Tanto geometry??? Need help

NDallyn

NDallyn

Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
814
A customer of mine is a machinist instructor and proficient CNC guy. He was wanting to draw up a tanto blade and try to machine it on a CNC mill. I believe he is using Solidworks and then converting through Mastercam to a Haas machining center.

He needs to know what angles the blade bevels and point should be at. I have never really made tanto's so I have no idea.

What would the typical geometry be for a traditional style tanto? Is there a typical grind height?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Have a good one,
Nathan
 
Tantos are kind of funny. At first glance, they all look the same and seem to all have the same shape, same bevels, same pretty much everything.

Then you start paying attention and you realize that they are all different and that there is no single formula. Your friend is now going to go the path of making one, realizing that something is "off" about it, making another, realizing that the thing he just changed made another element seem "off", and then making another ... and another ... and another. And once he's FINALLY satisfied, he will realize that nobody makes a Tanto quite like his.

Hmmmm ... Sounds like every project I've ever tried to work on. :)

Anyway, he needs to do some research and find 100 pictures of different Tantos and then pick the 3 he likes best, then do some drawings.
 
That question is about the same as saying, " I want to build a car from scratch. What does one look like?" They are all different, some barely resemble the others. (I bet you guys thought I would use women as the comparison)

Tanto knives are pretty much the same. The only real restrictions are being less than 1 shaku in length ( 12"/300mm ).
The tip profile many call a "tanto point" is actually not very authentic. A more graceful and pointier blade is the norm.
Look up a lot of tanto photos online and come up with what he likes. As to bevel angles, that is different for tanto than western knives. A tanto may be flat ground, but most are convex ground to some degree. The blade should be thick enough to be strong, but thin enough to be easy in the hand.

Stacy
 
His tastes seem to run more to the "tactical" side of things so I would say he is more into the newer style tantos with straight lines rather than the more smooth and flowing type of traditional look. It may be like asking what a car looks like.......but that is the point I'm at. Have never done tantos, don't really like them, have never owned or carried one.....just trying to help a guy out.
 
This is a timely thread, because I just had a customer place an order for a tanto, which I have never made either. I am rather fortunate since the customer is very specific as to what he wants. After he described it I thought it would be rather practical if not traditional. I'll describe it and you guys give me your opinion.
Steel-1095- 1&1/4"x5/32"x9"
Blade- 4&1/2" tip to guard with an acute angle of approx 45 degrees at the tip. Flat grind with 600 grit satin finish.
Guard- 416 SS - 3/16"x1"x2&1/2" rectangle shape with just the corners rounded. Step the handle width down to 1", this will allow for two shoulders for the guard to rest against.
Handle- 4&5/16" from guard to butt. black coarse textured G-10 scales. Rectangle shape.
 
I wanted to make some clarity about my comments.
I didn't mean that all tanto are the same... I was saying that like cars there are so many shapes and styles.

The point was that there are so many styles of tanto that he would need to find one that he likes, and go from there.

Here are some guides for a milled tanto in tactical design:
Some tanto are flat on the back and beveled only on one side ( chisel grind - called katakiri-hira-zukuri).This would work well for an in-experienced maker using milling and machining.
The point where the edge bevel ( hira-ji) meets the point bevel (kissaki) is called the yokote. This line should be distinct, and is important to the look.
Some words to help:
Ha...the edge
Mune....the spine
Shinogi....the ridge line running down the blade between the mune and the ha
Shinogi-ji...the flat surface between the mune and the shinogi
Hira-ji ( or just ji)...the surface ( sometimes flat sometimes convex) between the shinogi and the ha
Kissaki...the tip or point section of the blade
Nakago...the tang

This might help,too:
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=58426&d=1048977997
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9675&d=1049027646
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9676&d=1049027736
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9677&d=1049027802
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9678&d=1049028033

Hope that helps,
Stacy



note: spell checking this post was a hoot.
 
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