A “gentleman’s tantō” of 6 and 1/8 inch nagasa, cable construction, hira-zukuri, with silver habaki.

Overall length of 10 and 3/4 inches.

In a simple koshirae, in a style similar to most kwaiken, only slightly larger, with black and red lacquer-work. Fuchigashira of buffalo horn. Silver mekugi-ana fittings with buffalo horn mekugi. Silver ring for sageo on saya in flower design. Comes with black silk sageo and handmade sword bag.

By Michael Bell.

FOR SALE AT REDUCED PRICE

$2,200

Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.

Student’s may reserve a place in the class of their choice online through our school website, tomboyama.com with deposit payment via PayPal. The deposit is refundable up to 60 days before the scheduled session. Space in our classes is limited, and reservations are made on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

We are eagerly awaiting another enjoyable year of sword-making classes.

Dragonfly Forge will soon be attending the Oregon Knife Collectors Association (OKCA) annual knife show in Eugene, Oregon.

The show, held at the convention center at the Lane County Fairgrounds, will be held April 8-10, 2011. Friday admission is open to club members only, but Saturday and Sunday the show is open to any who enjoy “things that go cut.”

A large variety of lectures and live demonstrations will be held throughout the weekend, including a presentation by Michael Bell, master swordsmith of Dragonfly Forge, scheduled on Sunday of the show at noon. Entitled “Origins: The Evolution of Blade Technology”, the talk will focus on the metallurgical development of blades worldwide, from around 1000 BC to present day.

For more information on the annual show, please visit the OKCA website.

The tsuba is the reproduction of a missing piece from the mid-1800′s and is an true masterpiece.

Enjoy the video and have a Merry Christmas!

We have added two new courses for the 2011 school year: the Intermediate Forging Course and the Tsuka Course.

For more detail on our class please visit our school’s website tomboyama.com

This blade forged from a single piece of forge-welded cable has a 23 inch (59.7 cm) nagasa. Blade is tori-zori with chu-kissaki. Well-controled gunome hamon with usturi.

Mr. Nakajima referred to similar swords as “castle swords”, because the somewhat shorter length could be more easily wielded in confined indoor combat. A blade of this size would also have been similar to those carried by merchants and others not of the samurai class, who were legally allowed to carry one sword shorter than a katana during the Edo period.

The blade in mounted in black koshirae, also by Michael Bell. Tsuka of full-wrap same, wrapped with black silk ito. Dragon menuki of shibuichi. Silver shitodome. Buffalo horn kurigata, koiguchi, and kojiri. Black silk sageo. Copper habaki and seppa.

Tsuba is a collaborative work by Michael, Anna, and Gabriel Bell of Dragonfly Forge. It is forged antique wrought iron, pierced and carved in an openwork floral motiff.

Other measurements:

nakago nagasa: 9 1/4” (23.5 cm)
sori: 1/2” (1.27 cm)
kasane at habaki: 1/4” (64 mm)
motohaba: 1 3/16” (3.02 cm)
sakihaba: 7/8” (2.22 cm)

$8,600

Also, let us remind everyone again that we will not be attending this year’s San Francisco Token Kai, due to Gabriel and Maria’s wedding!

While doing the required repairs, we took the opportunity to upgrade the page templates and hopefully improve the overall look and functionality for the better. Feel free to let us know what you think about the changes!

Silver habaki. Copper seppa.

The tsuba is forged of antique wrought iron, in a rounded square form with a raised rim. Pierced and carved dragonfly motiff, with ude-nuke-ana. Unique design by Michael.

Koshirae with black-on-black ‘ghost tiger stripe’ lacquered saya. Buffalo horn koiguchi, kurigata and kojiri. Handle with full-wrap same-kawa(rayskin) under black silk handle-wrap. Dragonfly menuki of gold-plated silver. Higo style fuchigashira of shibuichi. Gold-plated silver shitodome. ‘Red-black’ silk sageo.

Unfortunately, the final polish is of somewhat lower quality and there is a visible blemish where the polisher slipped with the burnishing needle on the shinogiji. The beauty of the steel can still be thoroughly appreciated, but a touch up polish by a more qualified polisher at a later time would certainly further enhance the subtle activity in the steel.

FOR SALE

Price Reduced!
$9,900