Bonecrest Hand Forged High Carbon Steel Wakizashi | 27 Inch Overall with 19 Inch Blade | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1275

The small brass collar wedged around the base of this blade, just above the guard, is called a habaki, and it is the single most quietly clever fitting on a Japanese sword. It does the entire job of holding the blade in the scabbard. The saya is cut so that nothing touches the polished steel at all, and only that tapered collar wedges into the mouth of the wood. That is why a properly made Japanese scabbard grips with a small click, holds the sword upside down without a strap or a spring, and then releases with a push of the thumb, all without dragging on the polish. Every European scabbard design that grips the blade itself wears the finish off it eventually. This one does not. Bonecrest carries that arrangement on a 19 inch blade of 1095 high carbon steel hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, under a polished bone handle.

Forged, ground, heat treated and mounted by hand in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. It ships with the dark lacquered wooden saya shown in the photographs, a cord sageo, and a protective coat of oil on the blade. Shipping within the United States is free.

Specifications

What a bone handle changes

Most Japanese sword handles are cord wrapped, and cord is chosen because it is grippy when wet and cheap to replace. A solid bone handle is a different proposition. It is harder, denser and considerably less forgiving to make, because bone has to be cut, drilled, fitted to the tang and then polished without cracking, and it will not tolerate the kind of correction a cord wrap allows when the fit is imperfect. Everything has to be right the first time.

What you get for that is a handle with no give in it at all. There is no cord to compress or settle over a year of handling, so the blade never develops the small looseness a wrapped tsuka acquires with use, and the hand sits directly on a hard smooth surface that transmits what the edge is doing straight back into the palm. Bone also takes a polish that deepens rather than dulls with handling, and because it is a natural material every handle carries its own faint grain and its own tone, from near white through to warm cream. No two are the same colour, and none of them match a photograph exactly.

Why 1095 high carbon steel and not stainless

1095 is iron with just under one percent carbon and very little else in it. Because there is no chromium competing for that carbon, all of it goes into the fine hard structures that let a blade take a truly keen edge, and the same simplicity means the steel takes the bright polish this blade carries. It sharpens back on an ordinary whetstone with no special abrasives.

Stainless steel gets its corrosion resistance from chromium, and the same chromium locks carbon into coarse carbides that limit how fine an edge the steel will hold. In a long blade it also trades away toughness, and a sword should bend and warn before it breaks. The price of 1095 is that it rusts if it is left wet or covered in prints, which is what the oil is for. The comparison is set out in full in Damascus versus stainless.

Looking after bone and a wooden saya

Bone wants very little. Wipe it with a dry cloth, keep it away from long soaking and out of hot direct sun, and it will hold its polish for decades. If it ever looks chalky, a trace of light oil worked in with a cloth brings the depth back. What bone does not like is being dried out fast, so do not leave the sword on a sunny windowsill or above a radiator, because that is how fine cracks start in any natural material.

The saya is wood, and it wants the same treatment for the same reason. Our notes on wooden handle care cover oiling, drying and what to do if a scabbard gets genuinely wet.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. Bone takes a cut engraving particularly cleanly, and there is more about placement and depth on the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

A bright polish shows everything, so wipe this blade down every time you handle it. Salt and moisture from skin will print into the finish within a day in a humid room and a print that etches has to be polished out rather than wiped away. Light mineral oil on a cloth is enough. Do not store the sword sheathed for months in damp air.

The edge sharpens on ordinary water stones at the angle it was ground at, worked along the curve so the sori is not flattened, finished fine and stropped. Save the coarse stone for real damage. Full instructions in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Forged in Memphis

Made in Memphis, Tennessee, from bar stock and raw material. Nothing here is drop shipped in from an importer catalogue and rebadged. The blade is drawn out, ground, heat treated, polished and mounted in the same shop, and the bone is cut and fitted here too. That is why there is a genuine lead time. Most orders leave within one to two weeks and engraved orders take a few days more. If a piece is going to run longer we tell you before the date passes rather than after.

A note on handmade variation

Bonecrest is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The bone will have its own tone and its own faint grain, from pale white through to warm cream, because it is a natural material and no two pieces are alike. The polish carries light in its own way, the temper line runs where the clay took it, and the curve varies slightly because it comes out of the quench. Dimensions, steel and build are identical every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the handle real bone?

Yes, natural bone, cut and fitted to the tang and polished here. That is why the tone varies between pieces and why the one you receive will not match the photograph shade for shade.

Does it arrive sharp?

Sharpened and ready to use. Say so in the order notes if you would rather have it blunt for display or for a venue that requires it, and there is no extra charge.

Will a bone handle crack?

Not under normal handling and display. Bone cracks when it dries out fast, so keep it off sunny windowsills and away from radiators, and wipe a trace of oil into it once a year if you live somewhere very dry.

Can I have runes engraved on it?

Yes, and bone engraves cleanly. Use the rune converter on this page for an Elder Futhark line, or choose your own Viking pattern in the engraving option above the add to cart button, on the blade or the handle.

How does this compare to a cord wrapped wakizashi?

A cord wrap is grippier in the wet and can be rewrapped when it wears. A bone handle is harder, will not settle loose over time, and is the better looking of the two on a rack. Same blade, same steel, different feel in the hand.

How long does shipping take?

Free inside the United States. One to two weeks in the shop, a few days more with engraving, then two to five days in transit.

What is in the box

• Bonecrest hand forged 1095 high carbon steel wakizashi
• Dark lacquered wooden saya with cord sageo
• Protective oil coat on the blade
• Care and sharpening card covering steel, bone and wood
• Elder Futhark rune engraving where selected
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse the rest of the wakizashi, pair it with a katana, see the Damascus swords, or read the guides.