Su Yari?

A.McPherson

A.McPherson

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
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Hey folks, anyone out there ever make a Su Yari? It's a Japanese, triangle cross sectioned spear. Approx. 18 inches of blade, 18 inches of rectangular tapered tang.

I'm getting ready to try to make one, two actually, one for me (the test version), one for a buddy.

I've started tooling up for the occasion, I plan to forge it out, using some spring swedges I made as I think trying to grind it out of big stock would be too wasteful.

I'm wanting to try to get a hamon, but I'm not really sure where to go with that... Any recommendations? Preferably something that I can get in round stock, around 1 1/2". Also a good source for the stock as well. Thanks!received_2973384086320364.jpeg
 
Hey Stacy,
Thanks for the advise! I made a triangular spring swedge that fits in the "hardy" of my railroad track "anvil'. I'm ok the process of making a butcher spring swedge as well.

I know the hamon is a bit of a pipe dream, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. If I get a hardening line of any kind I'll be pleased.

Any advise on how to handle the attempt? I know everyone talks up W2 for hamons, is it heat treatable in a vertical forge? I've got pretty good temp control, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere close to an electric furnace...
 
Anybody know where to get round stock 1075, W2, or other hamon preferred steels? Hoping for round bar stock at around 1 to 1 1/2".
 
A.McPherson said:
Any advise on how to handle the attempt? I know everyone talks up W2 for hamons, is it heat treatable in a vertical forge? I've got pretty good temp control, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere close to an electric furnace...
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Personally i think you can get reasonable results heat treating W2 in a gas forge. Should be good enough for a mostly decorative spear.
W2 doesn't have that much more alloying elements in it than 1095
 
You can get w1 round stock in those sizes, I haven’t seen w2 or 1075 in those sizes unless you find some old w2 round stock but I think most of it at this point is on the larger side.
 
Post edited. I thought it was a fully triangular blade as in a sankaku yari. I was thinking of the wrong type of yari.
 
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could you forge weld on the steel for the edge, and use the different materials to get a similar effect to a hamon? maybe start with mild steel hex section and weld high carbon steel onto 3 of the faces.
edit: i suppose you would have to weld a chunk on the top too. i don't know how hard all that would be, i don't have any experience forge welding
 
Whatever 'smith back in the mists of time who pulled off this yari with hamon was a real wizard.

lwNPzEi.jpg
 
My bad!
I just realized you are making a three bevel blade, not a triangular blade. Forget my comments. I'll edit them out. On a flat back double bevel yari a hamon is quite possible.
 
Alex Topfer said:
could you forge weld on the steel for the edge, and use the different materials to get a similar effect to a hamon? maybe start with mild steel hex section and weld high carbon steel onto 3 of the faces.
edit: i suppose you would have to weld a chunk on the top too. i don't know how hard all that would be, i don't have any experience forge welding
Click to expand...

You know, I thought about doing that, but it really seemed like it would be adding more failure points into an already difficult task.

If I had more experience forge welding, I might consider it more fully.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
My bad!
I just realized you are making a three bevel blade, not a triangular blade. Forget my comments. I'll edit them out. On a flat back double bevel yari a hamon is quite possible.
Click to expand...

I've had an aching desire to make a triangular rapier for years now. :mad::oops: It must happen!


A.McPherson said:
Dark magic for sure!! That thing is awesome!
Click to expand...

There's various photos of that one floating around the internet. It's such an amazing feat of bladesmithing, I never get tired of seeing it.

edit: I think it might be owned by @SouthernComfort , maybe he can give more details about it.
 
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I was thinking of sankaku yari when you said triangular. Su yari is a three bevel blade ( flattened isosceles triangle).
 
Well I started the prototype...

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It's going ok so far, but I anticipated getting more length out of it, I might have to weld on some stock for more tang length.

We'll see as the thing takes shape!
 
More progress on the prototype!
Not so worried about the length anymore!

VvqUod0.jpg

Blade is 20.5 inches at this point, but I think I got a little fish mouth going on, so it'll end up shorter by a bit.

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25&1/2 over all at this point, but I haven't forged out the tang yet, I suspect it'll be close to 30 inches over all when I'm done forging. This is good fun!
 
Looking good! Be sure to make the tang as long as you can! They usually have very long tangs that go through a reinforced part of the spear haft.
 
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