Hand-forged katana: Step 9, scabbard and handle

W2 knife-making steel links:
Ebay single bar: www.ebay.com/i...
Ebay three pack: www.ebay.com/i...
Ebay five pack: www.ebay.com/i...
Amazon: www.amazon.com....
W2 steel video: www.youtube.co....
In these videos I forge Japanese blades by hand. I heat treat them, polish them, and make all the parts necessary for mounting them. These videos are targeted to people who are interested in metal art, blacksmithing, forging, knife-making, and sword-making or are simply interested in maker videos. I try to present content in a calm, relaxing fashion that anyone can enjoy watching, whether you participate in this hobby or not.
My most recent blades are made from modern high carbon steel, such as W1 drill rod and custom W2 steel bars. In the future I plan on smelting my own tamahagane and making swords and daggers from that ancient steel.
katana, wakizashi, tanto, habaki, fuchi, kashira, menuki, tsuba, tsuka, quench, temper, hamon, asmr, tamahagane, W2 steel

[@DynamicOwl13]

I was having a hard time finding a good tutorial video on this, my project is just for a WW2 historical dagger reproduction so it's a lot smaller. and thank you for not using techno music for the background lol. that may not be an issue for some but it's usually loud and can't focus on the work being done

[@cals1775]

This has been a very educational series

[@oldpuebloforge]

Thank you so much! More to come.

[@bencoomer2000]

Good idea on blocking the opening. Wouldn't have thought about it until too late myself.

[@meatz666]

This technic of using a black paper to check where the tang bites the wood is so dentist! Hehehe Love your videos!

[@oldpuebloforge]

Yes, I use many techniques from dentistry!

[@meatz666]

@@oldpuebloforge here in my country we call occlusion. When the teeth is biting the wrong side of the mouth. Thanx for the reply. Could you do a Greek or Hungarian blade next? Thanks very much for the hard work and GREAT content!

[@oldpuebloforge]

@@meatz666 Yes, we say occlusion as well. Are you a dentist?

[@meatz666]

@@oldpuebloforge Thx for responding! No, but I spent almost 10 years with my bite in the front. I lost 4 teeth and most of the bones of my upper jaw. Now I have 4 implants and my teeth rests in the right place... But the dentist "shop" (lol) is a place that I go more often than I would like. I would definently prefer going to your bladesmith shop that's for sure. I'm Brazilian btw, but my mother was Portuguese and my father is Hungarian :)

[@sankojin]

When I first got a recommendation to watch this series I wasn't expecting much to be honest. I thought it was going to be just someone that wanted to make a katana but didn't know what they were doing. I was pleasantly surprised that wasn't the case. I really don't know why you don't have more views and subs as this content is gold for anyone not only wanting to make katanas but to anyone that wants to get into bladesmithing. I have watched a lot of videos from free to paid-for ones and this series is amazing. I would love it if you finished off the videos on how you do your ito wrap and your samagawa. Are you doing a full samagawa wrap or just the inserts? If you do a full one I really hope that you make a video of that. Thank you very much for taking the time for doing these videos and doing such a wonderful job with them. Also, I was wondering do you sell your w2 in 36" lengths?

[@oldpuebloforge]

Oh, friend, thank you for your kind words. I'm sorry to say, but I think you're going to be a little disappointed with the final video in this series. I don't plan on going into detail about the handle wrapping or lots of the finishing details. I just plan on showing the final sword (two of them, actually) and discussing my finishing choices a little. Part of the reason for the simple final video is that I made the two swords as gifts for young people who care very little about traditional katanas, but they're really jazzed about zombie apocalypse preparedness, and they wanted me to make them zombie swords for Christmas. In fact, I almost named this series "Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Katana". So, neither of them wanted fancy finishes on their swords. One asked for a "rustic-looking sword" that would be believable as a sword made for or during a zombie uprising. The other one wanted a sword "different from the other one" and showed little interest in fancy finishes. So just... something simple and different from the first one. So, I made two zombie-themed swords, neither of them with fancy finishes. Probably not what some of my subscribers were hoping for. Sorry. To answer your questions, when I do a samegawa wrap, I prefer a full wrap. And the next time I do one, I'll make a video on it. I'll probably do that for my next project (a large shinogi zukuri blade). And I'm really sorry, but I only have the one size of W2. To be honest, I would have preferred pieces large enough to make a katana from, but I need to be able to sell it, and more people are likely to buy it in knife-sized pieces. When I use it for sword making, I'm going to cut 3 bars into 6" long pieces, stack them, and forge weld them into a block, and then draw that block out into a bar. I'm sure that's what I'll do in my next project to show how it's done.

[@dalecarpenter8828]

it cracks me up that some people just can not get the pull saw !

[@oldpuebloforge]

"Everything is easy when you know how to do it."

[@imiimo1800]

i'm making one right now with limited tools, is not as beautiful as yours but your video help me well, thanks.

[@oldpuebloforge]

I'm very glad you've found my video helpful.

[@Rsama60]

It‘s a nice video. Undortunately you skipped overvthe most tricky part with just one sentence - fitting the habaki. I would have loved to see more detail on this aspect.

[@oldpuebloforge]

I have a video on how I make habakis. I don't do it the traditional way, though. I cast them.

[@Rsama60]

@@oldpuebloforge thanks for the quick reply. I didn’t mean the making of the habaki, that us fairly straight forward. I meant the fitting of the habaki into the scabbard, imho this is the most critical step in the making of a japanese scabbard.

[@shark8837]

Nowhere can I find a video of how to make say with pockets for kogai and kozuki. Maybe you can show?

[@oldpuebloforge]

I'm sorry, but I do not know how to do that, either. My woodworking skill is pretty basic.

[@HieiUA]

В мене була проблема з розміткою прорізі на іншій половині руків'я під хвостовик, сподіваюся, що в цьому відео побачу її вирішення... Перший раз роблю меч, і цей перший меч- катана

[@dhnmrgenerillo2218]

When will you release the next video?

[@oldpuebloforge]

Not sure. I'd like to start my next project right away. Maybe a couple of weeks.

[@PatheticPeasant]

About how thick is the handle and saya in raw wood form after glue up and shaping?

[@oldpuebloforge]

It varies. Some people have small hands and want smaller handles, some larger. There's no single answer to this question.

[@felipeandresatenasla]

Hello, what kind of wood is that? Love your videos

[@oldpuebloforge]

Alder and poplar are the best types of wood that are readily available in the US. This is poplar.

[@Walterj28]

Hi, Very nice work, what kind of wood do you use

[@Clone1961]

I would guess something like boxwood,as,it is easy to carve or basic oak

[@Rsama60]

He said it in the very beginning that he likes to ise either poplar or alder. I would guess for this video he used poplar.

[@EdSki1970]

do you sell any of your swords?

[@oldpuebloforge]

I'm sorry. Not right now. I give them as gifts to friends and family.

[@EdSki1970]

@@oldpuebloforge my name is Eddy you can consider me a friend! If I was your neighbor I would bug you often love your set up!

[@dickesf8525]

Now I am really looking forward to the next video! Will you show all your swords or just the one you forged in your previous videos?

[@oldpuebloforge]

Thank you. I'll only show two swords: the one from this video series, and one I forged at the same time and whose scabbard appeared in the scabbard video.

[@jadynbatchelder1135]

This is a very interesting series! I would like to get into forging some time, and would like to make a katana one day.

[@oldpuebloforge]

Thanks for the kind words. I wish you success in your projects!

[@BigLepordy1242]

I want to make a master sword (from legend of Zelda) but I’m too young for any blacksmith classes (14) so these videos are really helpful. I hope I can find a teacher so that o can actually start forging

[@NormadYT]

I’d have a wooden template made up to lin the blade up with two points of contact so you don’t need to eyeball it, just slide the blade up to the template and butt it up to the wood and it should hold firmly, identically placed

[@Rhoadie1]

Just another day in the life of the gat dang boss.