Sunzumari Tanto in Samenuri Aikuchi Koshirae.

 

If I got my fancy Japanese sword terms right, this means "undersized tanto in guardless lacquered ray skin mounting".


This is the first tanto I made from scratch, blade and mounting, including heat treatment. All more or less traditionally constructed (not counting things like use of modern spray lacquer and non-Japanese blade heat treatment).

The vital statistics are:
blade length (nagasa) 3 1/4"
width (at machi) 3/4"
thickness (at mune-machi) 1/8"
handle (tsuka) 3 1/4"
total length in saya 8".



Blade:

The blade is 1095 steel, differentially heat treated (the hamon is faint but visible in the pictures below, though I did just a light lemon juice etch to bring it out).
I did a totally modern heat treatment (partial quench in oil and tempering at 400-425 F) and polishing. Fitted with simple copper habaki.



Handle (tsuka) and Saya (scabbard):

Both are constructed in the same way (more or less traditional). Core is made of poplar wood and covered in same (ray skin), black lacquered and sanded (flat on saya, with most  texture left on the grip). 
All handle and scabbard fittings (and the handle pin - mekugi) are made of black buffalo horn. 
Everything is lacquered with a final layer of clear lacquer.

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