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General Category => Brag Forum => Topic started by: EIEIO on March 30, 2013, 09:08:31 am

Title: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: EIEIO on March 30, 2013, 09:08:31 am
This is a request from the instructor after I brought my crooked sword to class.

Overall 43" long. Blade is 1 1/4" x 3/8" black walnut; handle is aspen. Near as I can tell the symbol says "Tai Chi".
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: Keefie on March 30, 2013, 09:17:16 am
very nice work
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: Tomsunnu on March 30, 2013, 09:32:33 am
Very nice!

Mahendra
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: newfie on March 30, 2013, 09:40:22 am
nice work
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: Russ C on March 30, 2013, 09:45:06 am
Great job, really nice. Thanks for the pic.  :)
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: Marcellarius on March 30, 2013, 09:56:33 am
very nice job!! looks awesome.
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: saggioculo on March 30, 2013, 11:57:30 am
Love this!  It came out really nice.
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: DWSudekum on March 30, 2013, 01:38:52 pm
Very nicely done.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

DW
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: multifasited on March 30, 2013, 08:08:43 pm
Does your mother know your still playing w/SWORDS .LOL My gun will reach further than you SWORD!!LOL Gotta be Careful bringing a Sword to a Gun fight!!LOL NICELY DONE !!
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: EIEIO on March 30, 2013, 08:12:18 pm
I bet my wooden sword will cut better than your wooden gun will shoot. ;)
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: frankorona on March 31, 2013, 09:15:40 am
Very nice job, looks great, thanks for sharing
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: Al W on March 31, 2013, 09:53:33 am
REALLY nice.  Can you share some additional details on how you went about making this one?  I wouldn't mind trying that myself - would look nice on the wall.

Al  W
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: EIEIO on March 31, 2013, 10:43:39 am
Al - This was done more by eye rather than with a pattern, but the basics are that the blade was cut from a black walnut log - we lost a few walnut trees in last summer's big wind storm. It was originally milled to 48" x 1.25" x 1/2", but it had a small cross-way knot on one surface. I cut it down to 3/8" to remove the knot.

My crooked sword is 45" long. My instructor asked for his to be 2 inches shorter. So the last 5" was trimmed from the blade, then cut to (2) 2" long pieces and glued onto the side of the blade where the hand guard sits (8-10" from the pommel end). The handle is sawn from a 3/4" Aspen board - (2) T shaped sections where the top bar of the T winds up being the hand guard and the base of the upright in the T is the pommel. Aspen is glued to the blade, then cut with the scroll saw to the shape in the picture. I used a Ridgid belt/spindle sander to get the basic smooth and rounded shape of the handle.

The symbol is a form of the Ying/Yang but using the Chinese symbols for "Tai Chi" rather than the usual black and white circles. I drew the handle and symbol out in Visio, printed and transferred it to the Aspen with Carbon Paper, cut with the scroll saw then carved the symbol with a Proxxon rotary tool. Jim Finn gave me some details on his inlay work and suggested using fine sander dust from the black walnut mixed with white glue to fill in the carved image, then sand it flat. My circle carving is a little off, but otherwise it worked ok.

The blade point and sharpened edge were done on a belt sander. There is no real sharp edge, just the look of the taper toward the edge.

The complete sword weighs in at 11.1 ounce. Balance point is 4.25" from the hand guard. The handle feels a little bulky to me - it  might have to be trimmed down some to fit the owner, but I'll wait until he gives some feedback. Easier to remove some than to add some. I attached a PDF of the handle/symbol.   
 
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: smitty0312 on April 01, 2013, 08:21:46 am
Looks great, nice work, thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: heiko rettberg on April 01, 2013, 12:37:07 pm
Greate Job, Looks very good.
Title: Re: Tai Chi practice sword
Post by: wombatie on April 02, 2013, 05:52:15 am
Very nice.  Well done.

Marg