As always it's a great honour to have someone who is so renowned do our little Q&A and be so willing to be featured by us. (: We're throwing out a big thanks to for responding so quickly and thoroughly to our messages. Chioky is practically a legend in the swordmaking community, not only from his many tutorials on making wooden katanas and other such things but also from the talent he shows with each piece of artwork he makes. So, if you haven't already, give him some love~

And now the Q&A

"Hello ^^

Q: Tell us a little bit about you.

A: Hello Ladies and Gentleman! I am chioky and I go by the name of the "Gentleman Swordmaker" because people view me as both a gentleman and a swordmaker. Outside of DeviantART I am a first year undergraduate studying Architecture at Oxford Brookes University.

Q: What made you decide to join Deviantart?

A: I first showed people all the swords I made on different public forums, however that soon fell out of favour until I discovered DeviantART. I realised that in this place my swords could actually be shown off properly to a large audience.

Q: Who do you look up to in the swordmaking community?

A: Too many to list, but the people I look up to the most are the ones I have known the longest like ~piratecaptain because he got me back into swordmaking, *TyphoidMary because she first opened my eyes towards all sorts of different swords and *Awaken-Benihime because I have actually met him a number of times and gotten to learn from him.

Q: Describe your woodworking style.

A: My swordmaking was very basic at the begginning, but over time Im evolving the processes bit by bit, and I am getting better slowly. I like to keep all the details and parts of my swords made only of wood to make the sword feel like a piece of art. I hope to one day join the movement of making swords that deconstruct.

Q: What materials & tools do you enjoy working with?

A: I love my coping saw, it does what I want it to do, but not all the time. I love my handmade hand files that I made from aluminium oxide paper, they have cut down sanding time in half. I don't really like to use power tools, for me it takes somthing away from the purity of the construction, though I do use a power drill unfortunately.

Q: What do you like to do outside of woodworking? Any other hobbies?

A: Right now as I am in university I am currently doing a number of things, I join a japanese society to hang around with other japanese folks. I am still deciding which sports club to do but im looking towards kendo. Right now in my life im experimenting with alot of different hobbys that I haven't done before.

Q:What sword was your favorite to make above all the others?

A: Now thats a tough question because, well you know I have made quite a number of swords and they all have given me a different challenge of experience. Well it would have to be my beautifull handmade benihime of course, which is the only sword I refuse to sell.

Q: Why would that be?

A: Its kinda because it was like my third sword down the line and after making tensa zangetsu and sode no shirayuki, I wanted somthing different. And so I just threw myself into building this sword, with no previous experience on how to make one like this. And it came out great! I had even refurbished it a few years later.

Q: What was the most challenging thing about that sword?

A: It was a different sword from what I ussually make, so thats already a challenge. But the main problem was that the sword handle was made in layers, and I had not cut out everysingle piece perfectly, and so they all aligned themselves wierdly, so it took alot of sanding.

Q: Why do you personally choose to make swords?

A: Well swords have always been a favoruite past time of mine, I used to love playing with plastic toy swords when I was around 8 years old. However at age 13 I decided to finnally make my own swords because plastic ones didn't cut it for me anymore. So they always have a special place in my heart.

Q: What little personal touches, if any, do you choose to add to any sword you may make?

A: Personal touches? well I don't really have any personal touches to my swords because most of all my swords I have made are imitations, and so adding anything to them extra would not be an imitation anymore. But I don't know when I make swords of my own design I want a swordmakers signature.

Q: Do you have a preference of making replicas of existing swords or original?

A: I believe making existing swords help train your swordmaking skills because you are striving for quality and a keen eye for detail. Once you train up your skills just imagine what you can make when you start designing original swords, your creativity would be limitless!

Q: Did you always like working with wood, or was it a hobby you picked up later in life?

A: I used to love making models and such out of cardboard, it was my favourite material, however when I wanted to make a sword out of somthing strong and sturdy, I chose wood and I like it. However now I am moving back towards making models out of cardboard for my university course."


Now let's throw up some of our personal favorites of Chioky's artwork~



This sword is a classic of Chioky's and could probably be his best sword. It is insanely smooth, polished, and well proportioned, like all of his swords. This blade is definitely much more captivating after being remodeled~


This sword, it would seem, nearly marked the very end of swormaking for Chioky. D:> Despite this, we love it. The blade itself is incredibly smooth and shiny, practically looks like real metal. The tsuka is very even and the faux ray skin is definitely a nice touch to it. Like almost every work out there, there are some rough parts, but nothing more than a slight bit of roughness. Basically what were trying to say is this is a wonderful piece of art!~


Ah yes, another of our favourites. Making a blade that long to be curved is seriously no easy task, yet Chioky managed to pull it off rather well. The handguard is nice and smoother and the whole thing is very true to the real sword in the anime. As always, the sheer cleanliness of the piece is stunning. Bravo, Chioky~

Aside from our favorite bleach swords by Chioky, he also proves to have more treasures left in his gallery. He has been kind enough over the years to offer numerous different swordmaking tutorials that are pretty much a sure-fire way to get you started, if that is what you wish. Even if you aren't a beginner propmaker, you could probably still learn a thing or two from these tutorials, so I would advise to at least check them out if you haven't already!~

Swordmaking Guides by Chioky!

At that, we end our third feature. Another one to come next weekend, so stay tuned!

Kudos to you, Chioky!