A couple weeks back I took a working / visiting trip to Rick Barrett's homestead. Wound up taking home a lot more "loot" than I expected.

First up, I snagged the monosteel kat in shirasaya he had available on his webpage (http://www.barrettcustomknives.com/nihonto/katana10.htm). This was actually a trade off for a different kat project I was going to be working on with Rick. This blade really just caught my eye -- you have to see it in person to really appreciate it. Also, if you're familiar with Rick's work, it's a pretty unique blade for him. The shirasaya is also very well executed, and virtually seamless. I also took a display box he had made off his hands for this piece. The box is extremely nice (which the pictures unfortunately do not do justice to), and quite sturdy.

[ Linked Image ]

[ Linked Image ]

[ Linked Image ]

I also picked up the scabbard for my Ranger-inspired type XVIa. For someone who is just getting in to doing scabbards, I'm very happy with Rick's work on this. The fit is good without being too tight, and the chape is patterned to match the "roughed steel" look of the guard on the sword. On the back of the scabbard, the seam is covered with a pigskin overlay pattern.

[ Linked Image ]

[ Linked Image ]

Saving the best for last... as I said, partly this was a working trip, and I wanted to get my hands dirty. Rick let me do a good amount of work on one of this blades (with his supervision and corrections, of course), and I got to work on adding some pre-curvature, normalization, clay application, and the heat treat. The result was the blade posted on his website here: http://www.barrettcustomknives.com/nihonto/katana16.htm . When you work on something and get results that you both wanted and are very, very happy with, it can be hard to let it go. When I saw the blade get posted in foundation polish, it was just too much -- I knew I had to keep that baby for myself. It will be a long-coming project since I don't have the money to mount it right away, but this will be a very personal project for me. The end sword will be a dedication to my two older brothers who passed away a long time ago. I've asked Rick to put a custom mei on the nakago of the blade to state as such, and the fittings will be tomoe designs (a "three comma" type design, to represent the three brothers). I've already snagged a tomoe fuchi / kashira set by Patrick Hastings that Brandon Thell had on hand, and need to get in touch with Patrick about a tsuba.

I'm sure as progress is made in that project I'll be posting pictures from time to time -- as I said, this is going to be a very special project for me, and I'm excited to see the results.

Much more fun than my day job...

[ Linked Image ]

I'm really more of a western swords kind of guy, but a couple of things in your post caught my eye.

Jeremy Scott Steimel wrote:

...First up, I snagged the monosteel kat in shirasaya he had available on his webpage....

I really like the habaki(sp?) on that 1st kat.

Jeremy Scott Steimel wrote:

...Rick let me do a good amount of work on one of this blades (with his supervision and corrections, of course), and I got to work on adding some pre-curvature, normalization, clay application, and the heat treat ...When you work on something and get results that you both wanted and are very, very happy with, it can be hard to let it go. When I saw the blade get posted in foundation polish, it was just too much -- I knew I had to keep that baby for myself....

Hey, that's a beautiful blade. You do good work, Jeremy. Can't blame you for wanting to keep it!

It looks like you had a great time Jeremy, as well as coming home with some neat toys and invaluable experience.

Neat!

Some fine swords there jeremy, i like your idea for a dedicated brother's sword,excellent,
i must add you look right at home in the forge,
cool guy rick,lettimg you go out and work side by side on stuff,

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen. And Patrick, you hit the nail right on the head: the toys are fun, but the experience is priceless.

Careful you don't catch "The Bug." Standing there holding hot iron (or steel) can be adictive. If the bug bites you, you might want to do those kinds of things on a regular basis. That can be.... well, FUN. :D

-Grey