My first foray into the world of swords, the world of wood carving and a couple other things as well. This blade was by far the largest piece I had made to date (2009). Several years ago I built a heat treating oven for sword blades, but had never had occasion to use it until this piece. This blade is forged from a 1" round bar of 52100, and differentially tempered for a hard edge and a spring back. The blade has a tapered tang and distal taper in the blade so it is surprisingly light and fast. In fact, this blade is a fraction of an ounce less than my personal 10" camp knife! The blade is hand finished on the flats, and mirror polished on the tang and spine. The handle is another new adventure for me....carving. I was inspired by some heavily "rusticated" smoking pipes that I really liked. The desert ironwood is deeply sand blasted with a mask on the scroll area. The scroll was carved out to give it some visual depth and the perimeter is smooth and polished. The scabbard is heavy duty premium leather with an ironwood escutcheon sandblasted and finished to compliment the handle and then sewn to the sheath. The blade is 15.25" long with an overall length of 20.75"
