Foster-Gregory Collab Tanto - "The Super Secret Seventh Blade" COOP PHOTO ADDED

Matthew Gregory

Chief Executive in charge of Entertainment
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
5,997
A few months back, I posted a thread about six slick blades me and ABS Mastersmith Burt Foster made. We made SIX of them, with the express intention of having all of them as darn-near identical as we could muster, using Burt's sweet forged San Mai with a carbon steel core and stainless cladding, and my handle wrap.


Because we're crafty (and sneaky!), we held back one single blade. A Super Secret Seventh Blade - for a super secret project!

Using Burt's trick stainless san mai, made to identical dimensions to the previous six (and, in fact, forged at exactly the same time), we opted to do a stick tang build to doll and sass it all up.

The oversize handle is made with a TeroTuf core, and covered in hand-laid carbon fiber cloth. Countless layers of resin were applied to build up and fill the cloth so that it could be wet sanded and polished to a mirror finish. Over a month went into this process, but the result is a shimmery, nearly chatoyant gleam that appears as though its under thirty feet of crystal clear water:

2020042415132960--4988501768369400506-IMG_7017-X3.jpg






While all of that was happening, work on the tsuba and seppa could move forward. The seppa is a simple stainless steel oval, and features a bit of 'neko gaki' or 'cat scratch' pattern (personally, I think it looks more like raindrops, which its been described as, too, but it's Japanese, and it's their term, not mine, so that's what I call it). The tsuba is made of some of Matt Diskin's wonderful 'low void' aerospace carbon fiber sheet:


2020042415184439-3127781691461113276-IMG_7052-X3.jpg




Once it was all assembled, the carbon fiber tsukaito could be applied, along with a gold-plated sterling silver 'sakura' or cherry blossom menuki. Here are the final results:


2020042414555164-3742759458145762496-IMG_4726-X3.jpg



2020042414555164-6472869727751607434-IMG_4728-X3.jpg



2020042414555164--6846558230100250986-IMG_4727-X3.jpg







As mentioned above, the blade is made of Burt's forged San Mai, .250" thick, with an 80CrV2 core and 410 stainless cladding. Blade is 9.5" long, and the overall length is 18". Weight is 17 ounces, and the point of balance is just forward of the tsuba.







Please pardon the shitty phone photography. The knife is en route to my favorite pro photographer, and I'll follow up here with his results when I receive them. Thanks for looking!
 
Very nice, at first I did a double take at the rectangular slot in your seppa/tsuba, but then realize that you have a plunge further out.
Is there a fuchi on the other side, or does the wrap go right up to the tsuba?
 
Thanks! No fuchi. No habaki, no kashira. Carbon fiber lace goes right to the tsuba, as does the handle.

I don’t do ‘traditional’ builds at all. Just not my thing. In fact, nothing I do can possibly be construed as ‘Japanese’. I merely appropriate design elements that appeal to me from them, and anywhere else that appeals to me, and try to make them my own. :p

Very nice, at first I did a double take at the rectangular slot in your seppa/tsuba, but then realize that you have a plunge further out.
Is there a fuchi on the other side, or does the wrap go right up to the tsuba?
 
Thanks! No fuchi. No habaki, no kashira. Carbon fiber lace goes right to the tsuba, as does the handle.

I don’t do ‘traditional’ builds at all. Just not my thing. In fact, nothing I do can possibly be construed as ‘Japanese’. I merely appropriate design elements that appeal to me from them, and anywhere else that appeals to me, and try to make them my own. :p
I like it a lot and could see that there is no kashira, I just wasn't sure about the junction where one might find a fuchi.
 
^^^ MAN! So good looking. Strong, and yet traditionally comforting. Bold And beautiful...

...I'm talking about Max. :D :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

About the knife....

Serious, it's SO cool. Burt's steel is OMG, and the combination of old and new gives it LIFE. Bravo to you both.
 
You did pretty OK considering it's only your seventh knife (and you still needed help with it), but you are showing some improvement. Good effort and way to stay focused.
















:D:D:D (Really, it's Freakin' Stunning... WELL DONE to you All!)
 
Back
Top