THE JOURNEY
As my work that took me to New York ended successfully and I sat at the DC9 flying over the frozen lakes, from Detroit to Nashville, images of giant macro ice crystallizations appeared at the plane's window, I reminded myself of the microstructures that the fire from a forge produces in the steel. How curious Mother Nature is, I thought. Both extremes, fire and ice, create similar structures and again my thoughts were into the Principles of Yin and Yang.
How imperative, I felt, it was to understand the essence of things rather then just the appearances…
 

The plane began to descend towards Nashville, and once more, my thoughts went to Joe Walters and the way I decided to visit him. I plainly took advantage from the long trip I had to make to work in New York, so I wanted to take the opportunity to meet a young man who could be my son and who has always been so very kind and attentive to me that I felt guilty if I were imposing on him. Even the plane tickets were purchased by Joe via internet and paid in advance by him with the generosity that I always found in our dealings with the swords he had made for me.
Meeting people you know from the internet, especially from such geographical distance as we both were, continents apart, was something that only happened once before.

MEETING JOE WALTERS
Prior to my departure to the US Joe had told me he would definitely recognize me so there would not be a problem, and as I walked towards the corridors of Nashville airport, dragging my bag, I heard a voice calling my name. There he was, Joe Walters and his nice 15-year-old kid brother Danny, who immediately took possession of my bag insistently, in a generous effort to provide me relief from all the different traveling I had been doing.




 

Me and Danny became almost instant pals.

I immediately reconfirmed his kind and somehow innocent aura of a gentle and kind person whose friendly soft smile I became acquainted to hear over the phone. Both brothers treated me with the utmost genuine courtesy and friendliness as we drove for lunch. We had a superb Mexican chicken while I was more than happy to speak my Spanish, so close to my native Portuguese, with the waiters.
As we were more acquainted, Joe's modest and somehow timid stance shielded by a very friendly smile and laugh began to dissolve as we spoke of different things. Then it was time to check in at the hotel Joe has pre-booked for me and both brothers were very kind to wait as I did the usual basic unpacking and took a deserved hot shower, while Joe and Danny very kindly tried to check on my inactive laptop, after which we headed to his place where I had the pleasure of meeting all his wonderful family.
It was not a surprise that Joe Walters is such a great and friendly person. Though soft and kind I know by experience how expedite, creative and organized he is with his work. But it was the first day, and though I had a glimpse of his shop, we did not speak about swords. Instead, I was greeted warmly by his family and was invited to share their table for dinner, which I delightfully accepted.

It was during this time that I shamelessly commissioned Joe to make a brooch for my wife, made of steel and silver. I wanted to bring home to my better half a feminine piece of his steel work.

We also revised some pending projects such as Anthony Woo’s Kogarasu Maru and Anton’s set of two swords, the Hikari and Kage no Ken.

I did it out of my duty though I did not have doubts on Joe’s versatility on making different projects.
I had always been very impressed by the resources he seemed to have stored in his head as we discussed the projects at hand.

Joe and I reviewing the Swords of Light and Darkness

BEING BETTER ACQUAINTED
Never would Joe allow me to take a taxi to the Hotel or would his family lack the attention of asking me if I wanted anything to eat or drink at any given time.
His mother is a nice lady, very good to talk with, a very gentle person who had answered the phone often and who said that it was good to see the face behind the voice, while Danny showed me his superb renditions of guns. The neighborhood was as Joe’s house, very nice, made of red bricks and beautiful leafless trees, where one can again admire the organization of Nature.
As I told Joe and even Danny, that for me age is just something about precedence in birth date, not a rank or a distance, our communication became even better. Danny was full of attentions to me since the first minute and I found it very touching.
Then Jack Walters, Joe’s father arrived and I immediately liked him. Gentle and caring, asking how things went with his sons while we spent some time chatting.
That first night, after dinner, jet lag took care of me after we spent dinner exchanging recipes or eating habits with me enjoying the genuine warmth of such friendly company and environment as much as I could see that Joe was naturally tired.

We took a picture at the beautiful house porch that led to a nice garden, covered in snow.

THE BLADE SMITH
Until then was the ritual of being acquainted, getting to know and feel each other and I must say the impression was extremely favorable, a mere confirmation of what I knew already. I wanted to settle my accounting with Joe but was pushed away gently with a there is plenty of time accompanied by a gentle smile.
The next day Joe decided to treat me with a forging session at the workshop.
He put his overalls, took a long hook and effortlessly started organizing his working system. Here he placed the heavy anvil, there he placed the forge. I could see the transfiguration taking place. Now we were at his realm and I could sense and feel the ease with which he moved around placing the hammers and all the stuff he needed.

CONSISTENCY OF VOCABULARY
Later, or maybe the next day, before we all had superb BBQ ribs cooked by Joe’s father, I think it was Danny who showed me Joe’s first sword, an unconventionally mounted wakizashi which Joe looked at displicently, downplaying it.
It was done some 5 or 6 years ago, when Joe was 18 or 19 years old.

I noticed some of his trademarks, mainly on the inventiveness of the seppa and the tsuba, the marks on the fuchi-gashira that he still uses sometimes and the way the habaki was carved. Even the unconventional tsuka, the tsukamaki itself, and the little flower detail of the menuki told me that sometimes innocence can produce superb results and point the evolutionary way.

I took pictures of different parts and the whole of this first longer-than-tanto blade of his as a way to testify the consistent evolutionary process of his work, which has reached another level with the texture he uses for his small knives as well as for my Seasoned Katana tsuba.

This knife testifies the consistency of his earlier works.

FIRST SWORD

Joe has developed into a mature and accomplished young, talented, knowledgeable and versatile blade smith with a great number of solutions in his pocket for every situation.
But the most consistent thing is the development of his textures in steel, both viewable in the little knives he so splendidly makes to the superb tsuba and sword I own, which I called Seasoned Katana because in my opinion it represents the coming of age of a natural born smith.
The visit to Joe was in a small part just a visitation to the technical aspects, but the main drive was the young man called Joe Walters, a great and gentle innate blade smith of the utmost reliability. Anything he sets to do is done as agreed and with pride in giving his best.
I even know that he paid from his own pocket the special shipment of a sword so that he would keep his word. This speaks immensely not only of the smith but also of the person and of his reliability.

CONSISTENT EVOLUTION

To compare the first blade with my Seasoned Katana it is basically to acknowledge a consistent evolution that is indeed very promising, specially at the speed and care with which Joe treats every project.

THE FUTURE
To me it is inevitable that Joe Walters is doomed to be soon recognized as a great blade smith who will only mature even more with time.
After being listed on Don Fogg’s Cup of Coffee some months ago, I know that Joe Walters is destined to mature even more at such an early age and gain the trust of his already numerous customers and admirers.
It was indeed a time to relax and to get to personally know a smith with whom I have collaborated often, with excellent results.
Like the branches of a tree in winter, it will soon be covered by dense foliage, when the Season changes. Such is the mechanism of Mother Nature.