For connoisseurs of beautiful objects….a 30 year wait!

[Blackbird]

I’ve now got the Blackbird and my riding kit to pretty much the stage where I’m completely happy with it. A decent bonus from work has allowed me an indulgence which for once hasn’t gone on bike gear! However, it has certainly given the same emotional pleasure that getting new bike stuff does. I thought that it took ages to make up my mind when buying bike gear but this latest purchase can be traced back nearly 3 decades from when I first wanted one – not exactly a snap decision!

All that time ago, I saw a TV programme on knife and sword-making using Damascus steel which is a technique nearly 1500 years old and almost a lost art in the age of mass-production. It’s also how the original Japanese Samurai Katana (yay - a bike reference!) swords were made. Without going into too much detail, a billet of steel is cut in half and forged together again whilst red hot. This is repeated multiple times to produce heaps of layers, i.e. 9 double-ups produces 512 layers! The resulting blade is incredibly strong and carries one of the sharpest edges known. I was blown away with both the ingenuity of the technique and the sheer beauty of the finished object which has a sort of marbled effect on the blade due to the layers being exposed by polishing and etching. Owning one would be akin to owning a piece of history.

The Internet is truly a wondrous thing and lo and behold, I recently found 3 people in NZ with international reputations who still practice the ancient art! There are some stupendously clever people in this country eh? After a bit of dialogue, one of them accepted a commission to make a carving knife for me. Although I was looking at it in the same manner as purchasing a piece of art (which it really is), having it made as a semi-practical object helped with the guilt of spending a similar amount to a top of the line Arai or Shoei helmet!

It arrived today so here it is – raindrop pattern Damascus steel blade, burr maple handle (similar to fiddleback kauri) with etched copper fittings. Had to wait over 3 months for it to be made, but it’s a truly stunning piece of workmanship and will be a family heirloom. Have now got to make an elegant wooden display stand for it. The photos really don’t do it justice but I am completely blown away. The “ting” noise when tapping the blade is something else! In the edge shot, you can just see some of the layers. Have kept the files size large for zooming purposes.

And you know what? No eye-rolling or sarcasm from Mrs. B like when yet another expensive bike goody arrives in the post as she was right behind the purchase on this occasion!

If anyone is interested in beautiful knives made in New Zealand, check these sites out:
www.hoihoknives.com/, www.brentsandowknives.com/, www.damascus.co.nz/
There’s actually a knife show being organised in Auckland for November by the guy who made mine.

Oh happy days!!!!

[Colapop]

It's not til you get real close that you can see the amount of work that has gone into a seemingly plain knife. Very skilled craftsmen those guys... and very patient.

[Edbear]

A work of art, for sure! Hope you have no trouble with insurance, guess you'd need to have it indpendently valued and itemised on your policy?

You're not wrong about NZ craftsmen either, there are a few very clever people in this country who can produce workmanship the equal of anyone in the world!

Nice job!

[Motu]

That's a nice knife alright....

I have a couple of knives my Grandfather made,he made them out of saw blades.One is long and straight and is a bread knife,the other is shorter and curved,the carving knife.These were the knives my mother used when I was a boy,she hated stainless steel as she couldn't get an edge on them,these always get a lick with a steel before use.I don't use them anymore because they are hard to keep rust free with everyday use and not cleaning and wiping after use.I do what my mother taught me - plunge them into the ground to clean.Not things of beauty,they were made to use everyday,and they were.

[Blackbird]

A work of art, for sure! Hope you have no trouble with insurance, guess you'd need to have it indpendently valued and itemised on your policy?

You're not wrong about NZ craftsmen either, there are a few very clever people in this country who can produce workmanship the equal of anyone in the world!

Nice job!

Cheers guys. There's an old blacksmith in Taupo who has represented NZ at the world smithing champs who makes some unbelievable objects. It's a long story, but about 10 years ago, I commissioned him to make an unfolding rose in a specimen vase for my wife's birthday. Everything, including individual petals were forged from wrought iron, and the leaves on the stem even had veins in them. Not a single rivet or weld - all hand forged. Oh to have a fraction of that talent

[riffer]

Nice, nice knife.

Great to see such craftsmanship survives.

[Blackbird]

That's a nice knife alright....

I have a couple of knives my Grandfather made,he made them out of saw blades.One is long and straight and is a bread knife,the other is shorter and curved,the carving knife.These were the knives my mother used when I was a boy,she hated stainless steel as she couldn't get an edge on them,these always get a lick with a steel before use.I don't use them anymore because they are hard to keep rust free with everyday use and not cleaning and wiping after use.I do what my mother taught me - plunge them into the ground to clean.Not things of beauty,they were made to use everyday,and they were.

Yep, this is a ferrous blade too, that's why it keeps an edge. After hand washing, it will need a light rub over with a rag with beeswax on it or carnauba wax. The Green River professional chef knives also have ferrous blades.

[Macktheknife]

Beautiful piece of work mate, well done.
I had a friend who has an original damascus sword from the 13th (?) century, a thing of beauty, literally beyond price.
good on you anyway.

[Legolas]

Beutiful workmanship. A nice slice of history.
It's so nice to see things made using the old methods.
We don't make things to last any more.

Oh to have a fraction of that talent

Don't put yourself down M8. I know you're a very talented bloke.

[thehollowmen]

That's a beauty. Bling

I'm looking for someone who can do wootz steel. I'm not buying another one until I get a wootz blade for myself. Might take me a while to afford it if I'm gonna have to look elsewhere.

[Blackbird]

That's a beauty. Bling

I'm looking for someone who can do wootz steel. I'm not buying another one until I get a wootz blade for myself. Might take me a while to afford it if I'm gonna have to look elsewhere.

Sorry to say you'll be looking for true wootz forever, it's a lost art but very similar to Damascus. JD Verhoeven is THE international expert and he's published a heap of academic papers. If you haven't come across him, start with : http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM...even-9809.html.

Legolas me old mate! Thanks for the kind words,haha. Owe you an email and will write shortly. Been up in Coro this w/e with fellow 'bird owners Bykey Cop, Hammer and Dave Easey planning our "Birds Galore" trip to the South Island.
Cheers All

Geoff

[stevedee]

Visited Japan for about 3 months in the early 80s. At that time we visited a lot of Museums, the Katanas were on display, they had guards there preventing tourists from taking photo's. Amazing swords and knives, and you had to wonder at the lives they had taken. Did manage to take some pics though. The way they make the blade is I think similar.

spd:-)

[scumdog]

Man, that's REAL craftsmanship and a real object of beauty eh?? Well done, I approve

Almost cried when I heard how servicemen returning from J-force after WW2 brought back Samurai swords in their kit-bags - by cutting them in half to get them to fit!! Ngahhhh!!!

[Blackbird]

Man, that's REAL craftsmanship and a real object of beauty eh?? Well done, I approve

Almost cried when I heard how servicemen returning from J-force after WW2 brought back Samurai swords in their kit-bags - by cutting them in half to get them to fit!! Ngahhhh!!!

Then you and I share that emotion! There was an ex-J force soldier living in Tokoroa and he did exactly that. He tidied it up a bit to look like a Tanto short sword but should have been executed with it for ruining such a stunning object.

[Blackbird]

Well, well. Those ancient swordmakers knew a thing or two then!

Fancy nanotubes being present in ancient swords:

15 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Tools

DURING the middle ages, the Muslims who fought crusaders with swords of Damascus steel had an edge - a very high-tech one. Their sabres contained carbon nanotubes.

From about AD 900 to AD 1750, Damascus sabres were forged from Indian steel called wootz. Peter Paufler of the Technical University of Dresden, Germany, and colleagues studied samples of a 17th-century sword under an electron microscope and found clear evidence of carbon nanotubes and even nanowires.

The researchers think that the sophisticated process of forging and annealing the steel formed the nanotubes and the nanowires, and could explain the amazing mechanical properties of the swords (Nature, vol 444, p 286).

From issue 2578 of New Scientist magazine, 15 November 2006, page 20