Developing the final piece and working on surface texture. 13/11/18

Over the last few days I have been finalising the shapes of my five knives which will be the central features to the small Japanese garden inspired sculptures I am making.

We are forging the shapes for the knives , not grinding them out of the tamahagne bar. This is important to the look and feel of the knife I think. I want to use as many traditional methods as possible in the forming of this work. Only the edges are straightened on a belt sander . Nobuya has been teaching me how important angles are when using these machines and also the care and skill needed is much higher than just holding down the steel and hoping for the best!

I’ve been learning a lot about the precision involved in knife making which has been challenging and frustrating at times but something I am enjoying. It’s good to feel humble sometimes especially when working alongside skilled craftspeople. I love that there is a lot to learn in my journey but have to remember patience!

The hand made steel is a wonderful material. It’s very hard and also more stable, it seems to hold up to heating a-Lot better than Commercial steel. There may also be irregularities and imperfections with in it and you need to plan enough material for these. These are especially around the ends or edges.

It has been a very tight squeeze getting five knives out of the bar we pattern welded and in the future I will allow a bit more room so there is a bit less pressure. However with such a valuable material I think it a very important not to waste it and respect the hours of work gone on to making it!

I want each knife to be different so have been using or making different tools to make textures on some of the surfaces.

Other things I have been working on are designing the smaller parts to the sculpture which also need careful consideration . These include the little rakes included with each garden to draw patterns into the iron sand .

It thought a lot about how to make these. The interesting situation is how much different advice you can get when making if you ask . I am learning to listen to this and consider it all before making rash rushed decisions. I also must remember my own artistic training though and not be put off by challenges to get what I want visually. I also realised I’m stubborn!

I really wanted these to be precise and perfect, not hand made looking, and decided to have them laser cut due to the fine detail.

It is also common practice for a knife to have an engraved message or name on the side of it. I have also been learning to engrave and researching suitable Japanese proverbs which relate to steel or knifes / swords in some way to put on each.