A Takedown San Mai Kwaiken

[TK Steingass]

Greetings All,

I forged this San Mai billet at the New England School of Metalwork class taught by Ben Seward. The handle is wrapped with .021" stainless wire and all the fittings are 410 stainless - the spacers on each side of the handle are coined. The wooden sheath is wrapped with black vegetable tanned bridle leather and the stud is forged to a teardrop shape. Magnets are inlaid into the leather lined wooden sheath to hold the knife securely yet allow for one hand deployment. 10" OAL, 5 1/2" BL. Since it's the first kwaiken I've made, I decided to incorporate takedown construction. All comments welcome.

V/R,

TK

 

[3fifty7]

Very nice.
What is the San Mai composition?

 

[TK Steingass]

Very nice.
What is the San Mai composition?

1095 Core - 410 stainless clad

 

[d762nato]

That's a great looking knife, your doing it all now days.

 

[Sam Wilson]

That's beautiful. I think the wire wrap combined with the San Mai give it a wicked look. Very nicely done!

 

[Dusty One]

Very Nicely Done !

 

[Dawkind]

That’s superb....love the style.

 

[SharpByCoop]

^^^ This was fun!

It all worked so well together, and his supplied tool unscrewed the lonnnng nut and all the indexed components separated precisely.

Play with a layout, shoot it again, and then reassemble.

One part photographer, one part mechanic, three parts COOL!

Great job, Tim. Thank you for the opportunity.

 

[TK Steingass]

Thanks for all the kind feedback fellas.

 

[R APPLEBY]

Nice one Tim

 

[sheathmaker]

Damn!, Tim, that is ultra nice, beautiful, original, and one of the only pieces in that genre I ever thought "man, I wouldn't mind owning that".

Suffice to say, you did good.....real good.

Paul

 

[john april]

thats a lot of work ! one to be proud of.

 

[Ben Seward]

Very nice, Tim! The San Mai is from 1095 and 410 stainless though...you couldn't make 15N20 look like that

 

[TK Steingass]

Very nice, Tim! The San Mai is from 1095 and 410 stainless though...you couldn't make 15N20 look like that

Thanks Ben for the correction- we call this a “Senior Moment”.

 

[joeshredd]

Awesome on many levels!
IIRC, the "original" Tanto" was a take-down of sorts.... This is the modern version, and executed just as well as the Japanese masters using the mediums of their times!
And all's I can come up with is "Awesome!"

 

[stew]

Wow!

Very striking. First time I've seen a tanto done as a takedown in this way and I like it!

The detail of how the pins are very distinctly laid out to make no mistake when reassembling is smart.

 

[Scott Hanson]

Great looking knife and sheath Tim, a lot of work went into that piece.