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| Flat
(without curvature) schematics of the project. Overall view. |
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| Nakago
detail |
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| A round bar of 1 1/4
inches diameter of W2. |
Getting it hot. |
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| Jesus
Hernandez using a hrydraulic press to break down the stock. |
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| View of the flattened
steel inside the forge. |
The round bar is
now a flat bar of much greater length. |
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Forging of the
kissaki area. |
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Forging of the
nakago area. |
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| Finished
rough forging. Note how the nakago follows the blade curvature. |
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A round 1 inch
diameter piece of wrought iron for the fittings. |
Getting
it hot. |
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Finished forging. |
Cut off
the three pieces that Jesus will be needing later. |
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| Now we see
the rough grinding at 80 grit. |
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| Here is
the final grinding at 220 grit. |
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| Here is
Jesus Hernandez own recipe for clay coating. |
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| Right
after tempering. Notice the graceful curvature. Sori is a beautiful
3/4 inch tori-zori extended to the nakago. |
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| One more
composite picture to compare the before and after
yaki-yire. Notice how the blade curved after quenching. |
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| THE
MAKING OF THE HANDLE AS DESCRIBED BY JESUS HERNANDEZ |
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This picture shows
the bubinga sliced in half length-wise and the channel carved for
the nakago. Carving the bubinga felt very much like carving
stabilized wood. I like this wood very much and I will work with it
in the future. |
The two halves
pinned together with brass rods. I have not decided yet what I will
do for final pins. I may keep the brass pins but hide them from view
(since there is no other brass like material to match). |
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Gluing the bubinga
halves in what I call "caterpillar". There can never be enough wood
clamps. |
Pieces of ebony and copper for habaki. |
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Gluing the bubinga
to the ebony end-cap. |
Rough
shape after gluing and sanding a little. |
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Detail of the
earlier picture |
Wrought iron pommel
or kashira with two brass pins brazed in for added support. |
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This is how they
will fit with the rest of the tsuka. |
Rough
assembly of some of the handle components. |
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Two pieces of ebony
glued to the bubinga and the ebony piece for the guard has been
roughly shaped. |
One more view of
the assembly with the wrought iron kashira shaped as well. |
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Final shaping of the
piece of ebony for the guard. |
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After polishing the
wood to see what the final colors will be like. |
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Here is the habaki
along with the roughly shaped wrought iron kojiri, horn koiguchi and
horn pegs to hide the brass pins. |
Better
picture of the habaki. |
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Habaki mounted on
the sword. |
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Two pieces of ebony
have been selected and planed. The profile of the blade is marked
for carving. |
With a chisel I
will start carving the channel at the deepest end. |
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Complete the
channel to reach the shallowest end. |
Trim
off the excess wood. |
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Both ends trimmed
and getting ready to glue the two halves together. |
Another
caterpillar. Clamps, clamps and more clamps. |
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The ebony has been
roughly shaped into an oval with a sander and rasps. A piece of
buffalo horn has been glued at the mouth. |
The wrought iron
cap being epoxied to the ebony and held together with a tension
cord. |
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| The wrought iron takes
on different colors depending on the ilumination. |
Same
for the kashira in the handle. |
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Here is the handle
with both pieces of wrought iron attached. |
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The finished blade |
Blade
and scabbard |
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habaki |
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Hamon views |
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Finally some
pictures of me with the Dha |
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