand forged to shape, repeatedly heated and quenched to reveal the grain pattern, then rusted and boiled to give it a stable black patina. The handle itself is made from wenge and is in the traditional bowie hunter shape. It was split and hand carved to fit the tang of the blade (similarly to how the japanese tsuka is made) then glued back together, shaped, polished to 2000 grit and oiled for a nice finish. A copper mosaic pin rests in the center of the handle.
The sheath itself is really interesting, I wanted to tie it together with the blade's theme, so I went for a leather sheath with a wenge wood inlay down the center. the wenge inlay also has a piece of wrought iron and two pieces of copper inlayed into it. All the copper and wrought in the sheath was treated and patinated the same as it was in the blade furniture so it matches. All the leather in the sheath was dyed black to match the wenge and wrought, and stitched with black waxed thread. On the back of the sheath is a belt loop for vertical carry and a hand forged copper d-ring that holds the retaining strap. You could also attach a strap to the copper ring if you wanted to carry the blade slung. The retaining strap is made from a piece of black silk ito and is held together with a copper wire wrap. It attaches on the front to a wrought iron hook hand forged from an 1800's railway nail. I would like to add that the retaining strap isn't even necessary to use (I know some of you guys really hate retaining straps
) as the habaki grips the mouth of the sheath and gives it great retention.Now for the specs!
Blade length: 9.5"
Blade width: 1.5" at its widest point
Blade thickness: .25" at its thickest point
OAL: 15"
Materials used: W2 steel, wrought iron, copper, leather, wenge, waxed thread, mosaic pin, silk ito, copper wire
Oh and just as a side note, the props in the picture are some pieces of century old coal I found washed up on a sandbar at beaver island. Pretty cool stuff!
I'm asking $950 (PayPal preferred) for this one and it ships free USPS priority anywhere in the contig. USA. If you'd like this to be insured, I would be happy to do so, just please add $12 to the total cost. And if you live outside the contig. USA, just let me know and I'll do what I can to find a shipping option that works for you. First one to say "I'll take it" gets it, please make sure the blade is available before sending funds. If you have any comments or questions, I can be reached at YozakuraForge@Gmail.com, or you can feel free to post down below
Thanks!
-Grant
