Winter Take no kami - bamboo root higos

[aliaswonder]

Hello everybody
It’s been quite a while I haven’t posted here so why not share with you my Take no kami winter collection.
All the following pieces have been made in between October and January. They are all gone and none is available.
The blades are by different makers and all the handles are made out of Chinese bamboo root. The aging effects, the cracks, the worm holes are all done by hand on perfectly sane pieces of wood. The handles are stained with natural dyes and the weathered patina is obtained through many layers of tung oil. All together there is an average of one week of work on each piece.

The two first knives are mounted with blades by Kane Koma, the official maker of the last existing trade mark higo no kami. I still love to use Motosuke Nagao’s blades even if they are not perfect cosmetically speaking, but it is only with « real » higonokami blades that you can pretend to make « real » higonokami.
These two have classically shaped blades (so called inverted tanto) and are traditionally forged out of a sanmai with an aogami edge.
The first blade (n°79) is 90 mm long; the second (n°80) is 85 mm long.
The idea behind these two pieces was to make knives that look really old and weathered. Number 80 even became a skeleton higo, eaten away by the small termites that I raise in my workshop and that I taught to eat away the bamboo in an artistic manner !
On the blades I literally tried everything I had on hands to make them look old: gun blue, nitric acid, ferric chloride… I finally acid etched them using engraving varnish, a technique very similar to aqua forte.

[aliaswonder]

The blades of the following pieces are more rare as I managed to get hold of « bamboo leaf » shaped Kane Koma blades.
They are harder to find as Motosuke Nagao only makes them for limited special series. They are all forged out of his usual sanmai with an aogami edge and measure each 70 mm.
The idea behind this mini series was to make 5 completely differently shaped handles around the same shape of blade. So there are some curved ones, straight ones, some with and some without extensions... Also some are only aged on one side, like it happens in Nature when an old piece of wood is half buried in the ground and only gets weathered on the exposed side.
I also used different species of bamboo root.
All the blades are acid etched. On the two first ones I tried to mimic the stripes that you find on bamboo leaves on the others I did a « tattoo » pattern that resemble (in my mind) to the flames coming out of a Chinese dragoon, probably some lingering memories of my trip to China last summer.

[aliaswonder]

The blades of the next four are by Hideto Kanmera, a Japanese smith who runs Kanmera Kajiya, a traditional forge established near Kumamoto. He already supplied me with blades in the past. Kanmera Kajiya usually makes agricultural tools, kitchen knives, higo like folders and tools for bamboo and woodworking.
Here is a link to their website: http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~kaji-kan/

They worked on a design of mine but kept their trademark « brut de forge » look. They are forged out of a sanmai with a shirogami edge and came with polished sides. I didn’t touch them, as I wanted to keep the maker’s sharpening without secondary bevels. They are traditional, very sharp, very well forged with symmetrical grinds and nice elliptic levers.




The idea, as for the preceding ones, was to make a variation around the same blade so I used different kind of bamboo roots, different colors and tried to find different solution for the butt, the finger choil and the grip.



The first has one side weathered and the other almost intact:









This one is very special made out of a naturally flat piece of bamboo root that was part of a small stock I brought back from China last summer.









Another piece of bamboo root from China, this one from another specie; it took really well the weathering effects, showing nice textures and colors.









On this last piece I wanted to oppose a rather thin handle to the rather large blade in order to have a low edge when you hold the knife (lower than the hand). I think it should be good in the kitchen.

[aliaswonder]

I love collaborations and regularly engage into trades with friends knife makers. The usual deal is that they make me two blades; one finished knife is for them, the two others I keep. I did it before with Ben Cardoso, Stéphane Espi, Véronique Laurent and this time it is with French maker Mickael Moing. It is flattering for the amateur that I am that such a pro is interested in my little things and it is always a pleasure to work with nice new blades specially made for me.
Two of the blades are made out of 100cr6 carbon steel, the third one out of carbon Damascus.



Number 89 is made out of a 96 mm 100cr6 blade that I didn’t modify. I kept its maker’s finish.
It is the knife Mick has chosen for himself. As it is a rather big blade I tried to find the best ratio with the handle, the blade only ending a few millimeters from the butt of the handle when the knife is shut.











The next one, made out of the same steel is 93 mm long. I love the crooked piece of bamboo root that gives it an extraordinary ergonomic grip.
On this one, I acid treated the blade to highlight the temper line, (not sure that it is the correct English term)…











And here is the last one, a bit smaller (85mm) and made out of Mickael trade mark « organic » carbon Damascus. I love the almost geological looking layers.

[aliaswonder]

Now the last one of this winter series, made with another Kane Koma blade forged out of a traditional Japanese sanmai with an aogami edge.
65 mm long, it is smaller than the usual higonokami blades and comes from an old batch that Mituo, Motosuke Nagao’s son, found forgotten in the family’s workshop. I acid etched it.
The sheath is made out of a hollowed out piece of bamboo stem, the part just above the root.
It is what I call a « desktop higo ».













I hope you enjoyed the pieces and thank you for your interest.

[Stew]

I did enjoy seeing them but there's just too much to look at in ome go. I shall have to come back a few times to study them more.

Thanks for sharing!

[I.Biegelmeier]

What creativity!
You are very good indeed!

[Hector]

Thank you for these photos, they are amazing. Fascinating use of bamboo. And those blades are absolutely stunning - I love the shapes and the finish you have achieved on them. Very impressive.

[fluffy]

another mouthwatering array from you.

[Ru Titley]

I always look forward to Your posts as You never fail to excite the senses with something out of the ordinary .
In a world full of Clones of clones Your vision of Zenful knives is like the Moon upon the water .

[parbajtor]

I always look forward to Your posts as You never fail to excite the senses with something out of the ordinary .

In a world full of Clones
Your vision of knives is like
Moon upon the water .

There, I fixed it for you

[cave_dweller]

Those are astonishing! Lovely work. I'll be back later for a longer look.

[BladeScout]

Very different and strangely beautiful.

I like them.

Thanks for posting comments and the many quality pics.

[MeetTheGeeks]

Truly stunning work, rewarding to view as well as for you as the maker. You are a pro, despite what you feel.

[etorix]

im surprised at you sir, temper line is called 'hamon' in Japanese

good work tracking down that Kumamoto-boy higo maker, i suspect them of being the original makers [possibly]

love the little flowery pivot-washers too