WIP turkish twist tanto.

Dan Seaver

Dan Seaver

KNIFE MAKER
turkish twist tanto

My forge called it quits last week so I haven't been able to work on damascus orders. To help fill my extra time when I'm not working on rebuilding the forge I've started working on a tanto I had kicking around.

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Its just in the rough stage now but I'm excited. Its made from the first bar or turkish twist damascus that I made last year.
 
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The first tsuka I made I cut wrong and after I made the second tsuka I decided that I wanted to go with a straight tsuka rather than an hour glass shape.

This along with the general lack of good information about the tools and methods to make fittings and parts such as the fuchi and kashira has made me decide to make this more like a tutorial to help fill in the information gap.


After cutting the scales and making them perfectly flat with the surface grinder, I start by tracing the nakago and then using a chisel to punch in the shape about .25mm inside of the tracing.
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Next I use a 1/4" chisel held at a 45 degree angle to create a plunge at the edge of the tracing. I continue this all the way around and keep the chisel at 45 degrees until the desired depth. Once I reach the desired depth I start adjusting the angle of the chisel to create a single bevel between the two edges. Once this is achived I insert the nakago and check the fit on both halves and then the whole. If the fit is good I drill the hole for the mekugi and glue the tuska with the blade in place with wood glue.
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Once the glue has dried for 24 hours I remove the tsuka. I like a very tight fit so typically the first few removals will require a tack hammer but after 10-20 times the tsuka fits the nakago very well and can be removed by hand without danger if you do it correctly.

Thats all for now. Hopefully the tsuka, tsuba, fuchi, and kashira will be done next week.
 
Thanks Murph, hopefully I don't make any major mistakes on this one.

I've been sick for a week and a half so when I had the energy I worked on the fuchi and kashira. Once I'm feeling better this will have to wait until I have my backlist of damascus orders finished.

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The fuchi is almost finished and I just stamped the kashira an hour ago. Once these are finished I'm gonna leave a forged texture to them but I will pickle them in acid and patina them with rokusho and copper sulfate.
 
Very nice work Dan! It will be nice to see it finished.

One question. The rayskin handle wrap, how did you deal with the seam? On most I've seen, there is simply an overlap that is hidden by the braiding... I've not seen how one of these without the over-wrap/braiding is done.
 
Thanks!

This one is going to be wrapped in silk ito. So its simply going to hide the seam under the ito.

I've never tried making one without the wrap since the seam would bother me too much.
 
Thanks Dan. I've got a guy wanting a wooden scabbard covered with rayskin and am trying to figure out how to deal with the seam...
 
Ghezell, well I can only think of two ways to do it. The first would be to make an overlapping wrap but put the overlap on the side that will face in when it is being worn. You could also make the ends meet perfectly, to do that I would make a large file guide and use an 120 grit belt to even up the edges for a flawless seam.

I finished up the tanto other than making a new mekugi, adding the decorative file marks, and signing the nakago.

I might remake the saya since when I glued it up the parts moved a little and when I adjusted the opening it became a little loose. It still has a good grip on the habaki as long as it is inserted at a slight ccw angle. :les:
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The best way to hide seam is use a big pair of pinking shears it makes an almost invisible line . I learned this from my old buddy Ben at japanese swords ltd . Murph knows him also ,he is very good with samekawa skin . nice blade by the way !!! Bubba
 
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