I have finished two more tools. These are a little different. They were an order from my teacher. He asked for an ONO a very large axe and a BISENTO a very large Naginata.

He wanted them both in wood so they would be safe for training.

I started to collect the wood 2 years ago. The heads were had of Elm from a tree that came down a few years earlier. The handles were from a maple that came down just this last year.

The heads have been drying slowly since they had been cut out. I needed them to dry as slow as possible so they wouldn’t crack and loss strength. The maple handles were still moist so I wrapped steel around the ends so it couldn’t crack.

I connected the heads to the handles with more wood. I used doweling to hold them in place. I used ¼” oak dowels.

Once they were together I started oiling them. It takes a few days to fill them with oil. Yet all that time pays off with the final look. To know that they are well oiled means they are unlikely to crack.

Its sad to see them go to there new home, I have been looking after them for so long it seems strange another is no responsible for there well being. Side note for those that remember the old IKEA commercial that’s asks “do you fell sorry for the lamp?” yes, I felt sorry for the lamp.

I will get over it. I have a new project to work on. My work trailer needs a forge built into it. So I best get to it.


Best of luck

I have called this a Kusari-Gama.

Yet it is not a Kusari because it comes with rope not chain, on top of that it is more a Jin-gama than a Kusari-Gama. Yet I feel it is best called a Kusari-Gama because it is the familiar name.

A Jin-Gama was a Kama, chain and weight that was made for the battle field, the blade was heavier and straighter and the weight was attached to the top of the blade for one hand use.

In the Ninja museum in Iga province of Japan there is a Kama-Bo that has a natural branch for the handle in stead of carved handle found on Jin-Gama and Kusari-Gama.

I wanted a Kama that had the battle field properties of puncturing and a heavy weight yet it needed to look like a Kama. It needed to have the ability to harvest yet it needed a top mount for chain or rope for fighting. So I end up with a Kusari-Gama that could pass as a farming tool yet had the capability to fight on the battle field like a Jin-Gama

This piece was born.

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