Angel Sword feature
in 2004 Sporting Knives
Many thanks to Krause Publications and Sporting Knives editor Joe Kertzman
for permission to reprint this article on our Web site. The new 2004
Sporting Knives is a great publication - BUY
IT HERE!
So Speaks
the Artist Behind Angel Sword
A true
sword craftsman looks past the edge and into the steel
By Edward Crews
 Daniel
Watson still owns the first sword he ever acquired – a 300-year-old
Chinese Jian (the English translation for a double-edged Chinese straight
sword, somewhat popularized by the tai chi martial arts). The sword was
a present from his father who obtained it during World War II service
in the Pacific Theater. Although he was only 9 years old at the time,
Watson clearly remembers the elation he felt when he first lifted the
weapon, gripped it in his hands and felt its heft and balance.
The Jian stimulated an enduring fascination with swords. The weapon also
led Watson to master metalworking and forging, and to put these skills
to use fashioning swords, knives and daggers. Sword making also gives
Watson an outlet for his imagination.
I want to be thought of as an artist, he said. “I want to take
a sword that’s considered an archetype and push it further than
anyone ever thought it could be.”
Watson has been testing the limits of creativity and craftsmanship in
sword making for almost a quarter of a century. In 1979, he established
Angel Sword, a company dedicated to making swords, knives and daggers.
Implicit in all Watson does is a respect for the traditional sword maker’s
means and methods – hammer, anvil, fire and sweat.
Today, Angel Sword operates from a site in Driftwood, Texas, a rural
community near Austin. Like a colonial craftsmen, the proud proprietor
lives above the main workshop. The entire complex also accommodates bluing
tanks, compressors, offices, a showroom and a storage area.
Continued...
Angel Sword feature in 2004 Sporting Knives
[ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ] [ Part
3 ] [ Part 4 ] [ Part
5 ]
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