The White Shadow Dojo is a Martial Arts school run by Gwynne and David in western New York. This blog features information on our book "The Rhythm of One", our class offerings, a calendar of events, an edged weapons forum, articles on knife design, and a community space for the research and dissemination of Martial Arts. "Sometimes irreverant, often opinionated, always brutally honest."

Monday, September 19, 2011

Arrgh Matey



My wife walked into the room and said are you watching that pirate movie again? It was on last night! I replied it was either this or Obama, and Capt Jack Sparrow is more believeable. It pays to know your pirates these days.

Without a parrot its hard to tell them apart.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

More Bowie Goodness



Just a quick post to let you see the new Bowie that Matt is finishing up for me. It has a stout 9 inch forged blade with a very active clay tempered hamon. A mild steel guard and ferrule are topped off by a very colorful piece of cocobolo wood. The blade has an interesting profile with the tip lying below the center line of the blade. An exceptional fighting knife made for serious use. Now if someone will step up and buy the Bowie I have for sale it will make my wife happy. I'll do a more detailed report on this knife once it is in my hands.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

A Small Man

last night I wrote a rant against Mayor Bloomberg for his heavy-handed co-opting of the 10th anniversary commemoration of the 9-11 attack. He has taken religion out of it. He has denied access to many of the firefighters, police, and religious leaders whom people turned to for aid and solace during our darkest hour. Instead he has corrupted it into a political theater.
Then I deleted it. Why? Because I was concerned that there might be some on here who would be offended or who might even draw unwanted attention to a political statement against the people in power.
Survivors and people who lost loved ones have been un-invited or their credentials have been misplaced. Bloomberg says there was not enough time to co-ordinate with religious leaders. Really? There has been exactly ten years to coordinate the event. There was sufficient time to invite people who have no right to be there, except their political connections. Shame on you mayor, shame on you. This day, 9-11-2011 will never come again, and you have chosen to play politics instead of doing the morally right thing. (Who would have expected this from a politician?) The American people need a time for rememberance and healing not more politicians on a stage. You may have millions of dollars but you are a very small man.

Friday, September 09, 2011

Available Knife



THIS KNIFE IS SOLD. I said once in a while I would post a knife here for sale. I have a new Lamey Bowie coming in a few days. If anyone is interested in buying this one from my collection, it is un-carried and never used to cut, contact me by email. I am letting this one go at the same price I paid, $475 shipped CONUS. It has a beautiful english walnut handle and copper double branch guard. The blade is a 1/4 inch thick, about 9.5 inches long and slightly re-curved. It has what Matt refers to as his "working finish" but the hamon is still quite distinct. It comes with a beautiful leather sheath fitted with a belt stud. This is a serious Lamey fighting knife at a price below what you would expect to pay now. email me, before I change my mind, at: ghdave2@hotmail.com The earliest time-dated email saying I'll take it gets first chance. It is also for sale on a forum I belong to.

Thursday, September 08, 2011

A Magnificent Cutter


Reading the book in the previous post gave me the urge to do some test cutting. The other night when I went to the dojo to practice Iaido I decided to take along the BIG Bowie that Matt Lamey forged for me. When I went to my gear closet the only thing left were three pool noodles! It would have been silly to cut just one noodle with a knife this size so I decided to splurge and taped all three together. As you can see in the first photo they would barely stay in my test cutting stand. The results speak for themself. Cutting through all three was effortless and all I had to do was make sure my angle was correct and let the blade sweep through the noodles. It was way too easy so I repeated it and decided I needed about six noodles or a real goza tatami mat to practice on. This was no test for this fine Bowie. The cutting power of a full sized Bowie knife like this is simply incredible.


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