Cold Steel O-Tanto

Breaking down the O-Tanto to get an idea of what needs to be done.  Sadly, everything was horrible. I purchased it for a project blade, so I wasn't that surprised at what I found.  The only usable piece was the blade, habaki (which needed adjustments to fit right to the nakago) and the saya.  The original dragon motif tsuba had the nakago-ana shaped too small and instead of fitting it correctly, they simply hammered it on and then hammered the tsuka core on.  This split the core and made it VERY difficult to remove the tsuba from this blade.

I starting on the new tsuba, I shaped an oval blank from some mild steel.  I wanted a smaller mokku design and I prefer a slim tsuba to the more chunky style you see on production blades. The aesthetic of this pleases my eyes and I feel makes for a more graceful looking blade, rather than having a thick blade, thick tsuba, etc.  If you notice, you can see it has a slight teardrop shape, a little wider on top than bottom.  I am pleased with this shape and it fits the design nicely.  Mokku is a tricky design that is harder to do than it looks, there are subtle shaping issues to deal with to make it look correct. not just four rounded notches in a piece of steel.

I made the fuchi from buffalo horn, I really love working with that material, it has its own nuances and can chip while working, so you have to be careful and make allowances for this. I made new seppa from brass and fashioned a new tsuka core from poplar. The tsuka core is very tight and is in 'preliminary' stages of being shaped, so its still a bit 'chubby'. I left some meat on it to allow for shaping but needed to test the overall fit. I Will make a kashira from buffalo horn as well.

I added a cold forged copper kojiri to enhance the plain saya and provide a little more protection to it.  This was made from thin sheet of copper and fit to the saya by hammering.  I was really pleased with the patina the copper took on and am going to leave it like this instead of finishing it in a uniform bright copper.  I really do love the way copper turns colors as it ages and is exposed to the elements.

I have been talking with Henry A. and I think I am going to try a version of one of his string wraps instead of ito-maki. I like really like the design of the Cold Steel O-Tanto is a beefy blade and ends up looking more like a tiny wakizashi instead of your typical Tanto.  Cold Steel makes some very tough through hardened blades and this should turn out nicely.  After finding the right thread to experiment with (cotton 3 strand) I dyed it a medium green color and set it aside to dry for a few days.  I finished shaping the tsuka core and drilled the mekugi-ana and test fit everything.   I made the kashira from buffalo horn and shaped it to follow the contours of the tsuka.  I wrapped the thread onto the core and secured it with very thin super glue.  This bonded the thread to the core and created a very strong tsuka.  I fitted the kashira, tweaked the fit on the rest of the fittings and attached the menuki.  The menuki are stock from Cold Steel but I cleaned them up and antiqued them a little.  I welded a pin to the back so I could fix it to the tsuka. 

I finished the saya and crafted a different kojiri from copper.  I wanted something a little more decorative and made it a little longer than the first one.  The only thing that will change is the sageo once I find a more suitable matching color.  Thanks again for looking at my projects.

Finished!