Final knife of 2010 - Japanese Tanto

stephanfowler

stephanfowler

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
1,464
So this is a knife I had been working on since before Blade.

It's taken a long time and I've learned a LOT of new techniques in the process.

finished at 3PM 12-31-2010 just under the wire

9.25" Nagasa (length measured from habaki to tip)
14.75" overall
Poplar Tsuka (handle) core
Black Same full wrap
Black Leather ito
Modern fittings (Fuchi / Kashira in a wave theme, Menuki are Samurai on a boat)
Tsuba (guard) is a modified "W" pattern I made to get a water kind of feeling on the surface

Saya is Black laquered poplar with a buffalo horn koiguchi


I wanted to show it before but didn't want to do the disservice of less than awesome pics. I thank my brother Nathan for some really stellar pictures.

PrincessBridePhoto.com/

k-tanto-1.jpg
 
Geez Stephan, you really stepped up on this one. Outstanding! I agree, more pictures with close ups.
 
I'm with Tad there:thumbup:
 
You want a critique, PM me.

Otherwise, I'll just say that it looks nice.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
This is a nice knife. However, know that Japanese tanto never have that blade shape. This is reserved for the longer swords. I have seen a couple, made from swords that had snapped, but they are exceedingly rare, and not considered that pretty.
 
It's dead sexy, whether it's historically accurate or not.
 
Though, as pointed out, it is not necessarily historically accurate, it certainly is part of the Western lexicon of tanto forms and is a strong and handsome piece.

As I side note, I have been around Nihonto since 1976 and can tell you, I have seen literally hundreds of Japanese shinogi-zukuri pieces mounted up as tanto, especially civilian style mounts used during WWII.

CAB
 
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