|
| The
blade itself was bought from EBay for $20 (including shipping).
I stripped off the crappy novelty tsuba and cheesy plastic
handle, snapped off the tang, and grinded down the bottom
curve of the blade. I chose to use this kind of blade because
it was made of chrome-plated, low quality steel, and this
is much easier to cut, grind and weld than the high-quality
stainless steel. |
|
| To
make the tang (the piece of steel inside the handle) I
bought a piece of flat steel from some friends at a local
machine shop and traced out the pattern I made with the
vectors. A few hours of cutting, welding and grinding later,
the blade was formed. |
|
| Here's
a shot with the handle sandwiched onto it. |
|
| The
knuckle guard was cut from a piece of stainless steel and
spot-welded into place. |
|
| 3/4
view |
|
| Side
view |
|
| Here's
a shot of the buttcap. |
|
| It's
made from two pieces of sheetmetal carefully hammered and
stretched into shape, then welded together and welded to
the center tang and knuckle guard |
|
| After
a little more grinding, everything will be smooth and relatively
shiny. Next comes the "bodywork" on the handle
which will build out the handle slightly to be flush with
the buttcap. |
|
|
| Click
here to see the creation of the HANDLE |
|
| Click
here to see the finish work and PAINT |
|
| Back
to the main project
page |
|