Howard Clark sword

Bruno

Bruno

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It has taken more years than I though possible, and 2 times I was convinced that I'd never see it again.
But I just got word that the sword I bought in 2015, and which was sent to be mounted in 2016, is ready.
I'll post pics of the blade itself when I get it.

I bought the sword itself from Howard. It was already polished. I traded him a damascus razor for the fittings, and then had someone else mount it. It is looking absolutely awesome. Everything I pictured it to be in my mind!

967
 
Bruno

Bruno

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Staff member
verndahl said:
Oh, found his website and answered some of my own questions. Still looking forward to more images.
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It is not a vintage sword. Also it's not one of his L6 bainite swords or 1086 swords.
Years ago, Howard also made damascus swords. This is one of them. I think it's 1086 / L6 but not sure.
It's not etched like a normal knife, it was professionally polished which also brings out the pattern, but much more subtle than the typical dark / light damascus etch.
 
RezDog

RezDog

Member
That’s a really nice sword. I hope it gets a prominent display space in your house, so every visitor gets to look at it in awe.
 
32t

32t

Active Member
That looks like a traditional sharpening table that it sits on. If so what do you call them so I can look them up further.
 
Bruno

Bruno

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32t said:
That looks like a traditional sharpening table that it sits on. If so what do you call them so I can look them up further.
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That is called dai-togi
But stricly speaking that is not traditional because it has holes for your legs.
The traditional way would be to squat, hold the stone in place by sitting on a wooden clamp with your knee, and hunch over all day with back bent.
The first year is said to be extremely painful.
 
Bruno

Bruno

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verndahl said:
are you going to hack a grass mat or water bottle in half when you get it?
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Not intending to. I don't have the skills and it is fairly easy to destroy a sword like that if you cut without proper technique. If the sword hits even a little bit sideways if it twists in your grip during cutting, there is a good chance of bending the sword.

I bought this in 2015 when I was still doing traditional jujutsu. It was very expensive. Then it went to Chris Osborne for mounting it. From 2016 until this year, the whereabouts of my sword were in limbo. Last year, It was finished, and Chris did the final polish. That wasn't planned, but he said it was not really finish polished when he received it. This is true. Technically, it was finished, but Chris is much better than the person who polished it originally.

The kicker is that since then, I have quit martial arts. So I now have a very expensive art object :)
I am still happy I decided to purchase this. It is beautiful, and inspirational.
 
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verndahl

verndahl

AKA tintin
Congrats! Bet you can't wait. I was kind of surprised at your statement about not wanting to try it out as it would be easy to bend if done the wrong way. I assumed that the legendary Japanese swords would be a little tougher than that. (though when i've looked at some of their hand made pull saws the description stated that certain ones took a delicate hand to use).
 
Bruno

Bruno

Administrator
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verndahl said:
I assumed that the legendary Japanese swords would be a little tougher than that.
Click to expand...
That's the thing with legends. They are often a very idealized version of reality.
I once had a conversation with the legendary (hah!) Doc Price. He told me that the Japanese sword is in fact rather inferior if you look at it objectively.

Cutting with a sword is difficult. Swinging is easy enough, but when you make contact, the cutting edge has to be EXACTLY in the plane of the swing, and stay in that plane through the cut. If you twist even a little, the sword will flip more towards the flat of the blade. This creates a significant sideways force. Because the spine of the sword is much softer than the edge, the sword is likely to take a set. And if the sword twists after contact, it is also possible to snap a chip out of the edge.

Now a water bottle is probably safe enough to cut. But if an untrained person like me would attempt to cut a traditional straw mat, chances are good that I will damage the sword. Many people think that folding the steel will give it magical properties, but it's really a way to transform dirty nuggets of raw steel and slag into a more or less homogenous bar of steel. From a metallurgical pov, the very best folded tamahagane would approximate a simple bar of 1075. Note that this sword is 1086M, not tamahagane or something else.

Howard also makes swords from L6 steel, and he has developed a secret process for hardening. The edge is still martensite, but the body of the blade is not soft pearlite. Instead it is bainite. Much tougher and less ductile. Those L6 will stand up to abuse much better. If we were to think of legendary swords, those L6 swords would be the closest.

Now, I don't want to imply that every bad cut should end badly. It is entirely possible that if I don't mess up too badly, the sword will be fine. It is after all, steel, not paper mache. However, I bought the sword from Howard when I was still doing Japanese martial arts and I was planning to use this instead of a soulless iaito. the entire process took so long that I only got the sward after I've already quit for several years. So now I have it purely for appreciation of the craftsmanship.
 
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