First japanese tanto WIP

C

cbr900son

Well-Known Member
Well decided to do a traditional japanese style tanto. This one will be a Aikuchi Hira-Zukuri. Now im new to the terms but I think that is correct. If I mess up on some of the termanology feel free to correct me. I know this project will be a longer one then my usual knives so decided to make a wooden template.

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This helped me check where I wanted the habaki and determine the length I wanted. This will be a bit longer then most tantos at 10"

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Blank cut out and and ready to go

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Mune shape done. Was nervous since it was so small and had to do some testing on paint stirrers to get the look I wanted.

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I think its real close to around 20 degrees bevels

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Starting to grind. This blade has a slight convex shape to it from what I understand.

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Tapering toward the tip as I grind

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Time to sand and I want this as close to perfect as I can get so I busted these out

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Almost perfect 120 grit now to 180 or 220!

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Sooo much sanding to do lol

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I work this week but will post pics as I go. I just hope I dont mess anythign up. Did a decent amount of research before starting but there was way more to it then i ever thought.
 
hey - that looks nice.
I hope you don't mind a helpful hint - I would either put the blade on a board longer than the actual knife so the point doesn't stick out or turn the vise parallel to the workbench. You can impale yourself on the setup you have. Seriously, on trip and you will commit sepukku.

I am impressed with the accuracy of the filing on the mune, by the way.
kevin
 
kevin - the professor said:
hey - that looks nice.
I hope you don't mind a helpful hint - I would either put the blade on a board longer than the actual knife so the point doesn't stick out or turn the vise parallel to the workbench. You can impale yourself on the setup you have. Seriously, on trip and you will commit sepukku.

I am impressed with the accuracy of the filing on the mune, by the way.
kevin
Click to expand...

You know after those pics I bumped my hand on the point which started to get sharp and did just that. cut a new peice of wood to cover the length of the blade. Thank you about the mune. It is very rough and I need to sand it further and worried about rounding it off even tho I saw a few tantos with a rounded mune I prefer the sharp angle like this one.
 
UPDATE

So got the sanding to 220 which is where I stop for heat treat then started the tedious task of sanding the mune. I had to be careful other wise I would round it off.

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Gonna use this for my hamon clay. The gun kote is for another project.

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All my knives are handmade with my blod, sweat, and umm blood... lol

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Looking very good so far.

This might be a good time to make a suggestion, though. If you are going for a traditional handle, you will want the tang to have the same taper (blade bevel) as the blade, otherwise you will have a most difficult time with the habaki...
 
GHEzell said:
Looking very good so far.

This might be a good time to make a suggestion, though. If you are going for a traditional handle, you will want the tang to have the same taper (blade bevel) as the blade, otherwise you will have a most difficult time with the habaki...
Click to expand...
You know I was looking into that more today and started thinking the same thing. Wasnt sure since I saw blades with both the handle un beveled and others with the blade bevel going straight into the handle. This is kind of a learning process for me also. I want to do the best I can tho.
 
The tang traditionally tapers in all directions, thickness included... the primary reason for this is for fitting the habaki, which slips on from the end of the tang. Having everything tapered makes this easier. Although the cross-section is different, maybe this image will help illustrate... page.jpg

Are you planning to use clay in the quench to achieve a hamon? Kevin the professor is the man to pick the brain of, as he does a lot of this kind of thing...:3:
 
OK got the tang tapered and looking good. Now normally I drill the holes in the tang before I heat treat but how did the japanese do it? Is there anything wrong with doing it before? Or do I wait and do it during the saya process?
 
Drilled the tang and heat treated the knife and getting ready to sand and hopefully a nice hamon will appear!
 
Well looks like the heat treat failed. File test isnt quite right. I think this tanto is too big for my 2 brick forge since its pretty long with a 10" blade. I might see if I can find someone whith a bigger forge who wouldnt mind heat treating it for me.
 
cbr900son said:
OK got the tang tapered and looking good. Now normally I drill the holes in the tang before I heat treat but how did the japanese do it? Is there anything wrong with doing it before? Or do I wait and do it during the saya process?
Click to expand...

The japanese traditionally punch hole in tang with hot tool during forging. I sometimes wait until the saya process to drill it . The tang is usually not that hard because a thick layer of clay is applied to tang during HT. It can be done either way ......... Bubba
 
bubba-san said:
The japanese traditionally punch hole in tang with hot tool during forging. I sometimes wait until the saya process to drill it . The tang is usually not that hard because a thick layer of clay is applied to tang during HT. It can be done either way ......... Bubba
Click to expand...
Good info to know! Going to a hammer in oct 1st and the guys there are gonna help me heat treat it since my little 2 brick forge isnt big enough.
 
Well went to the hammer in and heat treated the blade then sanded to 1000 and wasnt seeing a hamon so did a quick etch and saw its too close to the edge for my liking. I put the clay on about 2/3 of the way to the edge and after talkign to a few people they recommended 1/2 way. Blade still looks ok and Im gonna finish up the tasnto so I can get some practice on the other things like the habaki etc

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Is re-HT not an option? You may have posted your location earlier and I missed it (it is not in your profile), but maybe there is somebody close by who can help out. Did you post the steel type anywhere?... I couldn't find that either. That hamon is much to close to the edge for my liking... it seems a shame to waste a bunch of finish work on a knife with a bad HT when that HT could so easily be salvaged.
Erin
 
William you're welcome to come up and we can redo it if you'd like. I'm about 2 hours from Lafayette. If you're interested PM me or call me and I'll tell you how to get here.

Darrin
 
Im in lafayette LA and its 1095. Darrin I never played with hamons much. Is it redoable? For some reason I thought once you did a hamon that was it.
 
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