Hira Zukuri Tanto in Beech "Shirasaya"

SBranson

SBranson

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Oct 29, 2006
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Just finished this this morning after an extremely long an sometimes painful road to completion.

Some background... I have always had an affinity towards Japanese culture. I studied Japanese language, had lessons in playing the shakuhachi, did Kendo, read Yukio Mishima (ha), and always assumed I'd make it to Japan to teach or something as a means to immerse myself further. Well that didn't happen.

In wanting to learn more about hamons, I bought Walter Sorrells' video and it sparked the interest in making Japanese style blades. I haven't been making knives long so I still get a thrill out of the realization that "hey, I could try and make one"..
I bought "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" and it was a tremendous source of inspiration.
For the habaki, I learned from youtube.

Highlights from the making of this Tanto were several as were some of the set backs.
I forged the blade to shape and had an instant visceral thrill from the potential I saw in the shape. When it came time to heat treating, I played it a little on the safe side by quenching in water for 3 seconds then into Parks 50. I didn't have the courage to go for a full water quench.. The sori that developed from the water quench had me giddy. Unfortunately, I didn't treat the clay properly and blew off some of it in the quench. The effects were lack of ashi.. but so be it.

For polishing I went all "Nick Wheeler" on this one :p... well sort of... I got it up to 2500x and realized that I hadn't been diligent enough in removing the previous scratches so back to the grinder I went. Then all the way back up to 2500x. Followed by polish and pumice with my thumb. Hours of work later and I had this. Very little in ashi but some utsuri.

Tanto.jpg


But I didn't stop there. I tried to highlight the utsuri and botched it up so had to go back to 2000x and re etch to get back to where I was. About a 5 hour detour...:rolleyes:

Well.. then I realized that finishing the blade to this before making the habaki was a dumb mistake. Live and learn.. In the end I had to make 2 habakis as the first one didn't seal properly and then I dropped it and cracked it up near the mune:(:(

The second one worked out much better.

Habaki8.jpg


Tantofinal_4.jpg


Then came the saya. The alternatives to Honoki in North America, alder and poplar, just didn't look good enough to me so I opted for Beech. Not the best choice both for it's stability and it's hardness but I like the look. :p Accents and pin made of African Blackwood.

At $500 or so for a set of Saya Nomi or scabbard chisels, I couldn't afford to buy them so I modified some of my chisels to hollow out the channel. I kept them sharp and they worked quite well.

Chisels_3.jpg


Steel is W2. Here's some more photos of details.

Tantofinal_3.jpg


My son is holding it steady for this shot
Tantofinal_1.jpg


Disassembled
Tantofinal_8.jpg


And the final shots.

Tantofinal_6.jpg


Tantofinal_7.jpg


It's far from perfect but I learned a whole lot for the next one.

Thanks for looking.

PS... The colour difference in the tip of the blade is the reflection of the deck railing.
 
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Looks like you did a great job, nice attention to all of the details. :)
 
This is wonderful!

When opening this thread, I was afraid it was going to be YET another misappropriation of Japanese nomenclature, but this is actually a very nice and interesting piece.

May we have the specs, please?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Great job, Stuart! Very nice result. Now, look what's ahead. :thumbup:

Look for 'Cutting Edge' by Victor Harris. I bought it to learn more about hamons, and it has some great sword history in it. It catalogues over 160 swords dating back to the fourteenth century.

- Joe
 
well done, sir.
 
Thanks everyone.

Specs are as follows.. let me know if you want something else.

Steel is Aldo's W2 (not the latest batch)
Blade is 8" from the base of the habaki to the tip with the habaki being about 7/8". Slightly overshot the ratio as the blade is about 1 1/8" at the widest. I guess this makes it a short Tanto but I'm not sure if it should be labelled a Kwaiken.
Thickness at the munemachi is about 7/32"
Sori depth is about 1-1.5mm from the handle to the tip. (not sure exactly how to properly measure this but it is a Tanto. It is very noticeable even for sounding so slight would be considered a Saki Sori as the curve is more pronounced at the tip.
Handle is about 4 5/8"

Here's a couple more shots. I thought I did the mekugi correctly but it forced the habaki just a little off the handle. I'll have to sort that out for the next time.

It's difficult to finish these as the fit has to be refined in line with the cosmetic finish. You can't get a good fit then go sand and clean up scratches without altering the fit. It's a headache and a potential disaster. I'm letting myself off a little easy seeing as this is my first try.:o

The friction fit of the habaki into the koiguchi, the sheath opening, is a real tactile pleasure. The last 1/4" is such a nice feeling to sheathe..

Tantofinal_9.jpg


Tantofinal_10.jpg


Tantofinal_11.jpg
 
SBranson said:
Specs are as follows.. let me know if you want something else.

Steel is Aldo's W2 (not the latest batch)
Blade is 8" from the base of the habaki to the tip with the habaki being about 7/8". Slightly overshot the ratio as the blade is about 1 1/8" at the widest. I guess this makes it a short Tanto but I'm not sure if it should be labelled a Kwaiken.
Thickness at the munemachi is about 7/32"
Sori depth is about 1-1.5mm from the handle to the tip. (not sure exactly how to properly measure this but it is a Tanto. It is very noticeable even for sounding so slight would be considered a Saki Sori as the curve is more pronounced at the tip.
Handle is about 4 5/8"
Click to expand...

It is a tanto.

The blade is measured from the mune' machi(shoulder that anchors the habaki)

Sori is measured thus:

Take a string and tightly stretch from the base of the blade where the habaki would end(opposite end from the mune machi) to the tip of the blade....the widest point between the back of the blade and the string is the sori.

I think the beech has quite a bit of a figure to make a proper shira saya, but would certainly make an excellent base for full mounts.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
The beech has a little figure in the along the seam but is a nice and regular "spotted" pattern. A little fancy for a true shirasaya for sure but as I wasn't planning to do full mounts and wanted this to look good...
 
It's SUPPOSED to look like nothing, grain-wise.....honoki wood used for shira saya has no grain to speak of.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Yeah I know and I almost used a piece of poplar both for a more traditional "white" mount and the ease of working it. But seeing as I wasn't using this so much as a resting scabbard I appropriated the shirasaya idea and made it more decorative. I feel though that the regularity of the beech grain is at least a little bit tasteful.

I changed the title and put the quotes around the "Shirasaya". Kind of an oxymoron to have beech and shirasaya together.
 
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It is tasteful, make no doubt about that.

The beech looks like a more tightly grained Japanese white oak, or "kashi".

When I have commissioned a project like this, it's gone in a different direction, with poplar lined African Blackwood or walnut scabbards....there is always a choice.

So while I may not really LIKE that choice, I can see it, and see it as a good choice, if that makes any sense.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks.

@STeven, That makes sense. I actually started with the idea of African Blackwood lined with poplar. For that however, I feel it would need a different handle treatment. Maybe along the lines of these beautiful tantos.

1.jpg


2.jpg
 
WOW! Stuart,
This is quite different from your normal style.
Very nice. While I know nothing about this style of knife, I really like it.
So.....based on visual appeal, fit and finish; I would say you did great.
 
Thanks Mark. Yes it is different for me but an avenue of making I will certainly pursue further. I am very excited to try a longer tanto next and work my way up to a katana.

It was a fun, interesting and edifying project.
 
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