WIP: Uzumaki Kotanto - parts of Model T fender from the forest - finished!

[islandblacksmith]

This should be a relatively quick one, I am only documenting the mounting this time...the blade is the last of my "new old stock" from a couple of years back, forged at an outdoor demo, originally as a scaled down piece but i decided to mount it as a regular kotanto. Unusual geometry for tanto, shobu-zukuri is generally reserved for larger blades but it seemed to be where the steel wanted to go.

Working from the blade back, starting with a habaki, then fuchi/kashira/tsuba/gangimaki, etc...

forged butterfly, outside...made from copper bus bar

forged butterfly, inside

cleaned up

bent and trimmed, cutting the machigane from a scrap

machigane more or less in place

silver soldering in the reducing part of the charcoal fire

final fitting before filing to shape

polished and then frosted with a stream of poured stone chips about the size of large cat litter...half masked with my thumb

the habaki will be given a final polish and patina after all the saya work is finished.

 

[islandblacksmith]

This kashira was made from steel harvested from a Model T fender bracket. Because of the type of wrapping that will be used for the handle, it is held in place by a combination of kusune (pine resin glue) and steel clips rather than by ito wrapped through shitodome ana.

The bracket from a Model T fender from the forest.

Cut off with a cold chisel.

Hot chiseled to a rough oval shape and hot punched through a ring to start the rounding process.

The view from the other side.

Hot punched through a slightly smaller opening, this time an old sledge hammer eye with a nice shape to it.

The domed shape at this point. It will go one more time through a slightly smaller hammer eye using a hardwood punch.

Filing off most of the excess save for the two tabs.

The tabs are forged and filed to shape and the surface filed, smoothed, and then hammer textured before heat bluing in the forge.

 

[islandblacksmith]

This fuchi is made mainly from steel harvested from a Model T fender bracket. Its construction is similar to the Higo style in that the copper tenjo gane is forged in physically rather than soldered to the sleeve. The band was created by forging a screw hole in the bracket to stretch it to the size of the handle.

Another bracket from the Model T fender from the forest.

The last screw hole is cut off with a cold chisel, this little bit will become the sleeve around the handle.

Second round of forging, using a tapered punch to spread and then forge against to create a torus shape.

Third round of forging, it has the correct cylinder shape and just needs to be stretched out evenly.

Fifth round and getting close, now it is forged on the tip of the anvil horn. Note the kashira for size reference.

Seventh round, perhaps, this is the final size and shape, it will be filed inside and out to even things up.

A reclaimed copper bus bar is annealed in the forge. The lovely colours are naturally occurring oxides from the heating and water cooling.

Cold chiseling before rough filing the profile.

Cold chiseling the nakago-ana.

The edge is tapered to match the taper inside the sleeve and carefully filed down until it sits just below the lip.

The lip is peened down over the rim of the tenjo gane, locking it in place against the tapered inside of the sleeve.

The rim is filed level and the nakago ana opened up to its final size and shape.

The outside of the sleeve is given its final shape by filing.

Before and after.

After drawfiling smooth, a tiny ball peen is used to texture the surface of the steel. It will be heat blued and then given a coat of tung oil or ibota wax to stabilize the surface.

The fuchi kashira pair ready to install on the tsuka.

 

[Dawkind]

You do some extraordinary work with what you're using....love the use of that sledge hammer.

 

[islandblacksmith]

There will be two brass seppa on this mount, one on each side of the tsuba. The final fit to the tang is achieved by using a punch to push out four lobes of metal in the four corners and then filing to adjust slightly. The seppa are cold chiseled and then filed from a sheet of brass reclaimed from a door push plate.

Note the shape of the nakago ana before fitting.

The seppa after fitting. They will be given a final polish (around their rims and the front of the one next to the habaki) at the time of assembly.

 

[Lorien]

very impressive work there.

 

[islandblacksmith]

Tsuba for tanto are usually either non-existant or are very small. This leaves little room for embellishment so the focus is often on the rim, or the material itself. This tsuba is made from wrought iron, an old form of bloomery iron produced up until about a hundred years ago. This is a small scrap off the end of a timber bridge spike that came from the forest.

This is the bit before starting, it was a gift from another blacksmith who cut it off as part of a test to see how well the old iron would forge weld where it had cracked. About 7/8" long and 5/8" square.

A couple of rounds of forging spreads it to about a fourth the thickness and four times the area.

These lovely layers that are revealed by the fire are the edge look I am after for the finished tsuba. They are called tekkotsu (steel ribs).

The nakago ana is partially drilled, then cold chiseled and filed to shape. A bevel is removed by cold chiseling to allow the seki-gane to lock on.

The outside is cold chiseled and filed roughly to shape.

Once the final shape is filed, drawfiled, and planished, the tsuba soaks in a fire with a strong air blast to reveal its inner workings again. The high heat and oxidization reveal the tekkotsu and a combination of wire brushing and dipping quickly into water removes the scale while it is being heated. This heating process is known as yakite or yakinamashi.

After the fire, any remaining scale, seen here as dark stripes, is removed by soaking in a weak solution of vinegar and hot water.

The omote side showing those lovely layers that have been in there all along.

The ura side after hammering the copper seki-gane into place and suspending in a jar with warm vinegar vapour for about an hour, round two.

After spending the night hanging in the jar above the vinegar.

After burnishing with an antler tip, the traditional way to restore flaking rusted iron without removing the patina.

After boiling in tea to darken the surface, the tannins react with the red iron oxide and convert them to more stable black iron oxide, this is a traditional finishing method for cast iron kettles (tetsubin).

After a thin layer of fukiurushi, urushi lacquer applied and wiped off, it reacts with any remaining red oxide and turns it to black iron oxide. A final layer will give some gloss and bring back some of the warm tones.

 

[lwrhea]

I really enjoy this kind of knife making. It's a pleasure to see.

 

[Doug C]

I agree with everyone that's posted so far.
Love your work and your unique approach to bladecrafting.
Keep up the great work.

Doug

 

[wonderlab]

Such an interesting thread to follow !
Thanks for sharing.

 

[r connally]

The history of each of the raw materials going into this piece is fascinating and well considered. I absolutely love the Model T and bridge iron components from the forest as complimentary fittings. This knife will have a real story behind it. I am anxious to see the final product.

 

[evanPGH]

Nice to see you right back at it, my friend.

I like the direction you're going with this one, another stunner in the making no doubt. Definitely an interesting geometry for a tanto but I'm a big fan of shobu zukuri, no need to follow the rules all the time. =)

Been carrying and using mine a lot, just superb in every aspect.

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[islandblacksmith]

Once everything between the habaki and the handle is at finished thickness, the wood core can be made. Tsuka are split and carved to fit precisely around the nakago and then glued back together with sokui (rice paste glue). Then the outside is carved, taking into account the size of the fittings and the thickness of the wrappings. This one is made from a scrap of Yellow Cedar.

Bound with leather and wedged overnight to dry. The leather gives a nice even pressure even when the starting block is not square and true.

Fit on the tang, the fuchi is used as a guide, mouth is carved down until it just begins to fit into place.

The kashira sets the measurement for the other end of the handle and wood is removed between the two and adjusted until things align nicely.

After some calculation adding the thickness of the fuchi and kashira and subtracting the thickness of the rawhide and leather wrap, the excess is removed. This is the ura so a double layer of shikagawa (rawhide) will rest here in a style of maedare gise that countersinks both ends of the wrap.

The omote, showing the tsuka-shitaji carved oversize to accommodate the layers of wrapping that will go over it. Originally designed to make room for the end knots on standard wrapped handle styles, suka-shitaji are often included on the omote side of unwrapped handles as well. My theory is that they are a reference point for the position of the handle and direction of the edge...on tanto length handles, the pinkie finger sits right in the groove on the cross draw.

 

[islandblacksmith]

There are generally two components to wrapping a handle, the first being the shikagawa (rawhide) or samegawa (ray skin) layer which adds incredible stiffness and resilience to the tsuka, and the second an optional leather or cord wrapping to add padding, grip, and compression to the tsuka. When possible, the shikagawa or samegawa will fit part way under the fuchi for extra strength and integrity, but in this case stops at the boundary of the leather wrap to allow the rolled leather to sit in the groove. The style of wrapping is called gangi maki, a spiral of leather with a rolled front edge wraps from fuchi to kashira beginning and ending on the ura side. The kanji for gangi means a shape like steps, or the terraced shoreline near a seaport...the key element is that each leather turn overlaps the previous, creating characteristic the shape and a good grip.

The double channel style maedare gise allows the shikagawa to sit flush with itself on both ends of the crossover. Here the rawhide has been soaked and bound until dried in the exact shape of the tsuka.

When dry, it is removed, glued on with sokui, and bound again to dry in place overnight. Any bulges or inconsistencies in the surface are pared off with a chisel and then, because shikagawa is much smoother than samegawa, it is scored all over with small cuts to give a better tooth for the glue to bind to.

A paper pattern determines the exact shape of the wrap, this leather is scrap from a reclaimed vest. The leading edge of the leather is angled to match the wrapping pitch for the first turn, starting on the ura, and when it gets back to itself it straightens out...it takes a bit of play and adjusting the paper to get the pitch and width correct for a particular handle, and in this case I also had a limited length of leather to conform to. The location of the mekugi ana on both sides in relation to the wrap is important to consider in the paper template stage as well.

The leather is pasted with sokui (rice glue) and rolled as it is wrapped tightly around the rawhide. The ura side showing the initial crossover and the final travelling off under the kashira clip. The goal is to get the roll to overlap right next to the edge of the previous turn, so that it holds it down but does not create another ridge out in the middle somewhere.

The omote showing the rim where the kashira clip will grip. The mekugi ana was drilled with a kiri and adjusted with tapered round files before applying the leather wrapping.

references for those interested in study:
More info on samegawa wrapping via the Kashima sisters et al: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/samewrapping.html
Kensen~san's excellent diagram for gangi-maki: http://www.thejapanesesword.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=124
and some nice old examples:
http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~saka7733/17.htm
http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/10129.html (this one is a tachi so everything is reversed, remember...)

 

[JParanee]

Very cool stuff

I'm tuned in

 

[i4Marc]

First vote for sticky status. Who will second the motion?

 

[evanPGH]

First vote for sticky status. Who will second the motion?

All of Dave's WIP's could be stickied in my opinion. Top shelf work and a fascinating journey into Japanese bladesmithing.

His previous documentation of the blade process is not to be missed.

 

[Bhamster]

Thank you for this WIP. I am not sure if I am more impressed by the work or your ability to photograph and document it. Your style and method of documenting the process is every bit as skilled as the subject of that documentation.

 

[braillediver]

Your backyard is a Treasure Trove and you make it look easy.

Thank You for taking the time and sharing.

 

[islandblacksmith]

Found a yellow cedar 2x6 in the reclaimed lumber pile, used it for some furniture at our place and saved the scraps for such a time as this...nice straight, clear grain, relatively tight.

reclaimed yellow cedar.

carving the omote half first, starting from the spine and moving across to the edge...note the oil reservoir to collect excess oil and pull it away from the blade.

the edge sits against this half fully which puts any potential stress against wood rather than against the glue joint.

the edge just floats on this half...i usually carve the blade space first and then put on the habaki and work on that area last...for each half, and then work towards the final fit a little at a time.

glued with rice paste (sokui), wrapped and wedged for the night, you can see how the edge is tilted slightly into the omote half of the block.

squaring up the block to the blade opening (which, as you recall, was not square to the original block...but could be if you split it on a slight angle, i suppose) using a tracing of the seppa in place on the tang as a template.

a shot of lovely yellow cedar...carves nice, planes nice, feels nice, smells nice.

this is the eventual goal, the outline of the seppa.

using a chisel to carve the koiguchi down to meet the outline, cutting to a little inside the pencil line so it is closer to the actual size of the seppa.

roughing it down to eight sides...

removing the corners again, then lots of final adjusting to get everything right...

***i am missing about five critical photos, erased the card before i imported them...these couple are not too exciting, probably just a shot during final planing, smoothing, etc...but next post i'll really wish i had one or two of them back...