Katana in 3V

Joseph Gardner said:
Im actually a sword smith and i hate the grind ever so, and the thought of grinding away that much 3v on stones gives me a headache, much less the thought of cleaning out fullers. Yuck.

So how to explain this... A billet would be laminated in large thickness and then forged into a bar 18 inches long with 3/8ths thickness by 1 inch wide, with two tapers from 1 foot and 6 inches down to half an inch. It might weigh 3-4 pounds depending on the content. The mass is distrubuted now to form the balance. The bar then might get flattened down and stretched to .3 or even as thin as .2, and the blade section is beveled and spine stretched distally and longitally down to the spine at the tip to as thin as .1. Giving the blade length of 24-29 inches (historically reprosentative blades are never longer then this)

The result is that there is ALOT of steel in the tang and despite weighing 3 or more pounds there is enough mass in the tang to put the balance point with fittings at right where you would grip it, sometimes an inch above or below depending on the smith.

Despite being heavy all of the weight ends up in your palm and the leverage point pivots around your center of gravity.

(I swing a 4lb hammer so i dont think anything of this weight)
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Are you talking about Japanese Katanas? :confused:
 
Richard338 said:
I've been slowly putting together a non-traditional katana in CPM 3V steel and posting many of the steps over in Shop Talk. This is my first attempt at a sword after making about 30-40 knives in various styles. Since it is just about finished I thought I would post a few pics of the completed project over here. (I still have a sageo cord on the way)

The blade was made by stock removal from 3/16" thick 3V, heat treated by Peters to 60 hardness. I hand-filed a tsuba and made other fittings (seppa, fuchi and kashira) out of damascus.

The core of the handle is terotuf, assembled with corby bolts and epoxy (can't be taken apart).
I did a full covering with rayskin wrapped with silk ito over gold plated menuki.

The cost of the parts alone is more than any "battle-ready" sword on ebay, but I learned a lot and have something that I won't be afraid to do some chopping with.

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CPM 3V, damascus, terotuf, corby bolts and epoxy! What a really cool meeting of the traditional and the modern.
 
I should have clerified, you can forge the habaki onto the sword, and do the welding on the habaki while it is on the sword and then slide it off the blade. I wasnt refering to welding the habaki to the sword but welding the habaki together using the sword as your work bench.
 
Yes, I annealed mine repeatedly and formed it around the blade with a mallet.
 
I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask (I’m new), but does anyone have any suggestions as to how best to sharpen a cold steel warrior Katana? I got one used and it’s blunt. I don’t want to take the shine off of it (the previous owner polished the blade and used it as a display piece). I got a hold of the thing for 35$, apart from being blunt it’s in perfect condition.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
From what I understand polishing and sharpening a valuable katana is a project unto itself and takes a lot of time and skill. On the other hand, to just put a cutting edge on something like a cold steel product, I suggest a DMT diamond block. I use it for my choppers and if you are careful, you won't scratch the bevel.
 
I like it. Alternating ito for start. 5" balance is common these days, I do prefer shorter with a more waisted tsuka though. Would love to see how it performs, 3v being tough would be impressive to run through mats. Great job.
 
for stock removed and machine forged yes, keep this in mind none of the swords advertised as hand forged, are hand forged.

A hand forged blade with have significant tapers and geometical shifts. power hammered and beveled blades you find for under 2k dont have this. the time spent is worth more then 2k.
 
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