John Smith 4 Posted February 2, 2016 If your new to bladesmithing and or your thinking about doing Japanese Style Blades please feel free to hit me up, my shop is open to any one who want to come by and learn or just shoot the crap about blades. I am located in Cascade MD so if your close enough please feel free to contact me or email me to set up a time to stop by. Knowledge is power and I see a ton of up and coming smiths asking questions, well what better way to answer them, than to have you up to my shop to do some one on one work. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Andriacco 5 Posted February 2, 2016 Looks like you're only an hour and a half from me! Are you going to Fire & Brimstone at Baltimore Knife and Sword? Look under the events of interest page if you haven't seen it yet. I'll be there hopefully with my first sunobe for heat treat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gabriel James 90 Posted February 2, 2016 sounds like an awesome time! maybe between semesters i could take a road trip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith 4 Posted February 2, 2016 My shop is always open, well on Saturdays it is open LOL and I plan on being at the Fire and Brimstone this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeffFogleboch 14 Posted February 18, 2016 I'm gonna have to check my school schedule and take you up on this offer... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith 4 Posted February 19, 2016 Looking forward to any and all pilgrims who want to learn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith 4 Posted March 13, 2016 Well today was a great day forging with Jeff Fogleboch, he brought with him a deep desire to want to learn how to forge new sugata types, and he ended up forging a nice Hira-Zukuri Wakizshi, as I am sure he will post some images of it very soon. We talk and laughed and he watched, and listened and applied this to his blade, I helped when asked or when I heard the hammer hitting wrong. Overall Jeff you did a fantastic job and I really want to see progress pictures of the wak before you bring it back for heat treating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeffFogleboch 14 Posted March 16, 2016 Thanks a lot John I had a fantastic time! Spent almost 9 hours there and I felt like it was only 5 minutes...and man do I need to strengthen my forearms! I learned a tremendous amount and learned to forge shinogi zukuri. Easily the most challenging thing I have ever done, but man is it gonna be cool when its done. Ill share some pictures of the blade here. I feel like this is the start of a great bladesmithing journey. Here is the blade thus far. The blade length is around 19-20". So far I have forged the bevels, Straightened (to the best of my ability), pickled the scale, and started filing the Mune. its a lot of work...well worth it in my opinion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith 4 Posted March 17, 2016 The blade looks fantastic, and you did a great job forging as with all things in life this one leave very little room for error. Like I stated earlier you can always take away from a blade, you just can't add back once you start filing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert D. 64 Posted March 17, 2016 I have been contemplating starting a ( semi ) traditional Tanto in the near future, I have always liked the Japanese style blades but the idea of attempting to forge a Katana kind of scares the crap out of me, so I figure I will start with a Tanto and work my way from there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith 4 Posted March 17, 2016 That's how I started I wanted to understand steel first and foremost before I attempted any Japanese Style Blades. Then i started with several Tanto trying different steels and heat treat methods. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
