DanielC Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Almost finished with this. I havent done any forging for over 2 months due to some tendonitis and bursitis in my shoulder due to work related injury. So this is the first thing I have forged since. Wanted to do something that would assist me in my progress with the japanese blade. In this case easier chiseling for saya. This is my first wood chisel I have made, along with the Mokume Gane is the first I have ever attempted and made. The steel is 5/8" round W1, and it was water quenched in 120F water and switched to warm oil after 4 seconds in the water. This was normalized 3 times prior to quench, and it was tempered at 250F for 2 hours. There is a very slow taper in thickness and width to make it rather stout. Blade is a little over 6" long and 1/2" wide at the tip. Tip to tang is a hair over 11". The hamon was created by the effects of the water only, no clay was applied. The Mokume is Copper/Nickel, and it was a lot of fun to make. I may make habaki in the future doing the same. The handle is probably going to be made from Walnut. Will post more as I progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Very Sweet Mokumegane Ingot you have made there Daniel . Well Done Brother ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 DanielC, Nice work. I don't know what a "Saya" is or why it'd need chiseling. It'd be great to get the full story of what this is and how it applies to making a blade. For the record I did Google Saya and found a bunch of Anime stuff. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I do believe that he means to cut a sword shaped indentation in both halves of a wooden sheath with this device. Jargon does tend to get in the way. Hamon = temper line, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Oops sorry guys. Yea the saya would be the scabard for japanese blades. My apologies. So much reading on the subject that the terminology is used too often without thought to explain. Thanks for the compliments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Gotcha, thank you for teaching me something new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 And it is finished. Finally got around to finishing up the handle, and getting everything drilled and together. Handle is 3 pieces of the heartwood of American Walnut and the sapwood of American Black Cherry. I liked the color contrast of both, maintaining the theme, plus the cherry had good figure. The chisel end is ground down to 22 degrees, and sharpened to the point of shaving my arm on my Japanese stones, ending with a loaded leather strop. I originally said it was for Saya, which this type of chisel typically is, but it is actually a gift for my brother. He makes acoustic guitars as a hobby, and needed a curved chisel to carve out the braces. This was my first of its kind and there are a few things I will change when I make more in the future. One of the main things was stabilize my wood in my stabilizing system. I was in such a rush with the handle from excitement, that I forgot to stabilize before I glued it all together. Since cactus juice takes a 200F cure for an hour, I didn't think the TItebond III would take the heat, so I instead natural stained the wood, and polyurethaned with a buff. Also the transition from handle to bolster will match up. Again, already had the handle varnished prior to fitting like a numb skull, and I really don't want to sand it to the width of the bolster and risk screwing it up. Next time for sure. Had to throw my name on every pic because there has been known entities on facebook stealing photos and claiming it as their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Man, this is just too gorgeous. Love the handle and the mokume gane bolster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Nice work. Query. How do you know about saya and what the chisel should look like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 First i have seen Jesus Hernendez carve out his saya with these, along with a few other videos if Japanese craftsmen using similar to make their saya. This is ultimately for my brother and guitar making, needing a curved chisel. On one of his supplier websites they sell a curved chisel and it resembles pretty much identically with the saya chisels i have seen. I have also ran it through my own test and have carved out a few pieces of wood to make sure it worked properly, and sure enough it works like a charm. I can hunt around for the videos and a few pics when i am infront of a computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Very cool! And your brother makes guitars? That's a very neat craft ad well. Had looked at a Martin kit once to try, but would have to have a whole bunch of other tools to do it right. Nice jib on the chisel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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