Made my first sale, pictures inside.

Dan Seaver

Dan Seaver

Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
898
I made my first sale about 2 weeks ago. The tanto was custom ordered and was made for display purposes rather than practical use. The materials include maple (logged from our woods), brass, 6mm real silk ito, and carbon steel. The polish on the blade is 1000 grit done by hand with water stones and the brass finish is 180 grit done by hand with sandpaper.
All in all I think it turned out ok but the next should be two times better now that I have far better tools.
Pictures
That brown spot near the habaki was polished out but I forgot to take a new picture.:mad:
finishedtanto1.jpg

finishedtanto.jpg

Comments, critiques, opinions, and other items of that sort are appreciated.
 
Congratulations on your first sale.

I am going to be honest and give you my critique:

The whole assembly looks blocky.

The profile of the tsuka/saya should be smooth and rounded more.

The habaki is poorly(improperly) fitted.

The blade is far too narrow for the tsuka/saya size.

The blade geometry looks rather poor in the photos( maybe its better in reality), but it looks sort of like a sharpened bar of steel.

There seems to be a sudden angle at the tsuka-saya junction, instead of a smooth curve from end to end.

I am not saying it is a bad tanto, just pointing out the areas to be improved on the next one. Every knife should be a learning process.

I posted a tutorial on making a tanto a while back.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=488024&highlight=tanto+tutorial

Stacy
 
your wrap is nicely done. :thumbup:
I do agree with Stacy though.

Hope to see more in the future!
 
its nice for your first sale. i gess the first thing that sticks out to me is the width of the blade compared to the handle. now i know what its like using what you got and some times the steel is just not as wide as you would like. i started using files and i had to make them work and some times the blade where not as wide as i would have liked but thats not the point. the point is that you learn and have fun doing it. and hell, if you can sell some while your having fun more power to ya.
next time try and to thin out the sheat and grip a little more so it more flowing. this is where a slack belt realy helps. keep it up.
 
The blade geometry does not appear well in the photos, it has a slight sori, the bevels are even the length of the blade, the tip is too sharply curved for my liking though. Honestly I agree with you about the habaki and saya to tsuka thickness. I'm not sure if your talking about the shape of the tsuka to saya or the ends, the shape is one of the many used on tanto but the ends were flat because he wanted a simple look. I used mild carbon steel because he wanted the knife for display purposes only. I talked with the man who bought it the knife earlier today and he said that he was very satisfied with the blade.

Since I made this knife I refinished my anvil surface and bought a belt grinder, working has become much easier. :)

I agree that each knife is a learning experience, I made a huge amount of mistakes while making this blade and know how to avoid them on my next knife.
 
how many knives have you made? mild steel is an interesting choice, any questions about high carbon steel are welcome!
 
I'm afraid I have to agree with Stacy for the most part, though it is a far far cry from my first sale, and like you said the next will be even better. It's a continuing learning process. Looks like you got the basics, now you just need to refine them.:thumbup:
 
Keith_H said:
how many knives have you made? mild steel is an interesting choice, any questions about high carbon steel are welcome!
Click to expand...

Well I have made three finished, seven or eight that were finished other than a handle, and too many to count that were forged and then no more. The knives without handles appear to be hiding because I am unable to find them. Thanks for the offer but between my research, books, and experiences I don't have any questions that spring into my mind at the moment. I have two pounds of high carbon that I smelted myself in a small tatara, now I just need to dish out the cash for my hydraulic press :p.

Thanks for the congratulations, comments, and critiques.
 
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