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Randall Sasquatch-Style Wing Chun Butterfly Swords (Collector's Series)
(a.k.a. Wing Chun Butterfly Knives, Bart Jarm Do, Bot Jaam Dao, Hudiedao)
There are two pair of these 9260 left for sale, the one in the picture at AZCK -- same one featured in Blade Magazine -- and this pair, which is in Everything Wing Chun's collection.
These swords are a very limited collector's edition (one of the first run featuring a special "Vulcan" logo as well as the name of the Forge Master who crafted them) Butterfly Sword featuring the Sasquatch re-curve blade designed by Randall Dealer Doug Kenefick (and adapted to the swords by Jeffrey Modell) in hammered 9260 combat spring steel. These high-quality collectors swords are real weapons and very dangerous. This model has 8 handle pins.
Perhaps the most difficult to make Randall knife is the big Sasquatch re-curve designed by Randall Dealer Doug Kenefick. Doug, after noting his design was inspired by the work of Rod Chappel and Gil Hibben, gave Jeff Modell his blessing to adapt the Sasquatch blade for Wing Chun chopper-style Butterfly Swords.
Each blade started out as a 15 mm thick piece of new 9260 spring steel. This was pounded down to about about 5/16" using a power hammer to improve the crystalline structure and maximize resilience of the steel. The knives were then cut and ground.
These knives have the most complicated set of grinds ever done on modern Chinese Butterfly Swords (and any surviving antiques that have come to our attention). It is extraordinarily difficult to achieve the lengthy intersection line of the primary grind and long swage. Six blades were lost to cracking during heat treatment.
Randall originally decided to make their Sasquatch knife using a satin finish because there were a lot of lesser quality big glossy knives floating around and they wanted to do something special. These knives have satin finish blades out of respect for that decision. While you can use very fine steel wool type material to remove rust (being careful that your scratches match the existing satin finish), which you cannot do with a mirror finish, a mirror finish is more resistant to corrosion in the first place.
The D Guard is cast AISI 304 stainless, extra wide to accommodate the extraordinarily thick blade. The knife scales are an unusual glossy paper phenolic with a subtle wood grain pattern, eight-pinned to the full tang.
Because we wanted an extraordinarily resilient blade, we used a high carbon steel on these. Consequently it must be kept properly oiled (sword oil) in between uses (including the exposed tang). The corrosive properties of certain leather tanning oils and vapors, combined with the carbon nature of the steel, made us extremely reluctant to use leather sheathing but we did reinforce the critical joints of the free nylon sheath with leather. These heavy, sharp knives have already sliced up two of the sheaths (in one case right through a leather reinforcing panel) so be careful.
Speaking of carbon steel, it spends pretty much all of its time looking for ways to tarnish and rust. All of these knives were tarnish and rust free when packed by the forge for shipping in a waxy oil, but it looks like the plastic bag containing the oiled knives left some kind of wrinkle camo pattern on the blades in the form of shiny areas and darker shadows. It comes off with polish (Jeff used a clean shoe polisher head and Maas Metal Polish to get rid of this from his personal pair) but you need to do so in a manner aligned with the grain of the Satin finish and that does not put your hand or fingers anywhere near a blade edge during the process. If these knives sit out naked overnight they will tarnish so be sure to clean and re-oil them whenever you handle them. And be especially careful to remove all the oil prior to handling -- you don't want one of these to slip. Put another way, if you have never owned an expensive Japanese Katana that required maintenance after each use, or carried a high carbon steel knife on a daily basis and learned how to maintain it, we do not recommend you purchase these knives. They really belong in the hands of folks who already understand why we used the 9260.
For more info please read our blog post:
Everything Wing Chun Butterfly Swords Guide.
All measurements and weights approximate.
Series: Collectors. The collector's series are unique designs and/or very fine quality weapons.
Sword Type: Individual Swords (full handles, not half-handles).
Sword Construction: Conventional
Blade Style: Unique/Custom
Blade Length: Approx 12" inches (36.5 cm) from tip to D Guard
Total Length: Approx 17" (43.2 cm)
Weight: Approx 1 pound 15.6 ounces (898 grams) per sword - but each sword is unique.
Blade Material: 9260 Power Hammered Combat Carbon Spring Steel
Hardness: Approximately HRC 56-58 (weapons grade)
D Guard Material: Cast AISI 304 stainless steel, extra wide to accommodate the extraordinarily thick blade.
Blade Grind: Very wide Hollow Grind culminating in wide sharp "V" edge, swage
Blade Sharpness: Edge sharp. Sharps are for display only, too dangerous for training. Swage is unsharpened.
Blade Thickness: 7.5 mm at the widest point
Blade Finish: Satin
Tang: Full tang
Ricasso: Yes
Choil: Yes
Quillion Design: Hybrid (can flip and trap)
Knuckle Bow Design: Rounded, minimal extra interior space
Handle Type: Full Handles
Handle Pins: 2 Options - 8 pins, or 8 pins plus 2 Mosaic pins (both pictured).
Handle Material: Paper micarta with a subtle wood tone. 8 pins fasted the handle scales to the full tang.
Grip Style: Full handles with an ergonomic belly to fit the hollow of the palm
Balance Point: Conventional to permit flipping (Approx 2 1/16" down the blade from front of Guard)
Designed by: Modell Design LLC
Sheath: You will get simple nylon sheath with a 2 pockets (one for each blade). Please be careful not the slice the sheath with the swords.
Shipping: These swords are off-location and will be shipped via USPS to most addresses. If within the EU DHL will be used for the same price as to the USA.
Picture: This picture is of another set of swords from the same run. They are not the exact swords you will receive, but yours will look the same.
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