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Yesterday I mentioned my parents dropped off some swords
The one on the left is a ww2 era sword that we found while clearing out my great uncle’s place in Virginia. He got it from a friend (who likely got it from a Japanese pow or dead guy)
It’s very mass produced. Plastic “shark skin” on the hilt, a little spring to release the blade, metal scabbard lined with wood.
It was rusty as hell when we found it, and talking to some sword folks online, not worth the cost of restoration. But then I studied metalworking in college
So I took it upon myself to clean it up. By the way, the blade had a hamon (the wavy pattern on the edge) when I got it. It rubbed off when I tried to polish it 
The rust went deeper than I thought and filing down the blade was exhausting. I probably shouldn’t have gone for the mirror polish either. I was like 20 at the time.
“But Maki, it’s rusty now”
Yeah, apparently one of my brothers has been playing with it. The pins in the hilt are broken, the wrapping is undone, and there are fingerprints all over the blade
Yeah, apparently one of my brothers has been playing with it. The pins in the hilt are broken, the wrapping is undone, and there are fingerprints all over the blade
Still feels very cool to hold though!
The other one is a casting I made of the blade in bronze. That was it’s own nightmare. I think I must have cast it 5 or 6 times before I got one that didn’t crack while cooling
The sharp eyed among you might be able to guess why this one worked.
We made our own silicon bronze in school ($1 a pound, baby!) and this batch had a lot more copper in it
We made our own silicon bronze in school ($1 a pound, baby!) and this batch had a lot more copper in it
It also means the thing will bend if you look at it wrong
I made the little brass thing (it wedges into the scabbard to hold the blade in place) myself from sheet brass. Couldn’t get a good cast of it.
I made the little brass thing (it wedges into the scabbard to hold the blade in place) myself from sheet brass. Couldn’t get a good cast of it.
Again, somebody had been touching it! I kept the blades clean and oiled 
Metalworker I was, but woodworker I was not. The scabbard is awful. It’s way too thick and baby Maki did not have good taste in fabric.
Oh forgot this. The tang of the ww2 sword has some markings. I think I got it translated at one point. But I forget what it was
TL;DR In college I tried to restore a Japanese sword and then made one of my own. AMA
