Japanese inspired. Blackwater Tanto WIP

[bculberson]

Originally posted by D.Ellis:


The quench pic didn't turn out........

Personally I would just blame the camera man for that!  

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by bculberson:
 

Originally posted by D.Ellis:


The quench pic didn't turn out........

Personally I would just blame the camera man for that!      [/b]

Don't feel too bad Bruce it's actually kinda cool   :D  
Just so everyone can see what's going on here, those are my gloves on the left......the glowing spine of the blade and cloud of smoke in the glow of my headlamp.
   

Too darn cold to do any accurate grinding today, so I worked on the artwork for the guard. Here's the idea I'm working on......it may change a bit yet, but this is the basic plan right now. Will be a challenge to pull this off without goofing it up. Been a while since I did very much cutting with a gravers chisel. I'll do a fairly indepth set of pics for this in case anyone else is interested in trying it out. Will not begin cutting chips until the guard is fit to the blade, and the blade needs to be mostly finished first, so it's not going to be for a few days yet.

 

That pic is huge, the guard will be about 2 5/8" tall. For scale, the largest "bubble", is right at 1/4" wide.

Darcy  

[D.Ellis]

Still cold today so I just sucked it up, and finish ground it anyway.......in a couple of sessions with a hand warming break in between.
Time for some test cutting.
Slicing paper.

 

Chopping dry pine.

 

ok so far, now for some rougher treatment.
Chopping moose antler.

 

So far so good. Now to test the tip strength and penetration........I actually threw it at this 3/8 inch OSB......results.

 

It was sticking out the back about 1/2 inch.

[D.Ellis]

Now to get really silly. Stabbed as hard as I dared (with no guard) into this old 80's vintage truck door.

 

Here're a couple pics of the tip.......no damage........and the tip is not real thick, that's a standard field point.

 

 

After the chopping, it still would slice paper, but not quite as easily. I am pretty happy with the performance of this blade. Now time to purdy her up.

Darcy  

[tomsm44]

If you're ever attacked by a moose with a pine club driving an old truck wearing paper armor...........   :D  

I really like how thoroughly you test your knives.  It's a good feeling to see something you made perform to that high of a standard.  Well done.  Everything from this point on is just for show.

Matt

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by tomsm44:
If you're ever attacked by a moose with a pine club driving an old truck wearing paper armor...........    :D    

Matt

This is CANADA! Gotta be ready for ANYTHING EH!   :D

Thanks Matt. They need to perform........if they look good too that's a welcome bonus. Much like...........well, I'll let you fill in the blanks there!  

Darcy  

[tomsm44]

I started to use that example too.  And like you, I decided against it.

[D.Ellis]

might be a while before I can make further progress on this one. I am helping guide a lynx hunt for a week, so this one will have to sit idle until I get that finished.
Darcy  

[Ibitengu]

All I can say is, WOW!
Great inspiration to up my training to be worthy of this knife.

[Brock]

are you going to give it a traditional tanto tip with the angled upsweep or leave it as is for more of a trade knife appearance?

knife looks awesome...wish I had some skills like that...all I can do to turn hickory into a bow.  

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by Brock:
are you going to give it a traditional tanto tip with the angled upsweep or leave it as is for more of a trade knife appearance?

knife looks awesome...wish I had some skills like that...all I can do to turn hickory into a bow.    

This is actually a fairly traditional blade shape for a tanto, the sharp angled tip was much less common. The term tanto in north America has come to mean that sharp angled tip, but the Japanese version was not usually like that.
Thanks for the question, and the kudo's.


Darcy  

[D.Ellis]

Originally posted by Ibitengu:
All I can say is, WOW!
Great inspiration to up my training to be worthy of this knife.

Thanks my friend, it should be able to handle a boar's shield I would think.      
Darcy    

[Brock]

Originally posted by D.Ellis:
 

Originally posted by Brock:
are you going to give it a traditional tanto tip with the angled upsweep or leave it as is for more of a trade knife appearance?

knife looks awesome...wish I had some skills like that...all I can do to turn hickory into a bow.      

This is actually a fairly traditional blade shape for a tanto, the sharp angled tip was much less common. The term tanto in north America has come to mean that sharp angled tip, but the Japanese version was not usually like that.
Thanks for the question, and the kudo's.


Darcy      [/b]

actually one of my favorite asian influenced blade styles is the Shinbu which I guess was considered a tactical design...I picked one up before I went overseas my last time before retiring....considered a tanto similar to your design and not the angular design common today.  Great work.

[D.Ellis]

Thanks for that Brock. I just looked up "shinbu"........cool blade style.
Darcy  

[D.Ellis]

Back at it. Sanded and etched......ready for fittings. The hammer marked flats will be darker when I am done. Blade will get one more etch and some blue and polish before final assembly, but it is time to start the guard.
 

 

Darcy  

[D.Ellis]

Got the guard done. Only took 2 days   :rolleyes:  I am a bit rusty with the engraving chisels. I was going to take pics of the process, but between struggling to not mess it up and thinking of how I'd make a demo understandable, I decided this was not the time to attempt it. All of this was done with hammer and chisels of various shapes.
Finally getting close to completion on this one.......a few more days should wrap it up.

 

Darcy  

[Bobby Urban]

Holy patience and talent!  That is some true "one off" work there on that guard.  How are you holding it that it does not damage the effort already put forth.  Really cool.

[gudspelr]

Holy crap-that guard is amazing. I vote that you at some point do a WIP or something on how you do that. It looks fantastic  

Jeremy

[D.Ellis]

Thanks guys. I will try to put together a bit of a demo thread at some point on how I do the relief carving.
Darcy  

[srtben]

This is coming together awesome Darcy! And that guard, beautiful carving, I love Koi!