James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
A cut above the entry level practical cutters, the CAS Hanwei Practical Wakizashi features the edge tempering of more expensive blades and cuts cost in other ways. If you need a sword for cutting practice, you probably care more about the steel than the fittings.
Good cutters like this one feature blades of high carbon steel that’s differentially tempered — in this case to HRC60 at the cutting edge and HRC40 at the spine. Traditionally, the edge of the sword received a clay coating before the heating and quenching process that controls temper and strength of the blade. The clay protected the edge, retaining a harder temper in comparison to the spine. The lower temper in the blade’s spine increased the shock resistance and flexibility of the blade.
Since that important process adds considerably to the cost of a weapon today, Hanwei Forge substituted less expensive materials in other parts of the sword. While construction isn’t truly authentic, the wakizashi by Hanwei is truly functional and well suited to tamashigiri or target cutting.
Twenty-seven-and-one-half inches long overall, the practical wakizashi wields 20 inches of cutting edge with a professionally sharpened and polished finish. Weighing 1-1/2 pounds, the sword fits neatly in a black hardwood sheath. Originally, the wakizashi sword or side sword was the backup or finishing weapon for the samurai and not the main battle sword. Wakizashi often delivered the fatal blow to an enemy on the ground to save the edge of the larger katana.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
A cut above the entry level practical cutters, the CAS Hanwei Practical Wakizashi features the edge tempering of more expensive blades and cuts cost in other ways. If you need a sword for cutting practice, you probably care more about the steel than the fittings.
