Western Tanto in W2 and Karelian Birch

Erin Burke

Erin Burke

KnifeMaker...ish
Joined
May 19, 2003
Messages
1,330
It's been a crazy year... and this knife was a LONG time in the making.

I'm calling this one a Western Tanto... the adjective "Western" giving me license to mangle and misuse a myriad of traditional Japanese terms. :D


Some Stats:
Length: 13-7/8"
Blade: 8-1/16" (Tip to choil), 0.093" thick at the guard
Weight: 227.5g (0.5lbs)
Steel: Differentially Heat-Treated W2
Handle: Karelian Birch scales with black G10 frame and 550-cord wrap
Tsuba/Guard: Mild Steel
Fittings: Copper
16283945574_297b51f21d_b.jpg




16901474271_71d6673bd1_b.jpg





16718890470_170672b93c_b.jpg





16720150199_c6dea7c500_b.jpg






16720150309_0cf81c7e10_b.jpg




A few random notes:
  • I really like Karelian Birch... but it is a bear to photograph. This is one of several blocks that I picked up from Mark at Burl Source a few years ago. It has a warm butterscotch feel to it.
  • The cord wrap was sunk into the handle and then hardened/stabilized with West Systems epoxy.
  • Sheath-making is not fun. This sheath comes dressed with a matching piece of birch taken from the same block as the handle.
  • I did a WIP-ish type thread on this build over in Shop Talk. If you're interested, you can check it out HERE.

Please feel free to let me know what you think.

Erin
 
I'd like to see a straight on photo of the knife in the sheath, if it's not too much hassle
Best lookin Burke yet, imo.
 
Hey Lorien. I might not understand what you mean by "straight on", because I thought that's what the third image showed. Do you mean along the edge?
 
Smokin… I haven't posted it for sale. I was planning to take it to the Seattle show next month.
 
I like the shape and materials a lot.

1. It's hard to tell from my screen, but if you used black paracord, I think I might have liked brown or burgundy a bit better, and one more diamand in the wrap area extended(maybe what 3/8"?)
2. The hamon looks fantastic until it goes from the "waves" to the rounded areas...maybe halfway up. At that point it moves from looking controlled and purposeful to random.
3. Might have liked a slightly wider guard/tsuba.

The habaki looks great and your sheath, while not my exact cup of tea for this style, is in fact, rendered technically superior and aesthetically interesting. The cord wrap over the wood on the sheath is a very "outside the box" treatment and it is interesting to look at, as is the tooling on the leather.

Should do very well at the show and sell quickly.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Well done.

I really like the style and flow of the blade with materials.
 
So nice.
The Black works but yes, a Brown or Tan wrap would blend better.
rolf
 
I like it a lot, and you can call it whatever you want. I call it a Persian tanto. Or just a Persian, because of the blade shape and the ridge line. Putting a Japanese handle assembly on a Persian blade doesn't make it a Tanto. I might like it better if it had a graceful Persian guard.
 
please bring it to Seattle! And let's introduce ourselves this time- I was disappointed to miss you last year.
The photo I'd like to see is of the knife in the sheath, showing the entire thing. I have a feeling there's something special about the relationship between the knife and sheath that might be seen best in its entirety
 
Excellent work Erin. I like your hamon a lot and the sheath is the icing on the cake. I'll bet this one would benefit from a professional photo shoot.
 
Awesome knife Erin. Controlling a hamon is nearly impossible, and I really like how this one turned out. Love the lines of this knife and the sheath is top notch. Awesome work and I loved the WIP. Did I say how awesome this knife is yet?
 
You finished it! Finaaaally..... :yawn: lol jkjk.. :D Man that turned out really nice, not to mention having to overcome all the problems it gave ya along the way! I love it! And I see you were able to bring out the yokote/kissaki area, the yokote looks very crisp, very nicely done :thumbup: :) I always enjoy seeing what you come up with and how you go about fusing western and eastern styles together, it's probably my favorite "genre" of knives. I hope you're able to do more WIPs in the near future man, this one was very interesting, as well as very entertaining ;) lol. Thanks again for sharing your work bro!

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
Hey Steven... thanks for taking the time to post. I ;){almost} always appreciate your feedback.

You ask some good questions and make some good points.

Kohai999 said:
1. It's hard to tell from my screen, but if you used black paracord, I think I might have liked brown or burgundy a bit better, and one more diamand in the wrap area extended(maybe what 3/8"?)
Click to expand...

I had a very similar thought originally... and bought about ten different colors of cord (including a burgundy and several different shades of brown) to determine what would look "best". I set out the materials and went with what looked good to me... in this case -- and to my surprise -- it was black. Remember that the frame of the knife is black G10 and the guard aging left a gray/black finish.

Concerning the length of the wrap area... my original sketch did not include the slight protrusion on the butt of the handle. I worked that in to add a little something extra visually, but it may have had the unintended side-effect of skewing the proportion of wrapped to unwrapped handle. Another half of a wrap may have helped compensate... but I think that a full diamond would have been a bit too much for me. This design may have also benefitted from a slightly wider cord with less wraps... but I couldn't convince the 550 guys to build me a special batch. :D

2. The hamon looks fantastic until it goes from the "waves" to the rounded areas...maybe halfway up. At that point it moves from looking controlled and purposeful to random.
Click to expand...

Spot on! I'm not sure whether you browsed the WIP, but I had an inordinate amount of trouble with the heat treat on this blade (both in regards to the hamon and warping). What you see in the photos was the result of the third time through. The hamon is definitely not as controlled out toward the kissaki. I need to work on developing a relationship with W2, as right now I feel that I am getting better hamon control with 1095.

3. Might have liked a slightly wider guard/tsuba.
Click to expand...

I could see it being bigger, but only slightly. I played with a few options on paper, and once I pushed it past the choil/cutting edge, it just started looking weird.

The habaki looks great and your sheath, while not my exact cup of tea for this style, is in fact, rendered technically superior and aesthetically interesting. The cord wrap over the wood on the sheath is a very "outside the box" treatment and it is interesting to look at, as is the tooling on the leather.
Click to expand...

I feel that the habaki was one of the real success stories of this build. I've never been very excited about the fold-n-solder method of construction, and therefore figured I'd attemp to forge this habaki from thick copper tube. It work out well, and I ended up with a fantastic fit to boot.

The wrapped insert in the sheath is something I've done a couple times before. It's a tool that can help bring the leather on-board with the over-all theme... but honestly, if I had my druthers, I'd leave all sheath work to the professionals. ;)

Thanks again for the feedback.

Erin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top