December 13, 20169 yr Hello: Here is a prototype piece for book IV..done in the Japanese style of Shinogi-Zukuri. The blade is laminated 1070 and L6 steels in the Kobuse method of construction around a mild steel/iron core. The blade length is 22 3/4" and it has two (2) scraped in Bo-Hi on each side. OAL is 34 1/4". The Hada is very interesting and I would call it Mokume-Gane Hada. The Hamon is vibrant and it is much more active than you are able to see in my feeble photos.. I wish I knew how to take better pics.. The Tsuka is blood red Samegawa under black silk and is mounted in a "Hawk" motif. The Siya is wood with black lacquer under red cracked lac and that is sealed with 6 coats of a hard, clear lacquer.. All in all I would say that this one turned out pretty good for someone who isn't all that well "known" for this sorta stuff... JPH
December 13, 20169 yr WOW. that is absolutely stunning. i have to say, that being a beginner knifemaker and monolingual, i only understood half of your post.
February 11, 20179 yr I am no swordsmith (I'm barely a knife maker) but good grief, that looks absolutely beautiful. Truly outstanding work, thank you for sharing it!
February 11, 20179 yr Not being a bladesmith guy myself I'm only qualified to say, not bad for a first attempt. In all seriousness I'm not surprised to see such mastery in a first shot at a new style, technique or . . . I don't know what most of what you said means. Beautiful job is too small a term for your work Jim, you've run me out of adjectives long ago. I love crackle and wrinkle paint effects, that one I know. Thanks. Frosty The Lucky.
February 15, 20179 yr Wow. That is beautiful. I have only seen stock removal swords done. That is awesome that you made it the traditional way. I understood every thing you said btw. Did you make the Tsuba your self?
February 18, 20179 yr Author Hello: First off: Steve..scraping in a BO-Hi/groove is not all that hard...yeah t takes a wee bit of time but not as much as you may think...once you get it it started it goes pretty quickly...Just make sure your blade is SOFT and the cutter is sharp and properly hardened.. On the fittings. I get these from an Art Foundry in Taiwan that specializes in fine sculptural and artistic castings. These were done in bronze with gold and silver leaf details...everything else I did here. I am just happy to be done (more or less) with the series..As it is I never even want to THINK about doing another Japanese sword again...Tire of slicing myself to ribbons... Thank you all for the kind words.. JPH
February 18, 20179 yr Steve; you can sit next to him in the class---I'll watch from waaaay over there!
February 19, 20179 yr I have found that asking your wife to remove bloodstains from your clothing strains the relationship after a while---right up there with showing up with a dirty shop rag wrapped around your hand and asking her to drive you to your HMO's urgent care facility...
February 19, 20179 yr 23 minutes ago, JPH said: Geeze...you cut up one guy ONCE and you never live it down... JPH Kids these days think they've got it bad! Why old Jim Bowie told me about just going out on a sandbar to WITNESS a duel. On the way back the opposing dueler's party got so nervous that they started shooting and stabbing Jim! He had to cut the whole bunch of em up! He said they "were fools to bring guns to a knife fight"! His reputation dogged him ever after, idjits trying to make themselves a name... they all got graves instead. Tough old cuss he was!
February 19, 20179 yr Author Brother Thos: The last time i needed sutures that I couldn't put in meself was in my right hand and it was well..rather "juicy" (I slipped while doing the final polish on a No-Dachi) so wrapped it up in a semi clean shop towel and I drove myself across town to the VA hospital out here...It was the first time they ever treated a sword wound...My how the military has changed...back in the day they use to treat a LOT of sword wounds...Anyway....well an hour and a half and 11 sutures later I was headed home...had to do some real dancing to get then to let me drive myself home too!! Pansy butts.... JPH
February 19, 20179 yr There have been suggestions of using my belly scars as the basis for ogham inscriptions; the big one only looks like a sword slash and I have been stabbed in the back professionally a few times---once on my zeroth birthday...
February 19, 20179 yr Author Brother Thomas... Back in my wild and misspent youth I got involved in far too many social situations that resulted in blood being spilled in various ways and for various reasons..I do not miss that at all. My arms, chest and abdomen look like a road map of California...But they managed to more or less put me back together good enough... But now I am feeling all those bumps I got... JPH
February 19, 20179 yr I was not a very social person most of mine were things that happened to me by myself---like sticking a sword in my foot, or walking out of the forest with a badly sprained ankle as I had decided crawling would take too long...plus various surgeries. Unfortunately I had a tendency to not go to the Dr in a timely manner
February 23, 20179 yr I'd love to cut tameshigiri at the dojo with this! Iaido practitioner here as well. JPH, this is completely beautiful. What does the double bo-hi do to the tachikaze when you cut? Does it make it louder?
February 23, 20179 yr Author Benton: Actually it makes it a bit higher in pitch more along the lines of a whistle than a swoosh.... Now you have to get your blade speed up due to the shorter blade length in order to get proper tachi-kaze... JPH Let me hunt up the pics of my "cutter" swords if ya want...
March 2, 20179 yr On 2/23/2017 at 1:16 PM, JPH said: Benton: Actually it makes it a bit higher in pitch more along the lines of a whistle than a swoosh.... Now you have to get your blade speed up due to the shorter blade length in order to get proper tachi-kaze... JPH Let me hunt up the pics of my "cutter" swords if ya want... Do you offer workshops or classes? I see your location is soon to be FL?
March 4, 20179 yr Author Hello: Ref workshops and classes..I do offer them...for details see my website... Regards my location..I will be moving to florid and setting up large studio there to accommodate more equipment as well as a couple more people which will make classes more enjoyable... Back to work for me JPH
May 16, 20179 yr Author Thank you for the kind words.. This is just one of many of the blades that I have made over the 10 years and a bit that I have been doing this.. Believe me if I can do this pretty much anyone can... JPH
May 16, 20179 yr On 5/16/2017 at 3:31 AM, JPH said: Thank you for the kind words.. This is just one of many of the blades that I have made over the 10 years and a bit that I have been doing this.. Believe me if I can do this pretty much anyone can... JPH True ya taught Bill..... lol On 2/18/2017 at 6:33 PM, ThomasPowers said: Steve; you can sit next to him in the (Kenjitsu) class---I'll watch from waaaay over there! If they let us wear the rank belts we already have earned in our respective arts, we would likely be near each other anyway.
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