My little Huawei Kogarasu Maru Daisho Project.
Feb 19, 2015 16:15:37 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Feb 19, 2015 16:15:37 GMT
Huawei Kogarasu Maru Daisho.
I ordered this set some 4 or 5 years ago. Could be longer still, but I really cannot remember. I was lurking on this forum just then and some members here started to post about this new forge called Huawei. They were really positive about the quality of the blades on offer. T10 was all the rage and Jacky had this Maru model in T10 mono steel. Because he had one Sanmai katana in DH at that time and I had ordered it and found it to be very well done, I enquired about making me a Daisho of his Kogarasu Maru, but in DH Sanmai. He answered that though they had not done this before, the smith was willing to try a construction of folded steel for the body and T10 for the edge in DH. So, I paid and weeks later he showed me the results. In the following pictures you can see the folded steel inside the fuller and some of the hamon. The hamon goes right around the tip and to the end of the false edge. This picture does not do it justice, it is a sight for sore eyes.
He let slip that my order had caused much wailing at the factory, what with blades snapping or bending, but they were very proud of the end results. After the initial troubles they got the hang of making these blades and made some more to sell on the site to lower the cost overhang. So, I was a little proud also to see ,, my design '' for sale on a real life sword site. I had ordered the swords with 1 meguki tsuka and Sea Dragon fittings. The tsuka on these swords are flawless for fit and they have to be. I gave them some more profile, just a little to be sure, but these are the best fitting Ebay tsuka I ever had. Even the mekugi holes are at the right angle. Kudos to Huawei for all that.
I was planning to do away with the fittings and to look for tsuba that would fit in with the time this design was first made, somewhere between Tachi and Katana as we now know them, I believe. Something like this.
Somehow the project landed on the back burner, also because I had some different katana blades from different times in katana development and like other people starting with katana, I was soon drawn to the Euro side of swords.
But last month I saw this brass tsuba on Ebay and ordered 2 to adorn the Maru blades.
I thought they would fit in well, though they needed to be cleaned up. I filed away some raw spots and gave the side bars a good trashing with the hammer. I am very partial to Gangi Maki, so I stripped the battlewrap Ito, kept the same panels in place and did this narrow ribbed version, with false knots, over the slightly re profiled tsuka.
Since the new tsuba were thicker than the old ones, I shortened the tsuka a couple of millimetres.
Apart from the Sea Dragon tsuba I kept the rest of the fittings and silver plated them together with the new tsuba. I kept the seppa and patinated them a bluish black for nice contrast.
I had 4 silver menuki, but did not use them. There is enough silver already. and I like this no nonsense look.
The Gangi Maki was laquered a very dark, almost black, brown I saw on some nihonto, with three layers of matte poly on top. This was then touched up with some wax to get a nice antique look. The saya with horn fittings were okay and so I did not bother with them. Even after all those years in a dry environment they hold up well.
So, after years of waiting the project is finished and I like these little blades even more now.
I ordered this set some 4 or 5 years ago. Could be longer still, but I really cannot remember. I was lurking on this forum just then and some members here started to post about this new forge called Huawei. They were really positive about the quality of the blades on offer. T10 was all the rage and Jacky had this Maru model in T10 mono steel. Because he had one Sanmai katana in DH at that time and I had ordered it and found it to be very well done, I enquired about making me a Daisho of his Kogarasu Maru, but in DH Sanmai. He answered that though they had not done this before, the smith was willing to try a construction of folded steel for the body and T10 for the edge in DH. So, I paid and weeks later he showed me the results. In the following pictures you can see the folded steel inside the fuller and some of the hamon. The hamon goes right around the tip and to the end of the false edge. This picture does not do it justice, it is a sight for sore eyes.
He let slip that my order had caused much wailing at the factory, what with blades snapping or bending, but they were very proud of the end results. After the initial troubles they got the hang of making these blades and made some more to sell on the site to lower the cost overhang. So, I was a little proud also to see ,, my design '' for sale on a real life sword site. I had ordered the swords with 1 meguki tsuka and Sea Dragon fittings. The tsuka on these swords are flawless for fit and they have to be. I gave them some more profile, just a little to be sure, but these are the best fitting Ebay tsuka I ever had. Even the mekugi holes are at the right angle. Kudos to Huawei for all that.
I was planning to do away with the fittings and to look for tsuba that would fit in with the time this design was first made, somewhere between Tachi and Katana as we now know them, I believe. Something like this.
Somehow the project landed on the back burner, also because I had some different katana blades from different times in katana development and like other people starting with katana, I was soon drawn to the Euro side of swords.
But last month I saw this brass tsuba on Ebay and ordered 2 to adorn the Maru blades.
I thought they would fit in well, though they needed to be cleaned up. I filed away some raw spots and gave the side bars a good trashing with the hammer. I am very partial to Gangi Maki, so I stripped the battlewrap Ito, kept the same panels in place and did this narrow ribbed version, with false knots, over the slightly re profiled tsuka.
Since the new tsuba were thicker than the old ones, I shortened the tsuka a couple of millimetres.
Apart from the Sea Dragon tsuba I kept the rest of the fittings and silver plated them together with the new tsuba. I kept the seppa and patinated them a bluish black for nice contrast.
I had 4 silver menuki, but did not use them. There is enough silver already. and I like this no nonsense look.
The Gangi Maki was laquered a very dark, almost black, brown I saw on some nihonto, with three layers of matte poly on top. This was then touched up with some wax to get a nice antique look. The saya with horn fittings were okay and so I did not bother with them. Even after all those years in a dry environment they hold up well.
So, after years of waiting the project is finished and I like these little blades even more now.