Helm/Tendick Wakizashi/Tanto Daisho Collaboration

Stormcrow · April 25, 2018

Sometime last year I made an o-tanto that caught the eye of the very talented Ben Tendick of BRT Bladeworks in Oregon. We had been wanting to do a collaboration for a while, and it seemed like a good direction to go. The tanto was slated for someone, so I forged another, and ended up making a wakizashi in the same style as well. I forged the blades, and Ben did the rest of the work.

Here's what was sent to Ben, a 16" and a 11.5" blade forged from 80CrV2 steel, heat treated and ready for Ben to work his magic on the handles. I left the tangs big and blocky to give Ben plenty of canvas on which to paint.

helmtendick01 by James Helm, on Flickr

Ben worked them down, shouldered the tangs to fit the tsubas, and drilled the holes to anchor the wrap.

helmtendick02 by James Helm, on Flickr

I left all the details to Ben on how he wanted to finish. He decided to use wrought iron for the tsubas. In his words, "I did my best to capture that well used Ronin style in this set."

helmtendick03 by James Helm, on Flickr

helmtendick04 by James Helm, on Flickr

And copper menuki with his touchmark.

helmtendick05 by James Helm, on Flickr

He went with antiqued cotton cord for the underlay.

helmtendick06 by James Helm, on Flickr

helmtendick07 by James Helm, on Flickr

Finished up.

helmtendick08 by James Helm, on Flickr

helmtendick09 by James Helm, on Flickr

helmtendick10 by James Helm, on Flickr

helmtendick11 by James Helm, on Flickr