Tell me about Asian-inspired blades

Boink

Boink

Joined
Jun 6, 2002
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I've been developing a jones for an Asian inspired fixed blade. I have seen some with wrapped handles with little sculptures embedded within and some with a tanto style and what's called a reinforced tip. Tool steel seems to figure prominently in these blades.

Who are the prodigious makers of these and where can I get more information about these knives? I don't see all that many on the For Sale or Trade areas of this forum.
 
Can someone name five good makers of them?

Are these OK in the grip area? Most don't seem to have a finger groove or guard on them.

I checked with the Jones' Brothers. The closest they came to Asian was when they visited a sushi bar for lunch. :)
 
I think I understand what TheBadGuy is trying to say with his comment. Thanks.;)

What I don't get is your comment Boink. Would you please explain what you meant? :confused: :confused:
 
I have one of Ivan Campos 'pocket swords' -- his American Standard Tanto in K-100 steel (sort of like D2 on steroids), cord wrapped grip which he offers with those gorgeous little sculptures wrapped in (sorry, I forget the proper name). Clearly Japanese inspired and purpose built for wicked cutting... you can locate his website in a search on these pages (the URL I have doesn't work at the moment, sorry).
 
First and foremost, dont get suckered into buying an "Americanized" tanto blade, you know the type, the abrupt angle upward towards the tip, the original tanto had a curved, upsweep to the tip, so if you want traditional, avoid the angled tips. The angled tips are more for looks than anything else and many people despise them.

There are several good makers, many use differential heat treating and the blades show neat temper lines. Steve Corkum makes a decent knife, as does Mike Snody. Go to any of the big custom knife websites and you'll find quite a few to choose from.

Heres a nice Snody knife:
K00941.jpg


And a damascus as well:
K00940.jpg


And a more traditional blade in A2:
K00804.jpg


And finally, a Corkum in 1050 carbon steel,notice the temper line:
knifeart_1720_61164411
 
Originally posted by BARRY JONES
I think I understand what TheBadGuy is trying to say with his comment. Thanks.;)

What I don't get is your comment Boink. Would you please explain what you meant? :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

That's a joke, in the same spirit of TheBadGuy, which I thought was obvious. I apologize if it caused you concern.
 
Originally posted by Megalobyte
First and foremost, dont get suckered into buying an "Americanized" tanto blade, you know the type, the abrupt angle upward towards the tip, the original tanto had a curved, upsweep to the tip, so if you want traditional, avoid the angled tips. The angled tips are more for looks than anything else and many people despise them.
And finally, a Corkum in 1050 carbon steel,notice the temper line:
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Beautiful blades, Megalobyte!

I went there and read "clay tempered" on Corkum's knives, using a high carbon steel. I take it that these are forged blades?

I noticed Don Polzien's name. The knife on the dealer site looked nice, but hard to tell details with most photos you see.

The Snody's I've about given up on. I have never gotten a return phone call or email sent back to me, so those, although beautiful, are an out of reach dream.
 
Hi Boink. Yeah, the problem with Snody is his knives are so in demand and he is so backordered, he simply doesnt need to get back to you. :( But, his knives are VERY nice, and occasionally, youll see one on Ebay, so keep an eye out. There was a nice one that went for about $350 a few months ago, wish i had had the $ at the time or it surely would have been mine.

No doubt, the Corkums are easier to get a hold of though, and theyre also a very well made knife, and as far as i know, Steve does forge and diff heat treat the blades himself. Some of Steve's blades do have the American tanto tip, but even his American tantos are more rounded and less "offensive" than most others.

Just as an aside, the little silver "scuplture" under the cord wrapped handles is called the "Menuki" and the temper lines are traditionally called a "Hamon".

Good luck in your search, a good Japanese knife is really a very neat thing if you get a good one, and it sounds like you know what to look for.
 
I remember someone wanting to sell his RJ Martin 5 inch wasabi in CPM3V (:eek: wow!) steel with a double ground edge. I remember reading (you can do a search on this forums) that his scary sharp edges are legendary and his workmanship superb! If I had the $, I would've bought it off the seller....plus, you're getting a blade made with the mind of a Sikorsky engineer....heh heh
 
Originally posted by spyken
I remember someone wanting to sell his RJ Martin .... ...plus, you're getting a blade made with the mind of a Sikorsky engineer....heh heh
Click to expand...

No wonder those 'copters were fast!! (I wonder if he cord-wrapped the helicopter blades at the base, near the pivot) LOL!

Went to his site and the blades all look very special.
 
Well it's probably not necessary for me to state, but just to make sure it's clear...

All of the knife pics posted thus far are excellent knives--I'd actually like one or two myself--but as far as *traditional* shape and style, these are certainly not. I know "inspired" has a huge range of variation to it, and all of these pieces shown are quite nice...but if you're looking for traditional, you may wanna look elsewhere. :D

Not trying to put down anyone's work, just throwing in a few cents that haven't been thrown in yet.
 
Are there any other makers anyones' been pleased with?

Who does the REAL traditional knives? Is it the Japanese? (who'da thunk it??) ;)
 
Just came across this picture, i dont know if its traditional or not, but check out that double temper line, its perfect! Its so good, it looks fake, but its real on this $9,000 knife. :eek:


YoshiharaMoro-HaTantob.jpg
 
For more traditional style blades (actually short swords, but that's just a technicality)...lessee...

Any of the Japanese swordsmiths really (most well-known to westerners is Yoshihito or Yoshindo Yoshihara, who is one of the top in Japan)
Howard Clark
Michael Bell
Francis Boyd
Louis Mills
Rick Barrett
Mike Blue
Don Polzien has made a few
Wally Hayes has done some as well
Joe Walters
Joseph Renner
Jason Arnold is working on some too
You can periodically find pieces by the late Bob Engnath as well

A number of other makers have Japanese-style projects in the works or have tried them at one point in time...the names I listed were just some "top-of-the-head" names who work in traditional style blades.

If you want to get a feel for what some of the real things are like...you can check out Nihonto pages like Aoi Art (http://www.aoi-art.ab.psiweb.com) or some polishers' pages (http://www.johndswordpolishing.com and http://www.summerchild.com). There are other places you can check too, but these places often have nice photos and quite a few pieces of work to gawk at :D
 
How can I get ahold of RJ Martin? i am interested in one of his knives and have tried to contact him about more information but to no avail. thank you,
trevor
 
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