FWIW I recently finished and shipped a new bainite katana to a customer. I took some photos to document the piece, but not a lot. And yes, these are all the photos I have. There aren't many posts on Japanese-style stuff here, so I figured I'd post here too.

Basically a big shobu zukuri cutter. Blade by Howard Clark (fantastic work as always). It is about 28.5 inches long and the tsuka ended up around 11" long total. The fuchi kashira are from Japan, the tsuba and menuki from Fred Lohman. The mounting was done to be an unabashedly simple and straightforward mounting -- all business and very understated. That said, the saya is alder, the tsuka core alder, the same' very high grade from Japan. Black silk ito. The habaki is silver.

All my work except for the final tsukamaki. I asked my friend and instructor Ted Tenold to do the wrap for me. I had helped him out with something else so we traded the work. This was good for me as the last tsuka I wrapped left me with a swollen, infected hand. Apparently I have developed a bizarre sensitivity to the rayskin (or something "living" in the rayskin). So I've been hesitant to wrap anything lately...

The tsuka shaping was done to reflect the "Higo" style of the fuchi kashira. And it simply worked well given the blade and the sori of the blade.

Here's one image...

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I posted the images on Bugei's sword gallery under the custom sword album if you'd like to see more. You can go directly to the album with these custom sword images here:


http://www.swordforumbugei.com/gallery/album06


Or to the gallery itself, click on custom then on the only thing there so far...

http://www.swordforumbugei.com/gallery


Enjoy.

Oooooh, I really like that one Keith. Not overdone, with just the right amount of detail.

How long is the tsuka?

That Shobu Zukuri style is my favorite in the Japanese stuff.

Beautiful work, Keith ( as always :-) .... everything just looks right , tight, and ready to cut !

Mac

Thanks Patrick.

The tsuka is about 11" long, give or take.

I'm finding myself increasingly focusing on simpler styles and mounts when the customer leaves me to my own devices. So many swords I've seen lately have been so overdone. Swords that can't be used are like glass sledgehammers to me. I've seen too many recently where the customer and/or craftsman is mixing things that were traditionally done as austentatious displays of wealth and power along with other features that were traditionally done as functional only methods. So the end result may be interesting to some, it looks to me like that "glass sledgehammer".

The idea on this one was to reflect the notion of simple efficiency. All while doing everything with as high quality as possible. Which was more the ideal historically with swords that were actually used. More or less I've been asking myself if a self-respecting warrior would be happy with the shaping, polish and mounting.

Thanks Mac and Mr. Taylor. I must say that the more I study traditional mounts, styles, etc. the more difficult it gets. Ironically this piece kinda mixes a few things that wouldn't normally be mixed. But I do think that customers today can (and should) reflect their own style and aesthetic taste in the mounts. And that's great as long as it doesn't compromise the functionality of the weapon. And that means proper mounting, usability, durability, and first and foremost safety.

And when I picked up this sword from Howard, well, it just screamed to be a big, honking, nasty cutting sword. It needs to be swung and used for real. Hence the mounting reflects that along with some things that the customer liked as well. As always, a balancing act...

Regardless, its always good to finish something... On to the next projects...

Watching James Williams cutting a 5 mat, at the recent Atlanta Blade Show,using one of the lightest Chen katana, makes me wonder just how many mats he could slice thru using this baby *g*

He is certainly a pro, making it look easy, but man .... give him one of these super L6 katana and the skys the limit !

Mac

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Wow, that is beautiful Keith!
I agree with Patrick, my favorite style of katana is the shobu zukuri; it is a simple and fuctional katana, and because of that it is also one of the more beautiful katanas because of its simplicity.
Are the fuchi and kashira modern or are they antique?