My second kwaiken is finaly complete.

[Saigaone]

Hello to everyone! I wish I had more time to hang out here on the forum but between my day job and this latest project time has been at a premium. I want to say that you are all still very important inspiration to me and as my job slows down for the summer I will try to contribute more to the forum. Please have a look at my second blade. I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I am proud of the first one but I think this one is a 100% improvement. As always, it would be my privilege to know what you all think! Thanks for taking a look! Oh, sorry for the poor photographs.

[Nozh000]

Nice work Dave! I was thinking about PMing you to see when you will finish your next knife. What are the dimentions for this one? The steel looks pretty thick, 1/4"? Is that a hamon in the first pic or just the light? I like everything about this one, the wrap and the sheath are perfect. I'm looking forward to seing your next one, as each one is better that the last!

[zorro]

Very nice.

[Stephen63]

Very nice, lovely work.

If that's only your second I can't wait to see your 5th, it'll be pretty near perfection!

[Saigaone]

Thanks for the encouraging words! Serge, the steel started life as 3/16" stock but after surface grinding and polishing its down to just under 5/32" in thickness. There is a hamon, although it is somewhat of a disappointment to me.
It doesn't look bad but the line only loosely followed the original clay placement. I polished and etched and polished till the cows came home. I finally achieved some definition but man, was it ever labor intensive. I guess I'm still coming around that learning curve. I also decided to try applying my makers mark using the laser process. I will be dropping the knife off at the laser engravers sometime this week. It is my hope to eventually sell knives so I'm glad they are improving.