Forging Adventure
One of the current projects at the Parksville Museum forge involves hand crafting knives from series Land Rover leaf springs. Series spring steel has not changed spec since the first run in 1948 and replacements today are even made with the same composition. The projects shown below are made from original 1965 Series 2a Land…
Japan Countryside
A curated collection of views from the countryside of Japan in early spring. The mist can be heavy in the mornings and the days are still cool but the sun is beginning to warm the earth. There are a few spring greens but most of the winter colours remain. Plum blossoms are out, sakura have…
Tsukimizu Tanto
Tsukimizu (月水, “tsu-key-me-zoo”) literally translates “moon-water” and carries the idea of the reflection of the moonlight in the ripples of a pond or stream. The name is drawn from the layered steel ripples along the edge of the hamon and also ties into the motifs of the fittings. This is a unique combination of a…
Tombo Mountain Kotanto
The core of this project is a high carbon blade, charcoal-forged from reclaimed steel, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword but is finished in the simple and humble style of farming and foresting tools of centuries ago. Satoyama are the managed forest…
Sunagawa Field Kotanto
Sunagawa (砂川, sand river) was chosen because the texture of the blade and the flowing edge of the hamon are reminiscent of the bank of a calm river. The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese…
Process: Forging a Field Kotanto
This blade was named Sunagawa (砂川, sand river) because the texture of the blade and the flowing edge of the hamon are reminiscent of the bank of a calm river. It was hand forged in a charcoal swordsmith style forge powered by fuigo box bellows and water quenched with clay, an outdoor knife that has…
Process – Forging a Mountain Kotanto
This blade was forged and underwent yaki-ire at the museum forge. It began as a pre-1960s (integral) cultivator tine used by a farmer a generation or more ago. It is a kotanto in the mountain pattern, charcoal-forged and water quenched with clay, a satoyama style outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword.…
Yoroidoshi Forest Kotanto
The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor style knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword. The hamidashi mounting is in the rustic kura style and includes antique fittings from swords carried generations ago. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border…
Mountain Kotanto with Antique Fittings
The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword. The hamidashi mounting is in the rustic kura (蔵, storehouse) style and includes antique fittings from swords carried long ago. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that…
Itten Forest Tanto
Itten (一転, “eat..ten”) means a turning point or turn of events, as in a story or set of circumstances. It carries the idea of a sudden or unexpected shift, return, or change, and often means a complete turn around, in skateboard terminology this is known as a one-eighty (180°). This is the first hammer-finished full…
Koi-oshidori Field Kotanto
The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword. The aikuchi mounting is in the rustic kura (蔵, storehouse) style and includes antique fittings from swords carried long ago. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that…
An Inside Look at Handle Geometry
A rare opportunity to compare the inside and outside geometry of a finished handle core. Historically an old tsuka would be split open for repair or adjustment or even re-purposing for a new blade, however a newly crafted tsuka is always glued together before the outside is shaped. In this unusual case the core was…
Sunnobi Mountain Tanto
Sunnobi tanto (寸延び短刀) are larger than ordinary tanto, with nagasa a sun or two above 1 shaku (sun nobi, “a sun longer”, from nobiru, to stretch or lengthen). Though there is some area of crossover with hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi and they may have sori similar to ko-wakizashi, the simplified difference would be that they are still…
Field Kotanto with Antique Fittings
The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword. The aikuchi mounting is in eclectic kura style and includes antique fittings made for swords centuries ago. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated…
Forest Kotanto with Antique Fittings
The core of this project is a charcoal-forged blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword. The aikuchi mounting is in the rustic kura style and includes antique fittings from swords carried centuries ago. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the…