The Vorpal Blade

I made a knife years ago that felt like I imagined the Vorpal Blade would feel in the hand.  The great poem The Jabberwokky by Louis Carrol of Alice in Wonderland fame, (told almost entirely of made-up words) is the story of a boy sent out by his father with his Vorpal Blade to slay the Jabberwokky.  There are only a few knives I ever made that felt like the Vorpal Blade might have felt: long, light and fast.

I had no plan when I began forging a piece of round W-2 a few weeks ago, but as the steel took shape and I pushed it longer and narrower, I ended up with this exceptionally long, pointy blade that I fell in love with.  Clay hardened like I did so often many years ago with my flocked hamon pattern, and finally finished off with a piece of fossil walrus ivory.  The original tusk was worn off on one side (just like Jabberwokky teeth in fact) and was mounted to the knife that same way.

You probably know that the Jabberwokky is a close cousin to the common dragon, so I thought that I'd outfit the blade in the hide of the slain beast, and I'd leave on the signature spikes. 

Did I have some fun with it?  Yeah.  :-)

The blade is nearly 13" long with an overall length of just over 18"