2017 started with the January filming of episode 401 of A Craftsman's Legacy, "]The Sword Maker at my shop. I have had my share of television experiences and have found that they are not always my favorite aspect of what I do. After almost swearing off television appearances altogether I was treated to something incredibly rare, serious T.V. professionals who actually cared about portraying my craft in a positive, dignified and educational light. Eric Gorges and the Craftsman Legacy crew were a joy to work with. I was impressed with how hard these professionals work and how they are as much perfectionists about what they do as I am.
For two busy days Matherton forge was turned into a makeshift studio and I was treated with total respect as a talented crew captured the making of a Roman pattern welded spatha from beginning to end. The spatha itself was tucked away until the show was to air on PBS in September. On the scheduled air date, the e-mails started flooding in and I was overwhelmed by the kind and positive feedback that I got from the public, but it was also time to get some work done.
The sword was initially completed under the time constraints of filming the show, but I decided to do a little extra work on the piece to really polish it up to reach its full potential. But I had been so incredibly busy with teaching and lecturing travel, along with deadlines for jobs at home, that it took me until November to be able to unveil the final package, with bronze trimmed scabbard and all.
When the time came to offer the spatha for sale, I prepared its page for my web site. My normal method of selling my available work is to create a web page that is private at http://www.cashenblades.com and then a mass e-mailing goes out to all those great folks who have signed up for my mailing list. These established clients then have a day or so of private viewing and first dibs at buying before the page goes public. The spatha didn’t last more than 30 minutes before it had a new home, and I can’t thank my good customers and its new owner enough for their support.
Just in time for the new year I received the images from Coop just a couple of days ago and he did his usual magic with it.
The blade is a traditional three bar pattern weld, two, forty layer twists in the core with a forty layer edge wrapped around the outside, consisting of 1084 and 15n20 steels. The grip is cocobolo hard wood and the fittings are bronze. The scabbard is leather covered wood trimmed out in ancient Roman style with hand wrought bronze trim.
"One test is worth 1000 'expert' opinions" Riehle Testing Machines Co.
That's beautiful, Kevin.
Kevin, The results of your project is fantastic! But also I have to compliment you on your representation of the craft. It's such a pleasure to see and to know that there is a core group of craftsmen, of which you hold high rank, that care to preserve the dignity as well as the craft of blade smithing. Thank you sir!
Kevin,
Let me add my thank you for your efforts in this project. The sword is stunning and it is work like this that shows the general public just what we are all about.
I applaud you taking the time & effort to work with a film crew in this. I have had several instances where a film crew was rather difficult to work with and that had no idea of what the subject matter really was. Consequently they produced a product that wasn't very accurate to the material at hand. It's refreshing to hear that this isn't always the case.
Well done!
|quoted:
Kevin, The results of your project is fantastic! But also I have to compliment you on your representation of the craft. It's such a pleasure to see and to know that there is a core group of craftsmen, of which you hold high rank, that care to preserve the dignity as well as the craft of blade smithing. Thank you sir!
Lin, years ago I gave some advice to a new maker to go into their shop to make knives, not to make money, devote yourself to making the best knives you can and the money will follow. The world is mostly populated with people who's sole goal is to make money, which there really isn't anything wrong with from a self preservation standpoint, but that philosophy seldom does much to elevate or advance the craft rather than the individual. With all the social media, and YouTube, anybody can take control of their own notoriety these days. It makes me wonder how it will all work out for the craft as a whole when everybody's 15 minutes of fame is over. A while back I had a heart to heart with my daughter when she saw I was deep in thought, I asked her if she could have everything she ever wanted, would it be worth to if she had to do something she was not proud of. She thought it was ridiculous that her dad was even asking that question, she knows me too well.
As you probably know, when we reach a certain age where we can begin to see the front of the line for the train leaving this world, we start re-examining what it is really all about. Since I can't take anything with me on that train I have decided that I want to leave something of true value when I board, I would like my legacy to be that I helped elevate the craft I gave almost all my time to when I was here, so I guess the shows title was quite appropriate.
"One test is worth 1000 'expert' opinions" Riehle Testing Machines Co.
The sword is beautiful but that scabbard is amazing, what kind of leather is that?
MP
|quoted:
The sword is beautiful but that scabbard is amazing, what kind of leather is that?
MP
Thanks Matt, I am always looking for new sources of book binding leather. This was some I found a couple years ago on line. I believe it is goatskin, but the color was one I couldn't pass on.
"One test is worth 1000 'expert' opinions" Riehle Testing Machines Co.
Its a great color and the texture is incredible. MP
I was fortunate to catch this episode when it aired recently. A beautiful piece Mr. Cashen, you represented bladesmithing very well. You, and several other Masters here were my primary reason for joining ABS recently.
Kevin,
Beautiful sword and sheath. I aspire to such work.
A Craftmen's Legacy is one of the few shows I watch on TV, and I was thrilled when they had a Master Bladesmith on.
Thanks for sharing.
TWood
