- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
- Messages
- 9,887
Hello all,
I've been working with Dan Keffeler for several months to make san mai titanium sword billets. With the help of Ed Schempp who generously letting us use his large, well-equipped forging shop, we were successful. Ed also fed us the best smoked ribs I've ever had. Twice!
Below is my prototype, a wakizashi blade. Mine was the first billet made, and unfortunately the core got too thin and off-center, and it runs off the edge to one side, in the center of the blade edge. It also had some unfortunate and somewhat detrimental atmospheric contamination due to the settings on Ed's forge, which was corrected before making Dan's billet.
Despite the errors, the little sword turned into something kind of pretty, and is actually quite functional as a blade.
It is 20" of blade, with a 5 1/4" tang, weighing 6.8 oz.
Cutting fish with the blade:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB4YfyCD25R/
Cuts really nicely, actually.
Dan has finished a beautiful prototype that you can see in action on his instagram page,
@dan_keffeler. It's a huge katana, with the blade anodized in bright colors. His sword turned out really nice. You can watch him cut through large trees like they were tatami mats with the sword. While I helped with the making of the raw billet, the forging, and the heat treatment, Dan did all of the work to turn it into a sword of his design, within the bounds of what the billet had to offer, which was attempted to be made as close as possible to the dimensions he needed.
Here is Dan's san mai ti alloy prototype sword:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAp6TpejH0I/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_TqJMFDUqH/
There are other fairly recent posts about it, check his instagram for more.
Me and Dan have made a couple more san mai ti alloy billets, so there are more refined blades in the works. My next one is already under way, and it should be a doozie.
Exciting stuff in the world of ti swords!
I've been working with Dan Keffeler for several months to make san mai titanium sword billets. With the help of Ed Schempp who generously letting us use his large, well-equipped forging shop, we were successful. Ed also fed us the best smoked ribs I've ever had. Twice!
Below is my prototype, a wakizashi blade. Mine was the first billet made, and unfortunately the core got too thin and off-center, and it runs off the edge to one side, in the center of the blade edge. It also had some unfortunate and somewhat detrimental atmospheric contamination due to the settings on Ed's forge, which was corrected before making Dan's billet.
Despite the errors, the little sword turned into something kind of pretty, and is actually quite functional as a blade.
It is 20" of blade, with a 5 1/4" tang, weighing 6.8 oz.
Cutting fish with the blade:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB4YfyCD25R/
Cuts really nicely, actually.
Dan has finished a beautiful prototype that you can see in action on his instagram page,
@dan_keffeler. It's a huge katana, with the blade anodized in bright colors. His sword turned out really nice. You can watch him cut through large trees like they were tatami mats with the sword. While I helped with the making of the raw billet, the forging, and the heat treatment, Dan did all of the work to turn it into a sword of his design, within the bounds of what the billet had to offer, which was attempted to be made as close as possible to the dimensions he needed.
Here is Dan's san mai ti alloy prototype sword:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAp6TpejH0I/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_TqJMFDUqH/
There are other fairly recent posts about it, check his instagram for more.
Me and Dan have made a couple more san mai ti alloy billets, so there are more refined blades in the works. My next one is already under way, and it should be a doozie.
Exciting stuff in the world of ti swords!
