Stormcrow Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted 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 helmtendick14 by James Helm, on Flickr helmtendick16 by James Helm, on Flickr helmtendick17 by James Helm, on Flickr I think Ben nailed it. 8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Super nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikecopXXX Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 I like them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormcrow Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 Thank y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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