create a clay-tempered blade with exotic handle materials.
1995 09 clay-tempered steel with bronze, ebony, and horn handle
salvaging, concept, forging, shaping, clay-tempering, finishing, leatherwork
i wanted to experiment with the traditional japanese method of clay-tempering blades (yaki-ire).
a thin clay mask creates dual temperature zones in the quenching bath, leaving the blade harder at the edge and tougher in the body.
if you are really fortunate, the steel will have a visible hamon, the wavy line where the two types of steel crystal meet.
this piece of steel was originally part of a diamond-tooth concrete cutting saw and took a beautiful temper.
the shape is drop-point skinner and has fileworking along the back of the tang in the handle.
it was finished with an ebony and horn handle pinned with bronze and a hand-stitched leather sheath.
the sheath may be seen in a photo here: ornamental ironwork