My first sword - O-Wakizashi WIP

[SBranson]

I have been really enamoured with Japanese styled blades recently and made a few tantos. The tantos gave me the bug so I decided to try a little larger. This is my first sword. I had to stay at wakizashi length as that is the longest that will fit in my kitchen oven for tempering.

If this WIP seems a little simplistic, I originally started it on another forum where the members are more "gun people" and less knowledgeable of swords and the process of making them.


Starting off, in this first photo you can see the size of the W2 steel bar I started with and the "sunobe" or the preform. For thickness, this "sunobe" is about 3/8" at the "machi", ie. the place where the notches are for the "habaki" or copper collar and where the tang begins. From there it tapers to about 1/4" near the tip. It also tapers from the machi towards the end of the tang.
It also tapers from about 1 1/4" wide at the machi to just under 1" at the tip and also tapers towards the end of the tang.


This is a very long process (as is everything I'm discovering) and took about 4 hours of forging.

This next one shows the amount of reduction at the tip.. Lots of hammering.

This next shot ain't so great at showing anything but it's supposed to show the next step, forging the bevels. This particular sword will have the "shinogi-zukuri" geometry which is this but rather than just parallel sides, they taper towards the "mune" or spine ridge.

This is also a very long process as hammering the bevels makes the sword want to curve backwards but straightening the blade makes it want to corkscrew. This took me another 3 hours, then another 2 the next day as I didn't like how the first session turned out.

The next shot is of some of the rough grinding stage. I started to feel like I had bitten off way more than I can chew with this one. You have to try to keep the angle between the 2 side facets at 11 degrees and have the upper flat, the "shinogi" taper relative to the width of the blade at a 1/3rd ratio. I mean the shinogi is 1/3rd the width of the blade and should stay that way all the way from just back from the tip to the end of the tang. Needless to say, I gave up on the grinder and went to draw filing... How many hours?? no clue but it is a lot more than I would have thought.
Then there's the tip. That is a whole special case where there's a geometry change... More filing... The bad part is that I know that if this survived the quench, all that work will likely be wrecked as I try to do the finish work.. Well that's turned out to be true.

So.. onto the heat treating. Here's some pics of the clay layout. I am going for a "choji" hamon but will take anything at this point.

Here I took a little diversion. I didn't like my HT set up so I made a new forge that I can rest the blade on and "spot heat" by having the burner focussed on one spot. Also, I wanted this forge for little blades and small fittings, something I could rest the blade on the floor rather than in the big vertical forge.
The tank is a portable air tank from Walmart for $30. Safer than a propane tank.

And for quenching, I quickly put this together at work one day after hours. Only took about 40 minutes but with epoxy it holds water well. I filled it with hot water, measured about 130 degrees.

And here it is after the quench and temper, the clay scraped off. Hopefully you can see the "sori" or the curve that developed. The spine was straight going in. It's such a graceful thing.
I did have some warping and it was a struggle to straighten it. I didn't get all the warp out and fixed the one small part with the grinder.

I had a helluva time finishing this on the grinder. It's so so difficult so I actually went back to the file for the shinogi. It will add hours of work but the lines will be straight and in the right place. I'm using the blue layout dye to help me see the lines.
The blade is 22" from the machi to the tip. I haven't decided how long to make the handle yet so the tang may shorten some.

What a long long process this will be to completion. I still have to hand sand, do the etch, finish the tang, do the handle and wrap, make a tsuba or guard, make the saya or scabbard...

 

[SBranson]

This is the blade sanded to 320x. You can start to make out the hamon. Looks like it'll be a good one.

There is the temptation to keep going and see the hamon but there's some grunt work to do and it's much harder to do when you're worried about the blade finish. Ask me how I know.
So, time to do the work on the tang.. First I used calipers to try and make the area where the "habaki" or copper collar goes, the thickest part of the sword so the habaki can slide on and off. Then I did the decorative file work on the tang. The first photo shows some of the traditional patterns. The second photo doesn't show that there are parallel lines but it's not like in the book. The book simplifies the lines to show the direction.

Then came the habaki.. I ended up having to solder it twice as the first time didn't work. That's why I'm up so late.

Here I am laying out for the size I need.

Then I use a piece of steel the same thickness as the tang to slam the habaki closed. I start it this way then pound the sides.

And here's the fit.

Now to cut out the notch on the spine.

Copper work hardens, meaning that by pounding it with a hammer, it gets hard and springy and stops being workable so you have to anneal it again. Heat it up to red then quench in water.

I then pound it closed and make a small wedge, the "machi-gane" to fit in the gap at the bottom. I made 2 of them and forgot both times to take a picture. Anyway, it's a long slow process of grind and fit and grind and fit and grind and fit... etc..etc..

Then I use high temperature silver solder and seal it up. Here it is right after soldering and then after some preliminary shaping..

Here's the habaki at a workable shape. I will probably thin it some more at a higher grit and do a decorative filing but this is good for now.
Pretty good fit.

And here's a "seppa", or spacer that I could've tried to make but I bought a 5 pack from China along with the rayskin and ito for the handle wrap. :redface:

It's sitting atop a piece of wrought iron from the 18th century that a knifemaker friend in the US sent me for a "special project". I think it will make a great "tsuba" or guard.
Just gotta make up a design and forge it.

 

[SBranson]

So last night I made the tsuba, or guard. Again here is the piece of 18th century wrought iron that I started with. I decided that I wanted to keep the wrought iron in a natural state to preserve the sense of it's age. Plus I like the rough forged look. Also, being my first tsuba, I thought I would take it easy on myself.

And here's a sheet metal template of what I was aiming for in terms of shape.

So into the new forge. I like this little forge for this kind of work.

After a little hammering I realized that the piece was going to end up much to thin to try to make it wide enough so I cranked up the heat, folded the piece in half with a little flux and forge welded it to be a thicker shorter piece. You can see that there is a stainless steel plate on the floor of the forge. That's so the flux doesn't eat through the floor of the forge.

Here's the preliminary shape. You can see that on the right, the weld didn't really take as I made the decision part way in and didn't get a chance to clean it before welding.
So I hammered it a little long so it would be big enough to be workable.

And here it is shaped and hit with the wire wheel. I think I had already blued it at this point.

I didn't like the shape so I tweaked it a little, cut out the hole for the tang and then tried a variety of chemical treatments to get what I wanted.

Ferric chloride didn't get through the scale. Blueing was too boring so I heated it up and dunked it in some "plum brown". Then a little buffing and I added some inset copper as a simple decoration. I think it looks good, like it's about 400 years old but just made last night. You can't see all the variations in colouring in these photos.

And here's the rest of the fittings. Repros from China. :redface: I will make my own some day but the amount of time to make the jigs is not time I can afford right now.

And today I traced out the blade on the "saya" or scabbard blank and pre shaped it. It's ready for fitting.

The blade is at 400 grit finish and once I get the scabbard and "tsuka", the handle blank, prepared I will polish the rest of the blade. It will be about a week or two for the ray skin to dry and shrink properly so I will use part of that time to clean up the blade. and finish the saya.

Last night and this morning was spent on the saya and tsuka, the scabbard and handle. It's painstaking work of carving and fitting and carving and fitting. I would occasionally coat the blade in oil and look for where there was contact on the wood and carve a bit away.

And here's the 2 sides carved out for the blade.

Then comes the next process of fitting in the habaki so it's a nice tight friction fit. This fit is crucial so the progress is even slower. Not the best fit cosmetically but it's a nice tight fit.

Then I glued it up with the blade in it for a little bit until the glue set and pulled out the blade so the moisture in the glue wouldn't damage the blade. It actually did discolour the tip but again this is why I am waiting until this is all finished before polishing the blade.

Next onto the tsuka or handle.. This fit is quite tight as there will potentially be a lot of forces on the inside from using the sword. It can't rattle around or it might break free.

Then once I like the fit I drill the holes for the pin, the mekugi. One hole is bigger than the other so the fit will be nice and tight. I will refine the hole placement in relation to the tang hole when fitting in the guard.

So now that this is done, I glue up the handle.

And here it is today in shirasaya.

 

[aznpos531]

Amazing work! Looking good :thumbup:

 

[jacksterp]

Damn - that is an incredible pictorial essay/tutorial. Amazing work! Wish I had just some of your talent.

 

[rpn]

Very cool!

 

[SBranson]

Thanks!. I'm just winging it right now based on some videos Walter Sorrells put together on doing all this.
Tonight I am going for the hamon! Ha..

 

[leebrewer]

Wow!
Very respectfully

 

[sweet]

Awesome work and posting! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[type00rev]

Very nice work!!!

 

[zachtateknives]

Very nice.

 

[gosh]

Very nice work! You also have some good looking blades on your webpage!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Cool! Nice work! I bet a ton of time went in to that.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

I am enjoying this thread thoroughly. Very much looking forward to seeing the next steps. Fascinating, and it's looking really good so far! Waki's are one of my favorite blades--nice and fast, effective in close spaces, and they strap onto a ruck nicely. Nice work!

 

[gregorio]

thanks for sharing, that looks great

 

[SBranson]

Thanks!!!

... I bet a ton of time went in to that.

I would never have guess just how much and I'm not even close to done.

So last night I got quite a bit done and then came up from the shop only to realize it was 5am!!

I figured the longest impediment to finishing will be waiting for the samegawa, the ray skin, to dry so I went ahead and fixed up the tsuka so I could wrap the rayskin and let it sit.

So here's a diagram if anyone wants to refer to the names of the parts.

First was to carve the ends for the fuchi and kashira.

And then to refine the length so it all goes together with the tsuba.

Cut out the notch for the ito to go through the holes in the kashira and there we have it.

You'll notice that the level of the tsuka is lower in the middle than where the fuchi and kashira are. This is to make room for the rayskin so the wrap sits level with the fuchi kashira.

I soaked the untanned rayskin so it was pliable and cut it to match the tsuka. Then wrap and bind and put it aside to dry. This could take a long time. I've heard 2 weeks but I suspect I won't get much past 2 days... Ha Ha..

So the next long process besides the blade polish will be painting the saya so I thinned it to the final shape and made up the koiguchi and the kashira. Here I am using my new low angle spoke shave. What a nice little tool.

The koiguchi will reinforce the mouth of the scabbard. This is delicate chiseling and I think I was holding my breath through most of it. I sharpened up my best chisel and went at it. The koiguchi is made from a scrap of stabilized walnut so it will be nice and rigid.

Not the nicest display of joinery.:barf: but it's tight.

And here is where I quit for the night...er... morning...

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Simply amazing! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

 

[Lorien]

holy shit man!
thanks for the heads up Stu- this one I gotta see before it gets sent to the emperor!

 

[SBranson]

A little more on the saya.

Using the same piece of walnut, I cut a piece for the kurikata. I formed it and then cut a slot in the saya to place it.

And here it is sanded and ready to paint, followed by a pic with it masked off and with the first coat.

 

[uyotg]

You, sir, are insane. This is seriously amazing. No wonder there are so few who forge Japanese swords nowadays.