Another Japanese themed knife

SBranson

SBranson

Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
2,912
I forged a sword a week ago and at the same time I forged a tanto. This time I thought to make it a full tang blade with scales.

Well this knife kicked my butt all week. I followed the sword geometry with a shinogi line, or central ridge as the thickest part of the knife. Plus there is a distal taper forward and back with the center, or thickest part being about 1/2" back from the front of the scales.. Well you can imagine what a nightmare that makes fitting the scales.:eek: I ended up using four pieces of wood (per scale) and though it's covered in a wrap I did a pretty darn good joinery job on them..;):)

But the grinding was a headache. A good conversation with Mr. Garsson about geometry came a little too late for this knife but you might be able to make out the transition in the bevel geometry from the main edge to the tip.

Alas, it is complete though and I learned a lot on this little knife.

The steel is Don Hanson's W2
Bloodwood with copper pin and leather lace wrap.

It has a 4 3/4" blade with an overall length of about 9 1/2".

Thanks for looking.

3Tanto_3.jpg


3Tanto_2.jpg


3Tanto_1.jpg
 
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That's another beauty, Stuart. Garsson is a great source of information in this area - I'd bend his ear as much as possible. Very attractive piece.

Roger
 
Im in the middle of my own bob lum inspired full tang tanto and man I wish i made a hamon! Looks beautiful. Something about japanese knives that are addictive. I already want to make more lol. The blade color looks awesome too. Did you etch it?
 
I peeked at you outta the corner of my eye while I was grinding, and the deep concentration etched on your face while turning the then mostly unground tanto over and over in your hands made quite an impression. I can still remember that almost more clearly than anything else from that day, possibly due to the fact of seeing your face in that Blade mag since then. Strange, the things that stay with you.
Up and comer? Well, you're there, mentally at any rate. Maybe beyond most, and that is what I saw.

Knife turned out really nice, you certainly seemed confident in the four piece handle and now I can see why. All those little bits of material really came together, but you knew they would, all along- and quite likely for some time before! You gonna have this one around for a bit, or is it already en route?
Not sure why I feel proud, but I do. Maybe it's cuz I know you
 
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments.

From my conversation with Steven I got to seeing the geometry of the kissaki, or tip of the blade better. I had to blend out the transition line, the yokote, on this one but my sword I am working on will be more "correct".

@William.. yes it is etched to bring out the hamon. I was going for this type of hamon:
Picture2-1.png


I put in ashi lines and I think that obscured some of the high peaks.


Thanks Lorien.
 
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