Blade Makers' Challenge - SDC Blade

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This is the thread I will use to document the building process of Der's blade for the blademaker's challenge.

One thing I learned after some time building blades, is that sometimes the customer is very wrong about what he thinks he wants. This is such a case...

So I decided to give him everything he DIDN'T ask for, and I'm sure he will be surprised:
You want an outer fiber blade? Inner it is.
You don't like carbon? You gonna learn to like it.
You don't want a hollow handle? Let's hollow the hell out of that sucka.
You want low balance? Not on my watch, better start working out those wrists.
You want a standard head size? A big man needs big blade!
You don't want quick rebound? Let's make that medial ply spruce and make sure it kicks like a mule.
You want a ST handle with 87mm circumference? Maybe a conical handle with a variable size is better.
You want a hard Koto outer? Let's make it nice and soft with Ayous.
You want a light colored top ply? Well, ok, I got to give him something.

This is the current state of affairs, plies glued and cut, and the handles are also shaped. Ebony strategically placed at the tip of the handle to make sure this baby is as top heavy as Pamela Anderson.

WP_20210325_17_51_47_Pro.jpg
 
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Ok, I was kidding after all. That is a blade, just not for Der. I just found it funny that a blade I'm working on at the same time, is almost the polar opposite to what Der requested.

So he gets a Koto outer ply. I normally start by gluing the outer layers, then I glue those to the core. Pretty straight forward process, not a lot to see here.

1.jpg


So then I move to the handle. A lot of work in this one, several small bits and pieces to glue together and sand precisely. Using Padauk and Ebony for this one, which maes the task even harder. The result will be very heavy, it's a gamble because I have no idea how much they will weigh, and since I can't do any weight relief I'm hoping I will be able to stick to Der's defined weight range. Here are some pics, anyone care to guess what this will be?

2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg
 
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Leave a pile of fake national H3 by the trapdoor to keep the Goon Squad away from your nice raw materials. :D

I'm more afraid of termites than the Goon Squad. A Goon Squad of termites would be the worst case scenario.

One more step in the process. I think by now the final design is easy to see.

5.jpg

 
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Ok, let's get this cat out of the bag.

When Der set the requirements for the blades an Innegra outer composition immediately came to mind. I haven't used I-C with Koto before so I thought it would be a good opportunity, I just needed a softer medial ply to tame the speed a bit and improve the feel. So I settled on Koto / I-C / Ayous / Kiri and aimed for 5.8mm. As for the handle design I knew I had to make something with a military/warrior theme, just not sure what exactly. I also had promised to use Ebony, so I had to fit that in the design somehow. Whenever I look at the TB ALC handle I see sort of a mask, so I went from there and tweaked it a bit to resemble a a warrior's mask. By putting the Ebony in the lower part of the handle I could get an even lower balance. This is the design I came up with:

handle_der2.jpg


Then it was "just" a matter of putting it all together.

7.jpg




I don't have an habit of naming my blades, but I thought this one deserved it. I called it SPARTAN

9.jpg


I will be posting the finished blade in my main thread.
 
Ok, let's get this cat out of the bag.

When Der set the requirements for the blades an Innegra outer composition immediately came to mind. I haven't used I-C with Koto before so I thought it would be a good opportunity, I just needed a softer medial ply to tame the speed a bit and improve the feel. So I settled on Koto / I-C / Ayous / Kiri and aimed for 5.8mm. As for the handle design I knew I had to make something with a military/warrior theme, just not sure what exactly. I also had promised to use Ebony, so I had to fit that in the design somehow. Whenever I look at the TB ALC handle I see sort of a mask, so I went from there and tweaked it a bit to resemble a a warrior's mask. By putting the Ebony in the lower part of the handle I could get an even lower balance. This is the design I came up with:

handle_der2.jpg


Then it was "just" a matter of putting it all together.

7.jpg




I don't have an habit of naming my blades, but I thought this one deserved it. I called it SPARTAN

9.jpg


I will be posting the finished blade in my main thread.
I must say. This is one hell of a blade. Rogue tb alc

 
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