hello all,
Here is my second knife so far..

Pretty. Can't wait to see what you use for a handle. Please picture something to reference for size too.

Thanks
Phil

another pic, it has since been glued and now im waiting to get a go with the stainless mig at work so i can weld on the butt cap (the stick tang goes through a hole in the stainless because i had no access to a tap and die set)
The blade is W1 by the way and the fittings are 316 stainless. The handle is called Kwila, it is a Papua New Guinea hardwood. I cant wait to start shaping the handle, ive been busy doing long hours at work.

That is looking great can't wait to see the final product

What blade material did you use? I noticed that in the first picture, the end was threaded.

its made from a file (w1 i belive), i had more of a stick tang happening but then it melted off when i wasnt keeping a close enough eye on it so i used a flattened out bolt to make up the rest of the tang. I had intended to use the thread to tighten it all on but never did. so yeah, hopefully it wont weaken it too much as the join is in the handle. i dont think this knife will get used very much ;)

I had the smae melting problem with my forge when I made my first attempt at a railroad spike knife. I actually could not believe that my forge had gotten hot enough to do that! But I was much more careful at the next attempt

I have studied that knife from japan and noticed that a tanto has a pin or 2 that holds the handles together. Then wraped with a woven cord. The pins are tapered to be wedged into each side of the handel.The only need to have 2 small holes drilled into the tang of the blade. Making a snug fit is the most demanding part of construction of the handel. I perfer the original way of making the handel, It makes the Tanto more authentic if peroid construction methods are used,and I think make the tanto more valuable.
Having a son thats in the navy that married a lovely Japanese Gal, I was persented with a Tanto, Made of Tamhagane steel, It is constructed just like a Katana handle,the way the Japanese do. This blade is priceless to me and Ive sent many pictures of the blade to other web sites that judge swords and tanto's. They place the value of the finished blade at around 1000.00 U.S. dollars.Tamhagane is only sold to licensed blade makers, it cant be bought and sold in the open market. Making the tatara and manning it takes days to do, Only one Major corperation in Japan still does that,that I know of.
I suggest you look at the many web sites that sell and explain the art of the construction styles used. Dont get me wrong you have made a beautiful blade and have a very welll made knife. There is only one like it and it's a proud effort. I'm just tring to give you ideas here and not tring to knock your efforts, that is not my intention.. A very Nice example in deed!

can you post a pic of your tanto Hammbone? I gave my friend a japanese sword making book for his birthday that i plan on borrowing Im quite new to bladesmithing and i'd it shows. this knife is still a lesson in all things bladesmithing for me. but i hope to make it pretty enough to give to my friend. Ive seen the start of a documentary of how they make Tamhagane steel, very labour intensive and hot process. No wonder its near imposible to get. Hey chuckster, the hot metal probably got too close to where the air comes out and oxidised just like with an Oxy/Acetylene torch.. im pretty sure thats what happened with mine.

What did you use to get that mirror finish??? Me and my son have each made a knife, but even though we could get them to shine really nice, there are still a few sanding lines visible.

Mutt

i used alot of elbow grease and sand paper.. i think the finest grade i used was 1200.. i also used a buffing pad hooked up to my drill with a bit of cutting compound, it really did the trick to finish it off. I have gone back and redone the whole polish because of a few little lines.. they were driving me crazy. Dont move on to a finer grade sand paper until every single imperfection is sanded out is what i discovered the hard way.

Oh ****, mine was sanded with 220 on an orbital sander. It then went to my bench grinder. I have a hard cloth wheel on the left and a soft cloth wheel on the right. I have three different kinds of rouge from rough to fine. I guess I need to go back to the sand paper and try some 400 600 and 800. Here is how it turned out ..... even with just using 220 and the buffing wheels .........





I am hoping for better though. It doesn't look bad until you look at it really close. But, I was really hoping for a better finish.

Mutt

Edited December 5, 200916 yr by mod07
language

that will come up brilliant if you use a few more grades of paper b4 hitting it with the polishing mops. i had lines like that too.

Yes jack I can give you a Japanese web site, My pictures are so hi in resolution they wont fit on this forum. My daughter in law translates for me, or I wouldnt be able to make much of the web site either. Here's the site toyokuni.net There are many blades there. Sorry I cant be much more help.. HB

Edited December 5, 200916 yr by mod07

toyokuni.net is the site where my knife came from.My pictures are so hight resolution that they wont fit on here.

Edited December 5, 200916 yr by mod07

hey, here is the finished knife. Ive had it done for a while but havent been able to load JPEG to this website so here is the link! Picasa Web Albums .

Edited December 5, 200916 yr by mod07

looks good:)

Not to bash the japanese, but I like the handle style used here more than the original. Tradition more often hinders progress than helps it. Anyway, that's a beautiful knife, and if I had understood the explanation of how you polished it, I would mimic you. However, I'm a novice, so I've just learned to deal with my ineptitude.