wakazashi & tanto

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I just poked my thumb with the tip of the tanto while hand polishing it,so I thought I'd take a break while the bleeding stops.This set is san-mai over a laminated core of 52100.Habaki,seppa,tsuba,and fuchi will be mokume.The collar on the tanto shows the mokume pattern fairly well.They are hand sanded to 400 at this point,with the tanto given the first prepolish.The wakazashi has many hours of sanding to go.A trick I came up with is to polish with flitz/simichrome after each grit.You will see the areas that are not done yet clearly,and the next grit will take less time - try it you will be amazed.The wakazashi will have a traditional tsuka,with same' (ray skin) and silk wrap.The tanto will have a fixed tsuka with same' and silk.Sayas will be yellowheart with black lacquer coats.I hope to finish the tanto this weekend,and the wakazashi in a couple of weeks.

 

[polish avenger]

I see that your tanto is made from the exceedingly rare Swiss steel
-Mark
p.s.-Mokume looks great!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Metal termites got into it when it was left out in the shop! Drilling out the tang lightens the knife and shifts the thrust forward.A lot of modern katanas are done this way,too. The san-mai is awesome when etched.I'll post photos as I go.
Stacy

 

[Will52100]

Make sure to post pics when finished. Looking great so far.

 

[ddavelarsen]

When you mentioned this project the other day my mouth started watering and my heart pounding. I'm not disappointed! These look awesome Stacy. I'll look forward to your progress pics. This is something I've always wanted to do, and one of the projects I have on the shelf for whenever I get to start working on my own stuff again. This is definately another of the benefits of being a smith, being able to laminate your steel to its best effect. Just a taste of the line is visible in the habaki shot, and I'm sure looking forward to more. Keep em coming! <drool>

 

[jhiggins]

Very nice, Stacy! I have been considering doing up some san mai stuff myself, but I dont know about that now. Yer a hard act to follow, fella! :thumbup: