Feukair

Very cool. Definitely get some fenner drive link belt, i was amazed how much this simple changed improved my grinder. I got most of my parts for my grinder from usaknifemakers. Great guy and he ships fast. You can build a grinder from just about any frame if it's solid enough. And yeah, if you've got access to some kind of a welder then lots of the joints on the no-weld grinder could simply be welded to save some fiddlin round with nuts and bolts and making the spanners u use to clamp with. I love my grinder, in fact I love it even more recently since a I got it's electronics all wired up. I've also moved up to a larger pulley on the drive motor so my belts are moving alot faster now and i can grind much quicker. Gots ta be xtra carefull though grinding on an already heat treated knife cuz things warm up quick.

Did some more work on this blade in the last few days. Got the scales cut for the handles, including some stainless pieces and holes drilled. The scales are maple burl. I also did some more polishing and got the hamon showing more. I'm really happy with this hamon, it's the most beautiful i've made so far. I'm going to polish it some more and try to etch it out a little too. I was able to get it at just the right angle and snap a good picture of it.

Here's some more pictures. Delivered the knife to my friend today and had a little sushi party for lunch using the new knife. I'm not a big fan of sushi but i do try it a couple times a year or so, and what we made today was not the worst I've had. Anyways, heres some pics:

Sorry if these have already been posted, i just found them the other day. There are some pretty cool katana forging videos on youtube. Here is one showing the wet forging technique that I really like to do once i got the habit going... YouTube - ?????????6 Lots of others in this guys youtube channel: YouTube - TheJapaneseSword's Channel

Thanks again everyone. And thanks for the compliment Steve. I really appreciate your comments. I still think i've got to figure out a few more things before I would even try selling a blade. I've only finished a few knives and yet to do any kind of an edge holding test on any of them. Once I get a few more out I'll try to do something like the abs bladesmith test against them because that seems pretty standard. However I don't know that I'd ever get into selling them. Right now this is a hobby for me, i don't know how much i would ask for a blade or whatever i would ask would it be fair and worth the time in put into them... i dont know...

Thanks man!

Wow. I'm making one...

Very cool, i like the dip in the edge hear the handle. Nice curve also.

Wow, very fitting for a soldier!

Nice and sleek, awesome!

Cool, i gotta make another one of those...

Got this one finished up. The scales are made from cocobolo wood and the pins are copper.

Thanks for the comments everyone. The tang is heated into the handle. I have a drill chuck for my lathe so i can drill holes straight down the center. The tang of this knife is tapered like a rat tail tang. I drilled a hole through the center of the handle the length of the tang. The hole was only big enough for about 1/2 inch of the tang to go in before binding up. Then i heated the tang with a torch and pressed it into the handle burning it in. It's stuck in there pretty good, you can get the handle off if you need to by tapping it with a block of wood but it's bound pretty tight. I have never done one this way before but the process was explained to me in a conversation the instructor of a japanese smithing class i took. I believe it holds well by the same principles as a morse taper in a lathe. The spine is about 3/16" thick the whole length of the knife, i didn't taper the length but i think the next one i will a little because i understand that is a more proper shape. Here are a few more pictures, the rough handle after gluing the buffalo horn on, some carving of the inside of the scabbard, and a shot where i tried to make some of the hamon on this knife show up. It's very subtle,and i didnt polish it out, so it was difficult to catch a reflection of it in a shot. Thanks again everyone.