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Here are some of the more interesting swords I've completed over the past few years. I've tried to give a representative sample here of my "standard" work, as well as some blades I've forged that are a little off the beaten path. Blades completed within the last year and blades available for purchase will appear in the "New & Available" page. Click on the pictures for further details.
O-Kissaki Katana. This 28 inch katana is forged from high layer folded steel in a combination of 1095 and W2. It's the long blade in a multi-blade set. The curvature is around 3/4 of an inch. The extremely long kissaki was a challenge to polish...but I think it worked out pretty well in the end. The hamon is a complex choji with lots of sunagashi due to the somewhat different heat treating characteristics of the two component steels. The boshi has a very long turnback. The blade is intended to evoke the feel of Nambokucho era blades, with very little taper. Click on the picture for more details, close-ups of the hada, etc. SOLD.
Suguha Tamahagane Tanto. This is a very restrained and conservative blade made from tamahagane that I smelted with Jesus Hernandez. The very thin suguha hamon is reminiscent of blades from the Kamakura period. The hada is a rough, rustic-looking itame (wood grain pattern) of about 2000 layers. There is a ton of interesting activity in the blade (some of which didn't photograph very well) including some strong utsuri. Click on the picture for a close-up of the hada. SOLD.
Mount Fuji. It's monosteel blade forged from 1050 features an usual hamon design. It's basically a choji hamon, but the customer who commissioned the blade wanted a view of Mount Fuji included in the hamon. This blade caused a splash when I first made it. Click on the picture to see why. The nagasa is 28 inches. SOLD.
1086M Wakizashi. This wak was forged from 1086M steel. 1086 is a high carbon steel containing a pinch of vanadium. The addition of vanadium to the steel increases edge-holding and improves shock resistance...as well as changing the heat treating characteristics of the steel somewhat. The blade length is 21 inches with a 7 inch nakago. It's got a nice long kissaki and an active choji hamon. SOLD.
Oddball S5 Bainite Blade. This is my first shot at doing a bainite-spined blade (along the lines of Howard Clark's L6 blades). The blade is forged from S5, a complex alloy that has a bunch of silicon, a pinch of vanadium, plus molybdenum, chromium and manganese. Highly alloyed steels raise lots of interesting heat treating issues. The goal was to make a blade that will withstand significant punishment without either breaking or bending. Based on initial testing, I'm already sure I achieved my goal. However, without a lab, I can't be 100% sure I was successful in making bainite. (I'm about 85% sure I did.) And I'm definitely not sure that the spine is 100% bainite. In fact, I'd be somewhat surprised if that were the case, given its odd appearance. At any rate, the blade can easily bend three or four inches without taking a set. Before completion of the polish, I made well over a 100 cuts into a knotty pine 2X4 without bending the blade or causing significant damage to the edge. The sword exhibits very peculiar visual characteristics. That's fancy way of saying: It's weird looking. The hamon is soft, indistinct, and homogeneous in appearance. The ji or spine or not-hamon (or whatever you want to call the rest of the blade) is blotchy, with several different kinds of structures visible -- one a light gray, one a dark gray, and one bright and reflective. Whether these result from alloy segregation or differing microstructure (or both???) I couldn't begin to guess. (Well, I could! But I'd just be guessing.) All the weird, blotchy stuff you see in the picture is a function of the structure of the steel, not a crappy polish job. Click on the picture for a close-up of this very unusual blade. I'll be testing this blade extensively, so there may be some updates about this blade at a later time. NOT FOR SALE.
One Shaku Tanto. This tanto was made for a video I just finished producing about hybrid polishing. The flow came out really nicely. Forged from 1095 steel, it runs just a hair under 12 inches. In fact, if you're into measuring things using the bu-sun-shaku system, this one's almost exactly one shaku, the theoretical dividing line between tantos and wakizashis. Blades of this size and curvature were common during the Nambokucho period. Click on the picture for details. SOLD.
Kubikiri Tanto. Look closer. The blade's on the inside of the curve. These wicked little suckers were supposedly made for cutting off heads back in the good ol' days. This was quite a pain in the neck to polish. Forged from1095 steel. SOLD.
San-Mai Shinogi-Zukuri. This is a 28" blade with a long o-kissaki forged from 1095 and 1050 steel. There's a bit of utsuri here and there, and the hamon shows nice detail. The combination of a hard core steel and lower carbon outer layer gives a nice combination of hamon detail and blade hardness. Click on the photo to see a close-up of the hamon with the san-mai weld clearly visible. SOLD.
Tamahagane Tanto. This blade was a milestone for me. It was the first blade I've made from self-smelted tamahagane. Traditional Japanese blades, by definition, are made from a primitive steel known as tamahagane. I've been aiming toward traditional Japanese blade-making for quite a few years now, and this represents my crossing a threshold into a broad range of exciting new challenges as a craftsman. It's about 1200 layers with a crazy hitatsura hamon. I'm not selling this...but look for more blades from me made from tamahagane this year. Contact me if you're interested in commissioning a similar blade. Click on the picture for details including close-ups of the hada.
W2 Hitatsura. This exciting blade, featuring a wild hitatsura hamon, was forged from W2 steel, which has recently become a favorite steel of mine. One special note about this blade is that it is featured in an instructional video I've been shooting called, "HOW TO MAKE HAMONS." (Soon to be available on my site.) I get a lot of questions from other smiths about how I make my hamons...so this video is designed to provide answers to common questions and problems. As such, this blade was designed to demonstrate some of the more advanced and interesting techniques that I know. The blade is about thirteen inches, putting it on the borderline between wakizashi and tanto. It's stuffed with activity including tobiyaki, muneyaki, various kinds of ashi and utsuri. Click for a close-up of boshi. SOLD.
Ko-wakizashi. This 14 inch hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi is forged from W2 steel. W2 is sort of like a higher carbon version of 1086M. W2 steel no longer produced and I was lucky to track down a stash of it. This blade features an extremely active choji hamon. Faint utsuri is visible. Unmounted with habaki. One of my all-time favorite blades. SOLD.
"Lasagne" Scrapahagane blade. This is an 8" blade made jointly by Jesus Hernandez and I. The blade was made by piling and forge-welding tiny scraps of old blades. We did the forging together. Then I ground, heat-treated and polished the blade. Jesus then completed the very unusual mountings which are made from zebrano, ebony and other exotic woods. I'll have photos of the mountings shortly. SOLD.
1086M Hira-zukuri. This 27 inch blade is forged from 1086M steel, a high carbon steel with a pinch of vanadium for increased edge-holding. I purchased a gob of 1086M from Howard Clark and have really been happy with the results I've gotten from it. This blade has an extremely active choji hamon, some utsuri, a pierced copper habaki, and very little niku. The martial artist who commissioned it intends to use it primarily for mat cutting. SOLD.
Buck-eye Hira-Zukuri. This was a custom project designed by a client. The blade, forged from 1075 steel, is thin and light with very little niku. The sword is mounted in a saya of California buck-eye burl with a 14" long leather-wrapped tsuka, copper kurigata and water buffalo horn fittings. The very small tsuba is wrought iron. The blade length is 28 inches with a very long 13 inch nakago. SOLD.
Saka-choji Katana with Egg Shell Koshirae. No joke. Egg shells! This shinogi zukuri blade is 28", with 3/4" of sori. The hamon is a very detailed saka-choji (slanted clove blossom) based on suguha. The saya was lacquered red, then crushed egg shells were embedded in the lacquer, sanded flat, then clear coated. A ridiculously laborious process. It took about two and a half months to finish the lacquering. Ain't gonna do another one like this for long, long time! Simple wrought iron tsuba forged from a piece of vintage 1906 anchor chain. Click picture for more details. SOLD.
Hira-Zukuri Katana. 27" blade forged from 1050 steel. It has a really wild choji hamon. The blade is fairly thick at the machi, and tapers quite a bit, so it feels light, despite being relatively brawny. It has an unusual feature in the form of a maru mune (rounded spine). This blade has been extensively tested including hundreds of cuts on light bamboo. It's a wicked cutter. SOLD.