myArmoury.com - Project Log: Rick Barrett custom katana

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Posts: 105 Location: Champaign, IL

Wed 05 Dec, 2007 1:41 pm

Project Log: Rick Barrett custom katana

Hey folks! Been quite awhile since I posted on here, but I've been pretty excited about a project I have going (and is starting to pick up steam). The project is a custom katana by Rick Barrett which is being given a very special (to me) dedication. Back when I was a little more active on here, I know people were always wanting to see some more Japanese pieces, so I thought maybe I'd start up a project log for the katana I have on the way. This first post will be a pretty big summary of everything up until now, and in the future I'll try to make smaller updates as things move along.

I consider myself very lucky to be able to call Rick a friend. It's probably been 8-9 years or so since I met Rick, and I've had the fortunate opportunity to visit his home on numerous ocassions and watch him work in the shop. In 2006 I made the trip to Rick's place for one of his annual seminars. The blade being used in the project is one I had a hand in on at the seminar. I got to add some pre-heat treat curvature, did some of the stress relief work, did the clay application, and the heat treatment. Of course, this was all done with Rick's strict supervision and corrections and would not have been possible otherwise!

This is the clay pattern I used. I wanted to try and get a rolling flame type look.

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13505.html

Who's that handsom guy heating up some steel?

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13503.html

Awhile after the heat treat was finished, Rick started cleaning up some of the blades and opening small windows so people could see how their hamon turned out. Since I was going to be staying an extra few days after the seminar to visit, I was last on the list, it was a painful wait! When Rick finally started cleaning up my blade, I'll never forget the look he gave me. Before I even got to see the spot he opened up, he was off to the grinder with my blade in hand. A little bit later, he gave me that same look again -- to be honest, I thought I had screwed something up and he was going to tell me he found a flaw! Instead, I got a laugh and a "Come look!" The blade had turned out quite nicely, and I was very proud. The below picture actually came a couple days after I left, after Rick had done a rough stage polish on to show some of the activity.

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13504.html

I was pretty excited and knew immediately that I wanted to keep this sword to mount. I actually had another kat project going with Rick prior to this. He helped me make arrangements to sell that blade and everything was moved over to this new piece. I decided I wanted to go a fully custom route with this one.

Now, I've been following swords and doing my best to learn since I was in highschool. I've called this a hobby for a little over 10 years, and all I can say I've learned so far is that I don't know much. :) However, pretty early on into my partaking in this great hobby I was very fortunate to get to meet and visit some great smiths, including Rick, Grandpa Meier, and more. And I got to attend a few very good custom shows and token kai and study some great blades. I knew early on that, even if it meant not owning my own sword for a long time, in the end I would be happier if I waited for something I really loved rather than getting a cheaper sword just to have one. Of course, the end product of that is a currently very small collection, but it's one that I'm very happy with (my first sword came about 5-6 years after I started reading forums and going to shows). This may seem like a completely random aside, but I suppose it's an explanation as to why a lot of time and thought went into this project.

Once I had decided that I would go fully custom with this blade, the first thing I wanted to decide on was a theme. This did not take much time, however. And within a day of having gotten home I was emailing Rick with my thoughts. This project is very personal to me, as I said before. I have two older brothers who passed away before I was born (and a surviving older sister). I decided that this sword would be themed as a tribute to my brothers, and the four siblings as a whole, and in hopes it would become a family heirloom. I spoke to Rick about this, and he liked the idea. He gave me the idea of doing a message on the nakago (tang) of the sword, which was a common practice on many blades made as tributes. I contacted a friend who had moved out west for college, majoring in linguistics and had taken many Japanese courses. We discussed a few different options, as what I wanted it to say exactly was not quite possible due to translation gaps. In the end, we settled on this:

兄と生命に捧ぐ
"I dedicate (this sword) to life, and to my elder brothers."

I passed this on to Rick, and before long the tribute was added: http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13500.html

Next up was the task of finding appropriate fittings. After deciding on the theme, I knew I wanted one part or another of the koshirae to reflect a tomoe design. I asked around a bit, and Brandon Thell came up with a set he was holding which had been custom made by Patrick Hastings. More than thrilled to have a shot at some Patrick Hastings fittings, I snagged the set up. The reason I wanted to get a tomoe feature was for the three commas to symbolize the three brothers. The set that Brandon had were pretty much perfect for what I was looking for.

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13502.html

For the tsuba, I've gone back to Rick. While this isn't 100% finalized, I've most likely got one picked out. It's one of his folded pieces and it features a sakura theme (Cherry blossom). I wanted to feature a cherry blossom in one part of the fittings to symbolize my sister, who was born in early April (around the time when the sakura blooms are the most beautiful in many parts of Japan). My sister is a very caring, sympathetic type. I think having the sakura theme on the guard is fitting.

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/13501.html

So what's next? Well, the cause for my recent excitement is that the blade, I'm told, is hitting its spot in the polishing queue with Chris Osbornne towards the end of this week! So hopefully before long I'll have some pictures to show how the hamon turned out in a full polish!

More to come soon, hopefully! :)