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Description
This one is going to be a longer project, and I figured that I would take some pictures of the process this time.
I'm making a wakizashi, or basically a shorter version of a katana. It's smaller length makes it more suitable for fighting in confined spaces, etc. The blade is currently ~16" or 17", but I think I will stretch it out a little bit more because it's still a little thick and I would really like to get at least 18". I started forging the bevels in a little bit but that's going to need a bit more work, and I'm not that good at bevels..
The blade is made from a railroad track anchor clip (you can also kind of see another one under the blade in this picture). Supposedly these anchor clips are similar to 1065 steel, although I've heard different opinions on that. I've made other knives from it before and I like the way that they turn out. They seem pretty tough, which is good. But forging out an entire track anchor is a lot of work. Seriously, it took me a few days to draw it out to the length that it is now. Next time I do something like this it would be nice to have a striker.

I'll post more pictures periodically as I make more progress on this.

Description
This one is going to be a longer project, and I figured that I would take some pictures of the process this time.
I'm making a wakizashi, or basically a shorter version of a katana. It's smaller length makes it more suitable for fighting in confined spaces, etc. The blade is currently ~16" or 17", but I think I will stretch it out a little bit more because it's still a little thick and I would really like to get at least 18". I started forging the bevels in a little bit but that's going to need a bit more work, and I'm not that good at bevels..
The blade is made from a railroad track anchor clip (you can also kind of see another one under the blade in this picture). Supposedly these anchor clips are similar to 1065 steel, although I've heard different opinions on that. I've made other knives from it before and I like the way that they turn out. They seem pretty tough, which is good. But forging out an entire track anchor is a lot of work. Seriously, it took me a few days to draw it out to the length that it is now. Next time I do something like this it would be nice to have a striker.

I'll post more pictures periodically as I make more progress on this.