Hi Everyone,
I wanted to get some feedback on the knives I've been making. Input on the design of the blades is welcome, but I'm mostly interested in my overall style right now. I'm trying to go for a primitive look for a couple of reasons: first, I am curious to see what I am able to do with as few tools as possible. Second, I really want to focus on my forging skills, and forging to 99% forces me to pay really close attention to what I'm doing. I'm trying to find a look that is primitive, but doesn't look like I was too lazy to finish it. My current idea is to have a rustic finish but have certain aspects that are very refined, like the iorimune (ridged spine) on the hira-zukuri tanto.
Here are the knives. They are all 1075/1080, and listed in the order I made them.
Kiridashi:
10.4cm overall
3.4cm edge
There's no secondary bevel here and the primary bevel is almost flat. Combined with a 400 degree temper, this is one of the sharpest knives I've ever made. The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed with sort of a tsumami wrapping style. The knot is a gunto knot.
Shinogi-zukuri tanto
25.8cm overall
14.9cm blade
3.2cm wide
menuki (kind of hard to see in this picture) are oval onyx cabochons
The handle on this one is a little bit narrow and a little bit short. I've fixed this to varying degrees in subsequent blades. I did the finish entirely by hand to 600 grit. There are some scratches near the edge that are from the final sharpening that are not as deep as they look. I'm going to get them out soon. The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed in hiramaki style.
Hira-zukuri tanto
27.6cm overall
14.5cm blade
3cm wide
iorimune
The stacked turks head knots feel really good, but I need to work on how they look. The narrow ones are paracord with the center removed, and the thick ones have the center still in them. The one in the middle serves as a slight palm swell.
Bowie
26.8cm overall
16.4cm edge
3.5cm wide
menuki are white-lipped pearl cabochons
The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed in tsumami style with gunto knots. As in the hira-zukuri tanto, the turk's head in the middle acts as a palm swell. The handle on this one is a little shorter than I intended, but the wrapping give it a good enough grip to almost make up for it.
Thanks in advance.
- Chris
I wanted to get some feedback on the knives I've been making. Input on the design of the blades is welcome, but I'm mostly interested in my overall style right now. I'm trying to go for a primitive look for a couple of reasons: first, I am curious to see what I am able to do with as few tools as possible. Second, I really want to focus on my forging skills, and forging to 99% forces me to pay really close attention to what I'm doing. I'm trying to find a look that is primitive, but doesn't look like I was too lazy to finish it. My current idea is to have a rustic finish but have certain aspects that are very refined, like the iorimune (ridged spine) on the hira-zukuri tanto.
Here are the knives. They are all 1075/1080, and listed in the order I made them.
Kiridashi:
10.4cm overall
3.4cm edge
There's no secondary bevel here and the primary bevel is almost flat. Combined with a 400 degree temper, this is one of the sharpest knives I've ever made. The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed with sort of a tsumami wrapping style. The knot is a gunto knot.
Shinogi-zukuri tanto
25.8cm overall
14.9cm blade
3.2cm wide
menuki (kind of hard to see in this picture) are oval onyx cabochons
The handle on this one is a little bit narrow and a little bit short. I've fixed this to varying degrees in subsequent blades. I did the finish entirely by hand to 600 grit. There are some scratches near the edge that are from the final sharpening that are not as deep as they look. I'm going to get them out soon. The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed in hiramaki style.
Hira-zukuri tanto
27.6cm overall
14.5cm blade
3cm wide
iorimune
The stacked turks head knots feel really good, but I need to work on how they look. The narrow ones are paracord with the center removed, and the thick ones have the center still in them. The one in the middle serves as a slight palm swell.
Bowie
26.8cm overall
16.4cm edge
3.5cm wide
menuki are white-lipped pearl cabochons
The tsukaito is paracord with the center removed in tsumami style with gunto knots. As in the hira-zukuri tanto, the turk's head in the middle acts as a palm swell. The handle on this one is a little shorter than I intended, but the wrapping give it a good enough grip to almost make up for it.
Thanks in advance.
- Chris
