My finished Tactana Project (or how a heavy dull piece of steel became a sword)

Y

Yotee

Joined
Jul 11, 2013
Messages
43
Hi All,
Well, over a year ago I purchased a Tactana and was not pleased with it. I couldn’t sell it without losing money so I decided to see if I could turn it into a sword of some kind. The beginning of this adventure was shared in another thread concerning the Tactana, and if your interested in the history of this project there is more info in that thread and you can go there. At this point however I would just like to share the very nice end result with you. What started as a Condor Tactana, 2.9 lbs, squared, bulky blade, overly long & thin handle and dull beveled edge has been transformed, thru the use of nothing but a file or 2, into this:
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It now weighs 2.1lbs, is razor sharp, has a larger round & shorter & lighter handle (with a pointy end), and is wonderful. Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Yotee
 
Nice. You're selling yourself cheaply as that polishing job took a lot more than a couple of files;).

Given the price point of one of those, i'd be very interested in buying one so I can have more practice with my Kalamazoo belt sander. A pity I didn't get that idea before I butchered the edge on my Kris Cutlery Katana. Also seems like it would have better edge holding than my Hanwei Tactical Wakizashi, which got blunted after a few cuts, plus the edge seems to roll, a LOT.

You sic that bad boy on anything yet?
 
Hey Noctis3880, This is a very fine piece of steel. Check out the pics and info from this thread (so I don't have to repeat myself, even though it's worth repeating), you'll get the idea:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1090561-Condor-Tactana?highlight=tactana

Cut up deer carcasses like a hot knife thru butter. And that was before I finished the edge polish. As for the final blade polish - it was always a little 'hairy' looking, even after 1 micro polishing paste, then I polished it with Simichrome. Wonderful stuff, made it like a mirror. Everything done on this was by hand (filing & buffing etc) except lightening the handle. Glad you like it.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Nice. You're selling yourself cheaply as that polishing job took a lot more than a couple of files;).

Given the price point of one of those, i'd be very interested in buying one so I can have more practice with my Kalamazoo belt sander. A pity I didn't get that idea before I butchered the edge on my Kris Cutlery Katana. Also seems like it would have better edge holding than my Hanwei Tactical Wakizashi, which got blunted after a few cuts, plus the edge seems to roll, a LOT.

You sic that bad boy on anything yet?
Click to expand...
Wanted to correct the record on this. I butchered the edge by attempting to sharpen it like a knife with a secondary bevel. Though I believe it was fairly blunt out of the box to begin with. A proper sharpening on my Kalamazoo corrected this and now the edge is spooky sharp. Pity I don't have much laying around I can cut -.-

I need to start growing bamboo in my backyard:thumbup:.
 
Yotee said:
Hey Noctis3880, This is a very fine piece of steel. Check out the pics and info from this thread (so I don't have to repeat myself, even though it's worth repeating), you'll get the idea:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1090561-Condor-Tactana?highlight=tactana

Cut up deer carcasses like a hot knife thru butter. And that was before I finished the edge polish. As for the final blade polish - it was always a little 'hairy' looking, even after 1 micro polishing paste, then I polished it with Simichrome. Wonderful stuff, made it like a mirror. Everything done on this was by hand (filing & buffing etc) except lightening the handle. Glad you like it.
Click to expand...
Outstanding:thumbup:.

Though while I do appreciate a hands on approach, my limited time, short attention span:D, and lack of patience pushed me more towards the use of power tools.

I'm still keeping an eye out for used and discounted Tactanas, but if I get one I'll probably only regrind the blade. Not really equipped to mess with the handles. I do find it interesting that such a short blade would weigh about the same as some of my full length katanas. Kind of wondering if the micarta accounts for a lot of that too.

I do know that, after handling a ko-katana, my Tactical Wakizashi is a LOT lighter with its full tang + Kraton handles.
 
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