Hamon Fighter with Carved Ancient Bog Oak

Product Description for Hamon Fighter with Carved Ancient Bog Oak

Maker: Mark Banfield (click to see more by this maker)
Item num: 100025
*** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind ***
Blade length: 12.50 in.
Cutting edge length: 12.00 in.
Total length: 18.25 in.
Blade height (at heel): 1.96 in.
Blade thickness (near bolster): 0.26 in.
Blade thickness (at midpoint): 0.21 in.
Blade thickness (near tip): 0.08 in.
Item weight: 24.60 oz.
Shipment weight: 34.8 oz.
Blade: Hand forged 1075 carbon steel with a clay zone heat treatment
Bolster: Heat blued wrought iron
Handle: Carved ancient bog oak
Sheath: Tooled black leather sheath with nickel silver plated tip
Description: Canadian bladesmith Mark Banfield created this exceptional, hand forged, one-of-a-kind Hamon Fighter with Carved Ancient Bog Oak. This knife has been in a single private collection since it was created in the spring of 2010. It has never been used to cut and by all appearances, Mark could have made it yesterday.
The 12-1/2 inch recurve blade was forged to shape from 1075 carbon steel. It features a clay zone differential heat treatment. This technique, borrowed from Japanese swords, uses clay to insulate the top half of the blade. The result is a softer, supportive spine, with a keen, long lasting cutting edge. The undulating transition line is called a hamon. It turns back at the tip, ensuring that the raised clip is also hard and resilient. An 800 grit hand satin finish lends an heirloom quality. Fullers on both side of the knife have been hard carved and textured.
The handle is hand carved from ancient bog oak. This wood has been buried in a Nordic peat bog for hundreds or sometimes thousands of years. The extremely low oxygen conditions of the bog protect the wood from normal decay, while the underlying peat provides acidic conditions where iron salts and other minerals react with the tannins in the wood, gradually giving it a distinct dark brown to almost black color.
The carved guard and pommel are created from heat blued wrought iron that dates back to the 1800s. A snowflake obsidian stone is set into the end of the handle.
To keep the fighter close at hand, a black leather hand tooled sheath with a nickel silver plated tip made by Mark is included.
Exceptional work throughout!


Availability: Not currently available