 Daniel
Watson, Master Sword Smith
Daniel Watson first embraced swords as a martial artist. This is one
reason why Angel Swords, when held, feel like no other blade.
Sword quality depends on materials used, method of construction, and
purity of form. Watson combines all these with skill and devotion to
create unique blades, each with a personality and style all its own.
Watson got his first sword – a 300 yr. old Chinese jian –
when he was 9 years old. This sparked his interest in martial arts.
A few years later he got a job working in a welding shop that provided
his introduction to metalworking. These two events helped develop early
interests that eventually turned into his calling.
After dabbling in metalworking and forging for several years, Watson
started making swords seriously in 1979 while he was teaching martial
arts in Cuernavaca, Morelos, in Mexico. He began selling swords at his
martial arts school, where he taught Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan.
He later started selling his swords at martial arts tournaments and
seminars.
Watson moved back to Driftwood, TX, in 1983, founded Angel Sword, and
started forging and selling swords
full time.
 The
Angel Sword Forge
The forge is the focus of the forging, hardening and tempering process. There,
the smith's tools are assembled – charcoal and steel, anvils and hammers,
as well as quenching vats, furnaces and kilns. Tradition plays an important
role in crafting a blade, but today the swordsmith also works with modern
tools – milling machines, sanders, grinders and presses.
Each future blade arrives at the forge as a simple bar of steel, usually
36 inches long. Some steel is ground and hammered into shape by traditional
means – hammer, anvil, fire and sweat – but many of our blades
begin on a CNC milling machine, where a computer shapes the steel into a close
approximation of its final form.
From there, the steel undergoes a tempering process where it is heated and
quenched to give it the hardness and toughness required in a combat weapon.
Angel Sword recently added a cryogenic processing unit to our forge. After
tempering the steel, we use our patent-pending Therma-Cycle™ processing
to enhance our steel at the molecular level, improving uniformity and relieving
stress in the steel's crystalline matrix. This combined process is the reason
Angel Sword makes the toughest, high-hardness blades on the planet.
After Therma-Cycle processing, the blades are hand ground to their final
shape and sharpened. Then they are fitted with the appropriate furniture –
handles, guards, pommels, etc. – with an eye toward both functionality
and artistry. Finally, Daniel and the smiths examine the result with a highly
critical eye. Only after passing this rigorous inspection is a blade allowed
to leave the forge.
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