The Gary House big sword invitational

[D lisch]

Last weekend was the Gary House Big Sword Invitational, and we had a blast. Too much fun to not share it with my friends here on BF. I will try to explain what was going on as I post pics and I hope some of the folks that were there will jump in as they can. We had a Hammer In last year at Gary's place but things got out of hand as there were a lot of people trying to make damascus at the same time as that was about all there was to do . Ya we had some demos and Bill Burke, Gary and myself quenched some swords but we needed a bit more focus this year, so Gary told us that we had to bring a sword to quench or we might not be invited back. well needless to say there was a lot of swords to quench this year. Before the Hammer In started we had a two day Slip Joint class with Mike Vagnino, that was so good and I was so into it that I did not get any pic's of it, but I will post pic's of my slip joint when it is completed. There are some good pics of Mike as he stayed for the hammer in, and ya he had a sword quench.

Our Host...

Shane Taylor squeezing some steel

Tom Ferry claying up his sword

A sword taking a bend in the quench tank John Conway made special for the Hammer In

 

[D lisch]

Plain old Bill working the fire about to quench

Plain old bill not so happy as he hears the worst sound ever

Mine worked out a bit better for me

That made Mike Rader Happy Mike brought a nice salt bath to temper the swords in

 

[Erik Fritz]

Sounds like you guys had a great time Dave wish i could have made it.

 

[Bill Burke]

Hey Dave thanks for putting this up.

By Erik Fritz: Sounds like you guys had a great time Dave wish i could have made it.

Hey Eric, to have had more fun we would have had to seriously break the law or had an OGRE there to poke with sticks

 

[D lisch]

you cant have a BSI without making some Tamanagane Bill is about to show us how it is done and there is lot's of help

chopping charcoal is just one of the fun job's

we went through 400 bounds

 

[Bruce Bump]

I really missed out. I would have left nose marks on that glass quench tank. I heard you guys cracked a few in the quench. We need more pictures. Hurry.

 

[Jon Walker]

I am sooo pissed that I had to miss this! My sword is looking good though, Jessica did a great job! (I have the best wife ever ) Chuck keeps telling me how awesome it was.

Here are some more photos of the event.

Plain Old Bill watching as Jessica is heating my katana that Dave Lisch forged for me to grind for the event since my forge was too small and too far away.

Jessica is quenching for her first time. Yeah her first time is a clayed w-2 katana being quenched in water.

Here she is admiring the blade that somehow managed to stay in one piece. Dave and Bill were supervising the quenching.

Here is the cool part, tamahagane!

This is the tatara, it is a furnace designed to smelt steel.

Iron in the form of Fe3O2 is fed into the charcoal fire. The heat of the tatara causes the O2 to be stripped from the Fe3O2 and be replaced by carbon from the burning charcoal leaving steel and carbon monoxide.

Slag is produced from the impurities, here it is running out.

Pretty colors..... Kaowool gate was holding back the slag which is now running out.

Its melting!

Here the tatara is broken open to reveal the blooms.

 

[Jon Walker]

Here is a bloom about to go into water for cooling.

Residual heat and coals in the tatara. Anyone want to roast some smores?

MS Shane Taylor with part of the bloom. The chunks of charcoal are still visible as they have not been fully burned off yet. The shiny stuff is pure steel.

Close up of the big chunk of tamahagane bloom!

Please note the blade going through Dave Lisch.

 

[Chris Pierce]

So I have no idea about knife or sword making. A couple of questions if you don't mind. What is the "worst sound ever"?
Whats the big cylinder with the molten metal running out of it? Were ya'll making your own steel?
Thanks
-Chris

 

[ddd]

Sounds and looks like an exciting event!

Wish I were 8,000 miles closer and could watch and
take pictures. An event well worth documenting!

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[Tinbasher]

RE: "worst sound ever"?

A blade cracking as it is quenched.

Richard

 

[Chris Pierce]

oh I see, yeah that would be a bad sound.

 

[taylorknives]

This was truly a great event. I want to thank Gary House, Bill Burke, and Kelly Cupples for all their hard work to make this hammer-in such a success. These things just don't happen without a lot of hard work. Everyone there should be proud of the part they played in making this one of the best hammer-ins ever.

Great pictures Dave. Is there any video of the swords being quenched?

To be able to see swords bend both directions, when they were quenched in John's tank, was amazing.

 

[Bruce Bump]

Aaaah, those are cool pics! Was Dave OK after being "run through" with the sword?
Jessica looks like a pro. That pic of Shane with the bloom is classic! More More

 

[Steven Kelly]

Awesome photos Dave!! I heard you guys had a great time!!

 

[peterinct]

VERY cool Dave. Many thanks for posting the pictures. Hope to see some of what is made from the tamagahane.

That is a great picture of Shane Taylor. He looks MUCH different without the fancy hat he wears at Blade

Peter

 

[D lisch]

A good time was had by all this the kind of event that builds friendships inspires makers and and so much more. Jon we missed you but your sword looked good nice job on the grind.

the shoot I got as Bill knocked over the Tatara

The bloom lit the water on fire

Bill and Tom cut the bloom up into useable sizes.

 

[Mike Quesenberry]

Dave
Will there be another big sword invitaional next year or sooner? That looks like a great time. I would love to learn more about sword( katana ) making and that definately looks like the crowd to learn from.

 

[Don Hanson III]

Looks like you guys had wat too much fun. Thanks for the photos!

 

[D lisch]

Your right Don it was to much fun Mike this is a good group to learn from Bill did a lot of home work to learn how to do this and he was very kind to show how it is done. and I do know he lit more then one fire last weekend as we all came away wanting to make swords and forge or Tamahagana. So thank you Bill and Gary for making this happen.