The idea behind this project was to create a unique tanto, by combining Tom's amazing damascus, with natural materials like walrus ivory & burl wood. Tom far exceeded my expectations on this piece. We exchanged only a few short emails regarding the design, but somehow he managed to capture the exact feel that I was looking for. It's around a 9" damascus blade with a shakudo habaki, walrus ivory handle, damascus tsuba & fileworked spacer with shakudo accents. It's has a blackwood sheath that nicely matches the habaki in coloring. Tom said he would go for a subtle, but outstanding damascus pattern and I think he nailed it on the head. Plenty of activity, but nothing so loud it puts the focus totally on the blade. The ivory he found for the handle has to be one of the nicest pieces I've seen. All in all, a hugely impressive knife, thanks Tom!
Typically excellent photo work by Coop!
Dan Pfanenstiel - Wakizashi
This wakizashi won 'Best Sword' at the 2005 BAKCA show and was recently featured in Tactical Knives magazine. Blade is hand forged 1050 steel with hamon. Copper habaki and seppa. Steel tsuba, fuchi and kashira. Silk over ray skin handle with sterling silver menuki. Saya is poplar with a textured black laquer coating and brown sageo tied in the traditional knot. Dan did all the work on this piece, all the way down to the menuki. Not many people doing Japanese style blades create the their own fittings, or do their own mounting. Dan has done an excellent job here, and I was shocked to see that this didn't sell at the show considering how nice a sword it is. 16" ha-watari, 22" overall.
Paul Baker - Peace
This is a hand forged katana named 'Peace', by Paul Baker of the UK. This is a nice beefy blade, a little heavier than I expected given the length, but has a good feel to it. While I haven't used it for cutting yet, I expect it would be a serious cutter. Nice solid tsuba, with excellent, tight leather ito. The fittings are the weak point of the sword. Paul is obviously a talented bladesmith, but the fuchi, kashira & tsuba don't live up to the blade. I like the theme of the sword though, and may look at remounting it with new furniture at some point in the future.
It's a high carbon steel blade with prominent clay produced hamon. Length of cutting edge to habaki 27 1/2". Depth at habaki 1 1/4". Thickness at habaki 7mm. Sori 16mm. Hamon is sugaha. Polish is a very full working polish and has evidence of utsuri. Tsuka is 11 1/2", wood with black ray skin and black leather ito. Fuchi and kashira are copper silver, with a dove of peace theme. Brass seppa, brass habaki with cat scratch pattern. Tsuba is polished cast iron, with dove menuki attached. Black lacquer saya with copper silver fittings and black cotton sageo.
Gary Bradburn - Venom
This is a hand forged tanto named 'Venom', by Gary Bradburn. This a fairly nice little blade, slightly thinner than I was expecting, though with a nice length to it. Not mounted, but wrapped nicely in cotton ito, over same (rayskin). It's made out of W1 carbon steel, with a blade length of 11 1/2", and a 5 1/2" handle. It has cast sterling silver 'walking tiger' menuki.
Shadow of Leaves - Mokkou
This is a 'production' katana - meaning it essentially came out of a factory in China. Obviously this doesn't lend itself to the type of quality or craftsmanship that a custom made katana will have. On the other hand, it's a heck of a lot cheaper. When learning how to handle a sword I'd much rather make a mistake with with a $500 blade than a $5000 one. I bought this blade with that in mind, to have something to use for cutting practice, when I eventually have the time to train in sword studies. That said, this blade has been nicely & uniquely customized with new furniture & tsuka.
Comments from the Michael of Shadow of Leaves, who did the customization: "This Katana is simplicity and tradition being built on the Last Legend Ryouko blade geometry utilizing 1050 hand forged hardened steel. The blade is 27" long with Bo-HI. It is presented with a highly polished nickle habaki and smoked black and polished nickle seppa. The menuki are gold and black in the Aoi 3 Mallow pattern and the fuchi/kashira are in blackened iron in the Higo style. The tsuba is a very traditional black iron in the Mokko pattern. The tsuka is 11 1/2" long and done in white same with high quality Tetsu silk ito tied in the Hineri-maki style with a Blue and Green shigueuchi style sageo. The saya is a high gloss traditional black lacquer."
