For those not familiar with Bob, Bob Engnath owned a knife shop in Glendale California and was well known on the knife and sword circuit. He helped many budding knifemaker/swordmaker make their start. He passed away suddenly a bunch of years now.

The cool thing about Engnath was that he put out a catalog with instructions for self-finishing/making/mounting swords and knives. The legacy of that catalog is still on-line.

The irony here is that as a polisher I have some mixed feelings about how many were finished. When Bob was alive there weren't many doing full polishes. Those who did generally didn't work on these kinds of blades. So his instructions included sandpaper, etching, etc. Most I've seen were finished by the owners with the expected rounding, softness, and lack of definition. And usually the methods used leave you to decide between seeing the differential hardening and having a cleared surface.

Anyway, occasionally I get one in for a full polish. So they go back to full stone finishes and a lot of work usually has to be done to bring things back to a crisp, defined shape. But they're always worth it. Bob used 1050 steel which is capable of really wild activity and significant contrast when traditionally finished. But it is a lot of work.

All that said I recently polished a Bob Engnath katana. I had brought the blade into the house after finishing burnishing when I noticed the blade showed quite nicely sitting on my table. It still needs a bit of work on the tip to clarify the finish. And next is to mount it. But the photo really shows some of the distinctive "Bob" aspects of his work.

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That is one beautiful katana blade. B-) I came real close
to purchasing a fully mounted katana from a customer of
Mr. Engnath, but at the time it was just out of my price
range ... B-)

I'd really like to see more photos of this when they're available.

What a beautiful activity on this blade. Thank you Keith for posting such a beauty.

Regards

Manoucher

Here's a sample pic of the whole sword now finally finished.

[ Linked Image ]

But rather than waste bandwidth here with all the photos, I put up a page on my site with photos and description. Okay, its also because I'm way too lazy (really too busy) to type it all out again.

http://summerchild.com/photos_ETEngnath.htm

And yes, in case anyone asks, that is what is called an "o-kissaki". And it was a very difficult kissaki to reshape. Getting all the geometry where it needs to be is very difficult when the tip gets that long. Things get *very* subtle and the smallest variation ends up ruining it all. Lots of time on the stones on this one...

Hope you like it. Bob Engnath is sorely missed.

And by the way, the customer is Erik Tracy. And as a craftsman, Erik is the kind of customer I like. He knows what he wants in general so he gives guidance, but he also stands far enough back to let me "do my thing" as well. And he trusted me to experiment a bit with the saya finish in particular. So thanks, Erik.

Keith, your work leaves me speachless as usual.

Magnificent.

Thanks for sharing this Keith.

This sword has a very powerful look to it, and an understated elegance that I really like.

I've always been impressed with Erik's taste in fittings and with your work as a polisher. The two of you came up with a great finished product on this one.

Indeed .... wonderful job !

Thanks for sharing , Mac

Patrick Kelly wrote:

Thanks for sharing this Keith. This sword has a very powerful look to it, and an understated elegance that I really like. I've always been impressed with Erik's taste in fittings and with your work as a polisher. The two of you came up with a great finished product on this one.

Great Job Keith.

I think you really hit the nail on the head with your work on this project. Subtle details in every piece but no one thing overshadowing the others. And talk about a Shine... Man that looks great. Again great job!

I may have missed it and I certainly apologize if I did, but.. is there a shot of the Tsuba?

Excellent!! Well done sir.

And thanks for sharing!

Scott