Sho bu do tanto (big pics)

M

MSCantrell

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
Messages
1,213
Hi all,
Thought I'd share one I just finished up.
This is my first Japanese-style blade. I wanted to make a gift for a friend who teaches Japanese jujitsu. Decided to go with a tanto, and thought it would be nicer to make the more traditional blade shape, as opposed to the "American tanto" style.

Forged 1095
9.5" OAL
4.75" blade
Handle wrapping is poly/cotton over red cotton
Edge bevels are 1000 grit, flats are forge-finish- I think the contrast is nice.
The kanji (writing) says "Sho bu do"; that's the name of the school of jujitsu the recipient practices.

That spot near what would be the ricasso I like to think of as a beauty mark. Like Cindy Crawford's mole, you know? I gave 'er a little too much when I was cleaning up the bevels with the angle grinder :(

There's no sheath. I think I'm going to go with a presentation box.
Sho-Bu-DoTanto004.jpg

Sho-Bu-DoTanto002.jpg

Sho-Bu-DoTanto001.jpg

Sho-Bu-DoTanto006.jpg

Sho-Bu-DoTanto005.jpg


Thanks for comments and thanks for looking!
Mike
 
Very nice!!
I like the combination of the rough part and the polished part.
And don't worry about that 'mole', call it the perfection of imperfection. A mark to show it's handmade.

Did you make the 'letters' with a Dremel?
 
Nice work and I see that you said that this is your first but there are a few things I would re-do. You wraped the handle backwards, the knot goes at the end of the tang. You can also see the folded edge of the red cotton in the first picture. It should end up on the spine of the handle so the black wrap hides it. You could also soak the red cotton in epoxy so it stays flat against the tang and then wrap with the black wrap. Then coat that with epoxy so the handle won't ever unwrap itself.

.
 
Sir it's a great looking knife.

It gave me some ideas for the future too!

However, you GOT to fix the handle wrapping near the blade end. The way you have the wrapping and the under cloth just is not working and it REALLY takes away from the pure greatness of the blade itself.

Im not sure what to suggest...But you GOT to re-do the handle wrap...You just got to....I know a re-do of the handle wrapping is a lot of work,,But you own it to yourself to find a way to get the wrapping to present the look the blade demands
 
Mike,
I don't care if the handle is wrapped backwards or not it still looks really COOL!:cool:
Matt Doyle
 
nice looking knife... but i have some idea's should you want some quick fixes, and upgrades done...

you should drill the base of the blade, and do a traditional wrap. take a look at the corkum first strike, and see how thats finished. its very close to what you've done. also search for the work 'tsukamaki' theres a webpage somewhere that shows you exactly how to do what your looking for.

as for the red material... i would suggest making some scales from fibreglass. in any auto repair shop you'll find fibreglass mat that can be cut with scissors, and resin that hardens it... couple of layers, then before it dries, place on the cotton. when it dries, you'll have cotton covered thin scales that can be shaped with MINIMAL effort using some strong scissors and sandpaper (file if you wish). rough everything up, epoxy them on, and use the wrap to hold everything in place.... you could even mix colour into the resin to take out the need for cotton if you wanted... just a few idea's.

fiblreglass is ungodly easy to work with. and would work well for the above use.
 
Geez,
I can't say anything around here without pissing someone off!!!:confused: I never said he shouldn't redo it or that it shouldn't be done right, merely that it still looked good and that I liked it!
Matt
 
I like the look of the Brute de Forge blade.As has been said, there are some issues with the wrap.

http://www.montanairon.com/tsukamaki.html
http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm

Here are some sites to help you with tying the cord. There are some things that need to be changed on the tanto wrap or it will never be able to be used.Also there are some aesthetic items which need addressing. The handle as it is will slide off the knife,most likely.Worse,if driven into a hard object (either a person,or a practice object ) the handle could slide forward and cut the fingers severely.
With just a little more work,this first Japanese knife could be a very nice Japanese knife.Just a few small changes are all that is needed. Email me if you want any help or ideas. I also have plenty of Ito ,if you would like to do it in real silk.I would gladly send you enough to do this tanto.
Stacy
 
Now about the knife blade itself....
how did you get the rough spine and yet have such a nice clean cutting edge?

The look of your blade is a look I have been thinking about for a while.
Im not sure how to get it.
do you sand before the Heat-treatments or after?
Do you mark on the blade where the clean mirror edge sides start?
I use mostly 5160 spring steel. could I get this rough effect with that steel too?
 
Thanks for the kind words all, and for the suggestions!
I got a direct question or two:
Yep, Hengelo, I got a little diamond bur for the dremel to engrave the words.

Alan,
Here's the process for this blade:
I started with 1/8" x 1" barstock. I hammered a slight bevel into it, but mostly for purposes of getting the upswept shape, rather than for purposes of getting the edge very thin.
Then I roughed out the bevels with an abrasive disc on the angle grinder (and, as I mentioned, got a little too agressive in the one spot).
When those were more or less right, I went to the disc grinder. I haven't gotten the hang yet of forming bevels with the disc. So I make the bevels with the angle grinder (where I can see the cutting action) and flatten them with the disc. That's how I was able to leave the rough part of the blade rough.
So I ground the bevel flat, to 220 grit, before heat treat. After heat treat, I went back to 60, then 150, 220, 400, 1000.
I guess you could mark where you wanted your primary bevels to begin, but I didn't. Like I said, I just kind of roughed it out with the angle grinder, where I could keep an eye on the cutting action the whole time. My impression is that the better makers don't have any need for that. I'm not quite to that level yet.:)
As far as I know, pretty much all high-carbon steels will look about the same coming out of heat treatment in a coal fire. So yes, 5160 ought to do it for you.

Stacy,
I'm emailing you after I hit send on this post. I know you're a stickler for detail. I know I should be, but sometimes I get hasty. (That's what I like about BFC: re-prioritization. Makes me remember that what matters is not the excited feeling of finishing a knife but the proud feeling of doing a dang good job.) So I'll definitely appreciate your help and direction on this. Thanks in advance ;)

Mike
 
Re-worked the wrap on this one, with a little help from guru Stacy (bladsmth).
Drilled the hole near the butt, fixed the underlayment so no seam shows, glued it down, rewrapped, glued the wrap down, and tied a proper knot through the hole, at the right end of the knife. Whew!

NOW it's ready to be a proper gift.

Thanks for your help, Stacy et al!

Mike

Shobudotanto002.jpg

Shobudotanto001.jpg
 
The improvement speaks for itself. This will be a gift you can be proud of giving. well done.
Stacy
 
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