THE HYBRID JIAN PROJECT
Sept 25, 2009 1:51:10 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 1:51:10 GMT
This is a replacement blade for a Tinker Pearce Bastard sword w/o fuller. I purchased it special order at www.swords.com and recieved a wonderful price and quick shipping. it took some planning though. I wasn't well schooled on the metallurgy of 5160 marquenched steel. so I did some research and an email to Tinker. He gave me some good advice about maintaining the design harmonics. If I am expressing this correctly, the steel and tempering process basically makes it have properties similar to DH in that the out side of the blade retains hardness while the core is more ductile for edge holding capacity and flexibility at the same time. The edge is quite sharp and not to mention "pointy metal object".
The handle is carved red oak, but I cheated, by using a dremmel. The furniture was from and old jian that I didnt really like that was being used for practice only. The pommel is held with an acorn nut as the end of the tang has threads. The handle also is pinned with a brass pin, since the bamboo pin would be too light for balance purposes. I swiped some leather off a leather covered scabbard from a wallhanger laying around the house. this made great panels under the ito from another wallhanger (cotton).
Now for the wierd part... the blade was originally planed to be taken from its designed 33" to 30" via stock removal. Couldnt do it power tools out of the question for obvious heat issues and safety reasons. The hacksaws and files barely bulled the shine w/o any cut whatsoever. That is what made the decision for the ito and the brass pin. I had to have weight for balance.
anyway I hope you like it, and I will be doing a full review at a later time. And yes I wil be rewrapping the ito. My fingers started cramping up so I just hurried through it. And I want to thank Icheban for a video I watched on youtube that i found on one of his forum post regarding how to turn the ito to get the neat diamond shapes. I will be watching it again before the rewrap.
The handle is carved red oak, but I cheated, by using a dremmel. The furniture was from and old jian that I didnt really like that was being used for practice only. The pommel is held with an acorn nut as the end of the tang has threads. The handle also is pinned with a brass pin, since the bamboo pin would be too light for balance purposes. I swiped some leather off a leather covered scabbard from a wallhanger laying around the house. this made great panels under the ito from another wallhanger (cotton).
Now for the wierd part... the blade was originally planed to be taken from its designed 33" to 30" via stock removal. Couldnt do it power tools out of the question for obvious heat issues and safety reasons. The hacksaws and files barely bulled the shine w/o any cut whatsoever. That is what made the decision for the ito and the brass pin. I had to have weight for balance.
anyway I hope you like it, and I will be doing a full review at a later time. And yes I wil be rewrapping the ito. My fingers started cramping up so I just hurried through it. And I want to thank Icheban for a video I watched on youtube that i found on one of his forum post regarding how to turn the ito to get the neat diamond shapes. I will be watching it again before the rewrap.