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View Full Version : Building a sword from scratch



Tony Peters
4th February 2001, 06:27
I have an itch to put together a sword for myself. Mostly I want it for Iaido practice but an occasional round of cutting out of the question. Mostly though I just want to use a tool that I had a hand in creating. I've made other M.A. weapons Bokens, Jo's, lots of tanto's to give as gifts and a very nice Kusari Gama out of Wenge last summer. For a blade I was thinking of using a Kris blade unless I run across a Gunto between now and the summer. I can get a sharkskin or rayskin from a fish market and dry it; however, my big question is about the selection of wood for the handle and to a lesser extent the Saya. What American wood is suitable for the handle? And is Koa an acceptable wood for the saya. It is my desire to have an unpainted raw wood looking saya if possible (no not traditional but I like wood grain and Koa has beautiful grain). I plan on fabricating as much as I can the only thing that I know I need to purchase (other than the blade) are the Fuchi-Kashira, the tsuka ito and maybe the Tsuba, though I may just get a blank from Kim Taylor and use my Dremel on it. Anyone else gone this route???