Afrobro's Handmade Blades

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I've experimented with several different shapes and am working on creating a bunch of additional templates. I currently have a few flared handle and a few straight handle templates, some symmetrical, some asymmetrical (as shown in some of the blades pictured). I'm currently working on building some templates based on some existing commercial designs to give me a wider variety of blade shapes to use. I'm also creating a couple of different handle sizes for a few of the templates. Nittaku for example has a regular size, and then a "large handle" size which is about 2mm wider than their regular handle size. So i'm incorporating that idea into the templates i'm building.
 
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Cool, i'll be interested to see some pics when they're complete! I've only recently bought myself a hand planer which has made making handles so much more straight forward (https://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-110-block-plane/74904). I can now just cut a long length of wood and plane it down to shape to make lots of handles as apposed to the hand sanding that I was doing or using a belt sander which was just too quick and prone to error.
 
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I have several hand tools that I enjoy using. I have two different planers which I use a lot during handle creation. I tend to do handles one at a time, as i've been buying knife scale sized woods which is convienient, as each pair of them are wide enough and long enough for one set of handles + some excess material to use as insets/endcaps/etc in future handles.

https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/lie-nielsenlow-angleadjustable-mouthblockplane-60-12.aspx

and

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/...21f469702d06760016cd,57641c7e69702d3baa000a33

I also bought a hand saw from Rob Cosman (https://robcosman.com/collections/saws/products/rob-cosman-professional-dovetail-saw), and intend to perhaps buy a BadAxe Crosscut Saw (http://www.badaxetoolworks.com/14-inch-Bayonet.php) as well. I've found I prefer hand-sawing to using power tools on handles, plus I don't have a table saw nor the room to put it currently, so this is a good alternative

The one thing I lack that I really want is a good belt sander. Just haven't spent the money on one yet, as the hand tools i've bought are all fairly expensive.

My process on handles currently is cut each of the pieces to size with a hand saw, glue together, once the glue settles, hand plane away any excess glue and bring the piece to almost the thickness I want, leaving a little extra wood. Then i'll use my roundover bit on my router to round the edges to shape. I'll then weigh the handle to see where i'm at with weight. That will let me know my next steps. Generally i'll then plane to the thickness desired, do some hand sanding to finish up the rounding, and then re-weigh. Then i'll do the final bevel on the front of the handle, and re-weigh. Then if needed i'll hollow out the back of the handle as necessary to remove weight, , weighing frequently during the hollowing to ensure I get the weight I want for the handle. I tend to spend a lot of time on handles and I still feel like my skills have a long ways to grow.
 
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Thanks Nate. In a way it's proof that anyone that build their own blade! I've been playing for about 20 years but before I started making blades I didn't really have much woodworking experience - there's a bit of learning to be done and trial and error at the beginning but now that I've found the methods that work for me I can usually put a blade together in a couple of days.
 
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Thanks Nate. In a way it's proof that anyone that build their own blade! I've been playing for about 20 years but before I started making blades I didn't really have much woodworking experience - there's a bit of learning to be done and trial and error at the beginning but now that I've found the methods that work for me I can usually put a blade together in a couple of days.

I couldn't agree more, it's the same for me. For me, Bobpuls's videos and posts were really helpful and show that with time and effort it's within anyone's reach.
 
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A few new pics of some Hinoki blades that I was creating to complete a set - trying out different 3, 5 and 7 ply:

First is a 3 ply that is nearly finished. Final weight is 93g and a thickness of 6.4mm with a 4mm core. This pic was taken yesterday before a bit of finishing that needed to be done:

3 ply 1.jpg

and this is a 7 ply which I did mean to take some wood out of on the handles but I got a bit carried away once I'd finished them and glued them on without thinking - it is now a 101g, 6.8mm, 7 ply Hinoki beast...

IMG_20180723_185521499.jpg IMG_20180723_185559072.jpg IMG_20180723_185710302.jpg
 

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A few new pics of some Hinoki blades that I was creating to complete a set - trying out different 3, 5 and 7 ply:

First is a 3 ply that is nearly finished. Final weight is 93g and a thickness of 6.4mm with a 4mm core. This pic was taken yesterday before a bit of finishing that needed to be done:

View attachment 16952

and this is a 7 ply which I did mean to take some wood out of on the handles but I got a bit carried away once I'd finished them and glued them on without thinking - it is now a 101g, 6.8mm, 7 ply Hinoki beast...

View attachment 16954 View attachment 16955 View attachment 16956

OMG!
Such beauties! That 3ply is looking Incredible.

But the 7ply also.
B-B-BBut 101g????

Sounds like a case for......
...Der_Echte
[Emoji2]
Holy smoke! What a rocket launcher! This must be a real monster!
You know you've been waking up my inner EJ. Shoot, man, I thought the beast was dead, but obviously it just was asleep!
 
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I generally prefer to play with heavy wood blades, sometimes a "normal weight, but feel at impact (solid) is real important to me. Balance as low as possible is important. A "normal" sized head is OK for me. I prefer THICK handles, even if I have small paws. I will often grip tape the blade until it is the "right" thickness for me. I emphasize SPIN creation, it is my control. I do not like super vibraty or too flexy blades at all.


Hey Der_Echte, saw your post and thought this weight sounds like one of the blades from your beastmod-adventures.
[Emoji2]
 
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Haha...if we're talking about solid blades...i'm not sure they get any more than this. It's not the prettiest but I was asking myself the question - how much is too much?? Turns out 121g of Hinoki, Carbon/Zylon and Limba is a bit much for my wrists. Blocking was wonderful, hitting a breeze and it even had a great touch, i think due to the double layer of limba on top...but I could really only manage 5/10 minutes without my arm aching. Good for weight training though and I do love to experiment!

beast.jpg

Anyway Suga, you might be happy to hear that the 3 ply is finally complete. Same handle shape and woods as the last 5 ply. Pics below:

3.jpg 3f.jpg

and the 3, 5 and 7 ply all together:

573.jpg
 
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Haha...if we're talking about solid blades...i'm not sure they get any more than this. It's not the prettiest but I was asking myself the question - how much is too much?? Turns out 121g of Hinoki, Carbon/Zylon and Limba is a bit much for my wrists. Blocking was wonderful, hitting a breeze and it even had a great touch, i think due to the double layer of limba on top...but I could really only manage 5/10 minutes without my arm aching. Good for weight training though and I do love to experiment!

121g lol. That is a bit heavy :) How thick was that blade, and how heavy were the handles? My Hinoki order should be here this week or next, so i'm quite looking forward to experimenting myself. I also have 6 new laser cut templates that arrive today.
 
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Thanks. Assuming you might mean cross plies/a ply at 90 degree angle? If so, yes I do but where they are depends on the composition of the blade. With the 3 ply it has a very thick 4mm core so it's still quite strong. With the 7 ply, the second layer is horizontal and then with the carbon blades it's really not as important because of the strength that the carbon gives it.
 
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93 grams before a weight gaining mod is already a solid weight. Your 121 gram blad isn't a monster bad weight if the balance is low, which is the goal of all my weight gaining mods. The Original Beast Mod turned into a 126 gram result that when sprung on an unsuspecting tester, yielded good feel and looping feeling way lighter.
 
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Haha...if we're talking about solid blades...i'm not sure they get any more than this. It's not the prettiest but I was asking myself the question - how much is too much?? Turns out 121g of Hinoki, Carbon/Zylon and Limba is a bit much for my wrists. Blocking was wonderful, hitting a breeze and it even had a great touch, i think due to the double layer of limba on top...but I could really only manage 5/10 minutes without my arm aching. Good for weight training though and I do love to experiment!

If you try the Gambler Reflectoid, you may just be able to keep the combination under 200g.
https://bribartt.co.uk/product/gambler-reflectoid/
 
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