Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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- Aug 20, 2004
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I just shipped a tanto blade to a friend out on the west coast who wants to do all the wood work himself. He is an excellent woodworker.
I had written this tutorial a while back, but have not posted it yet. Hope it helps someone make a nice tanto or any style knife.
If you are using this procedure to make a knife with a guard on the blade, at the point where you install the spacers you will have to do all the outside shaping with the guardless blade just stuck in place, then assemble the guard, then glue in the tang after the outside is completely shaped and sanded.
Stacy
WOODEN SHEATH/HANDLE KNIVES TUTORIAL
This is a procedure that I came up with to make perfectly fitting and aligned sheath/handle units as done for Tanto and similar knives. The procedures will work for many other styles of wooden sheaths. Refer to the diagrams to make the directions clear.
Take the wood piece you want to use and cut it in half lengthwise, with the saw kerf just slightly ( ½ blade thickness) to one side of center (creating a thick and a thin scale).Sand the mating surfaces to 100 grit. Make sure they are flat and mate properly. All blade inletting will be done on the thicker scale.
Lay the blade on the inside of the thicker scale and draw the profile. Inlet the area until the blade is just sitting slightly proud of flush (don’t go to flush yet). You don’t need to allow for any extra length in the inlet, we will provide that later.
Mark where you want the handle/sheath line to be on the outside of the scale. Tape the two pieces together tightly and saw through the mark, to separate the handle from the sheath. The cut needs to be smooth and very straight. A good miter box and fine toothed back saw is the best way to get such a cut.
Hinge the sheath parts with Duct tape (so you can open it and close it) and carefully increase the inlet until the blade will slide in and out without any binding at all. Sand the inside of the channel smooth, if needed. You want smooth clearance without any sloppy rattling around, but no binding at all.
Take the throat area and inlet it to fit a piece of 1/16” thick vegetable tanned leather. The leather should go about ¾” into the sheath. The leather should be sitting a little high, about 1mm. Inlet the other scale for a matching piece of leather the same way. When the two sides are together the leather should make a throat hole too small for the blade to be inserted. When the leather fitting is right, glue the leather pieces in with leather weld or tight bond. Don’t use more glue than needed. Let dry for a day, trim any that sticks out , then soak the leather with alcohol to saturate it, set the blade in place, and close the two halves together. Clamp the scales tight, and let the alcohol dry up for an hour. Open the sheath up ,remove and clean the blade (don’t want to get spots on it).Saturate the leather with a good grade blade oil and clamp the side together again. Reinsert the blade, working the blade in and out. If all is well it will be a bit snug, but movable. If you can get it in and out that is where you want to leave it for now. Unclamp the sheath scales, clean the blade again, and blot up any excess oil. If you are happy with the fit of things, glue the sheath sides together permanently. Use a long thin wire to scrape out any glue after it is nearly dry. Trying to remove squeeze out from the inside too soon will smear it on the leather! A piece of welding rod with the end ground to the appropriate hook shape will scrape out any dried glue. I do it after the glue is well set, but not completely cured. Shake out the “crumbs” of glue and set the sheath assembly aside. Don’t shape it yet.
Hinge the handle scales with Duct tape and lower the inlet with your Dremmel until the scales will close and the blade is snug, but not too tight . Basically, you want a fit that almost holds the blade in ,with just enough room to allow it to be pulled out.
At this point, we need to discuss handle styles. If you are creating a tanto, and want the traditional one peg Mekugi look there should be a 3/8”hole in the blade at the spot where the mekugi will go. If you are using two or more rivets (mosaic rivets look fantastic in these knives) drill the holes in the tang oversize at the desired places . REMEMBER….Always drill the holes before Heat Treating the blade! Corby rivets are excellent choices for this style, too. Extra holes in the tang never hurt, as they provide glue connections between the scales, and lighten the blade a bit.
Back to the construction:
If the handle seems right, we are ready to drill the rivet hole(s). Place the blade in the handle inlet and mark the hole center(s). Drill an undersize pilot hole (1/8”
from the inside mark through the scale, Placing a backing block of wood under the scale to avoid tear-out. Double check that everything is lining up, and glue the handle slabs together., with the blade in place ( make sure the holes line up !). Since this is a permanent handle, glue the blade in the inlet channel. Clean off any squeeze-out where the blade exit’s the handle. Clean with acetone if you are using epoxy to glue up the scales. Make sure the blade is corectly inserted ,and set aside to dry. After curing, drill the rivet holes needed for the rivets you are using and glue in the rivets. If you are using a wooden peg to create a mekugi, drill the hole at a taper to match the tapered peg, and when the fit is perfect, apply glue, tap in peg, let dry, cut off excess.
The handle/blade assembly should now fit into the sheath with exact alignment. Don’t worry if there is a little gap between the two, or if there is a little snipe or apparent warp. That will be taken care of next.
The assembly is ready for the contact area spacers.
Make the spacers from some contrasting material that is easy to work. It should be from 1/16” minimum to ¼” maximum thickness, depending on the look desired and the material used. They should be absolutely flat and have parallel surfaces. Some choices are:
Ivory
Mokume gane
Ebony
Burl wood
Gold, Silver, Copper, Nickel, Brass, etc.
Contrasting wood with a very tight end grain
Hard leather
Slot the spacers to fit the blade. The sheath spacer should have a little clearance. The handle spacer should be as close to a perfect fit as possible, with just enough clearance to avoid scratches when installing. The excess will be ground away, so don’t worry about the piece sticking out.
Test fit the assembly assuring that all surfaces fit together as seamlessly as possible. First ,glue the handle spacer in place - again, making sure it is flush against the handle. When dry, trim the excess sticking beyond the handle scales. Now, install the sheath throat spacer . Glue it in place and align the hole carefully. Clean any squeeze-out from the throat area immediately. Allow to set a bit and when the glue is getting tacky (but not set hard) put the blade in, adjust the alignment if needed, and apply pressure from the ends to make everything tight. When the glue is set up (I use 5 minute epoxy here ) remove the blade, being careful not to disturb the spacer. Clean up any excess glue in the throat hole and from the blade with acetone. Let all glue joints cure completely. Trim away extra material from the throat spacer.
Now you have a very ugly board with a knife blade in it. On the belt sander/grinder start shaping the handle and sheath. Do this with the blade in the sheath. This assures the alignment of the handle and sheath..
Go slowly, removing a little here and a little there., until the rough shape starts to appear. If you are putting end pieces on (use the same wood/material as the spacers) san d the ends flat and glue on the end blocks now.
REMEMBER, you can always take more off….you can’t put any back on!
As the final shape gets closer, switch to finer belts, finishing with as fine a belt as you desire. Hand sand to final finish. Apply any stain and finish desired (I just buff the wood, and apply a wax at most).
A note of caution:
When you remove the blade from the sheath during the grinding stages, open the space about ¼” and blow out the grit in the joint. Always remove the blade with the sheath pointing upward when sanding. This will prevent any grit from entering the sheath and scratching the blade later. I Give the sheath a light tap (to knock out any grit) and then carefully blow out the sheath with an air gun whenever I take the knife apart when sanding.
JAPANESE BLADE TERMINOLOGY
Every part of a blade and every kind of knife has a special name in the Japanese knife world. A few commonly used ones are shown on the diagram. Here are some used in blade reference:
Nekago - Tang of the blade
Tsuka - Handle
Tsuba - Guard
Saya - Sheath
Mekugi - Peg holding blade in handle, often wooden.
Menuki - Ornamentation on handle
Hamon - Line created by differential hardening
Tanto - A knife or dirk
Aikuchi - A tanto with no guard
Wakazashi - A short sword
Katana - A long sword
O-Dachi - A very long sword
Kissaki - -The point of a blade
Same’ - Stingray skin
Ito - Cord wrapping on handles
Tsuka-make - The technique of wrapping Japanese handles
http://www.nihonto.com/abtdia.html
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/glossary.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/terms/terms.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/terms/terms2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/glossry.htm
I had written this tutorial a while back, but have not posted it yet. Hope it helps someone make a nice tanto or any style knife.
If you are using this procedure to make a knife with a guard on the blade, at the point where you install the spacers you will have to do all the outside shaping with the guardless blade just stuck in place, then assemble the guard, then glue in the tang after the outside is completely shaped and sanded.
Stacy
WOODEN SHEATH/HANDLE KNIVES TUTORIAL
This is a procedure that I came up with to make perfectly fitting and aligned sheath/handle units as done for Tanto and similar knives. The procedures will work for many other styles of wooden sheaths. Refer to the diagrams to make the directions clear.
Take the wood piece you want to use and cut it in half lengthwise, with the saw kerf just slightly ( ½ blade thickness) to one side of center (creating a thick and a thin scale).Sand the mating surfaces to 100 grit. Make sure they are flat and mate properly. All blade inletting will be done on the thicker scale.
Lay the blade on the inside of the thicker scale and draw the profile. Inlet the area until the blade is just sitting slightly proud of flush (don’t go to flush yet). You don’t need to allow for any extra length in the inlet, we will provide that later.
Mark where you want the handle/sheath line to be on the outside of the scale. Tape the two pieces together tightly and saw through the mark, to separate the handle from the sheath. The cut needs to be smooth and very straight. A good miter box and fine toothed back saw is the best way to get such a cut.
Hinge the sheath parts with Duct tape (so you can open it and close it) and carefully increase the inlet until the blade will slide in and out without any binding at all. Sand the inside of the channel smooth, if needed. You want smooth clearance without any sloppy rattling around, but no binding at all.
Take the throat area and inlet it to fit a piece of 1/16” thick vegetable tanned leather. The leather should go about ¾” into the sheath. The leather should be sitting a little high, about 1mm. Inlet the other scale for a matching piece of leather the same way. When the two sides are together the leather should make a throat hole too small for the blade to be inserted. When the leather fitting is right, glue the leather pieces in with leather weld or tight bond. Don’t use more glue than needed. Let dry for a day, trim any that sticks out , then soak the leather with alcohol to saturate it, set the blade in place, and close the two halves together. Clamp the scales tight, and let the alcohol dry up for an hour. Open the sheath up ,remove and clean the blade (don’t want to get spots on it).Saturate the leather with a good grade blade oil and clamp the side together again. Reinsert the blade, working the blade in and out. If all is well it will be a bit snug, but movable. If you can get it in and out that is where you want to leave it for now. Unclamp the sheath scales, clean the blade again, and blot up any excess oil. If you are happy with the fit of things, glue the sheath sides together permanently. Use a long thin wire to scrape out any glue after it is nearly dry. Trying to remove squeeze out from the inside too soon will smear it on the leather! A piece of welding rod with the end ground to the appropriate hook shape will scrape out any dried glue. I do it after the glue is well set, but not completely cured. Shake out the “crumbs” of glue and set the sheath assembly aside. Don’t shape it yet.
Hinge the handle scales with Duct tape and lower the inlet with your Dremmel until the scales will close and the blade is snug, but not too tight . Basically, you want a fit that almost holds the blade in ,with just enough room to allow it to be pulled out.
At this point, we need to discuss handle styles. If you are creating a tanto, and want the traditional one peg Mekugi look there should be a 3/8”hole in the blade at the spot where the mekugi will go. If you are using two or more rivets (mosaic rivets look fantastic in these knives) drill the holes in the tang oversize at the desired places . REMEMBER….Always drill the holes before Heat Treating the blade! Corby rivets are excellent choices for this style, too. Extra holes in the tang never hurt, as they provide glue connections between the scales, and lighten the blade a bit.
Back to the construction:
If the handle seems right, we are ready to drill the rivet hole(s). Place the blade in the handle inlet and mark the hole center(s). Drill an undersize pilot hole (1/8”
from the inside mark through the scale, Placing a backing block of wood under the scale to avoid tear-out. Double check that everything is lining up, and glue the handle slabs together., with the blade in place ( make sure the holes line up !). Since this is a permanent handle, glue the blade in the inlet channel. Clean off any squeeze-out where the blade exit’s the handle. Clean with acetone if you are using epoxy to glue up the scales. Make sure the blade is corectly inserted ,and set aside to dry. After curing, drill the rivet holes needed for the rivets you are using and glue in the rivets. If you are using a wooden peg to create a mekugi, drill the hole at a taper to match the tapered peg, and when the fit is perfect, apply glue, tap in peg, let dry, cut off excess.The handle/blade assembly should now fit into the sheath with exact alignment. Don’t worry if there is a little gap between the two, or if there is a little snipe or apparent warp. That will be taken care of next.
The assembly is ready for the contact area spacers.
Make the spacers from some contrasting material that is easy to work. It should be from 1/16” minimum to ¼” maximum thickness, depending on the look desired and the material used. They should be absolutely flat and have parallel surfaces. Some choices are:
Ivory
Mokume gane
Ebony
Burl wood
Gold, Silver, Copper, Nickel, Brass, etc.
Contrasting wood with a very tight end grain
Hard leather
Slot the spacers to fit the blade. The sheath spacer should have a little clearance. The handle spacer should be as close to a perfect fit as possible, with just enough clearance to avoid scratches when installing. The excess will be ground away, so don’t worry about the piece sticking out.
Test fit the assembly assuring that all surfaces fit together as seamlessly as possible. First ,glue the handle spacer in place - again, making sure it is flush against the handle. When dry, trim the excess sticking beyond the handle scales. Now, install the sheath throat spacer . Glue it in place and align the hole carefully. Clean any squeeze-out from the throat area immediately. Allow to set a bit and when the glue is getting tacky (but not set hard) put the blade in, adjust the alignment if needed, and apply pressure from the ends to make everything tight. When the glue is set up (I use 5 minute epoxy here ) remove the blade, being careful not to disturb the spacer. Clean up any excess glue in the throat hole and from the blade with acetone. Let all glue joints cure completely. Trim away extra material from the throat spacer.
Now you have a very ugly board with a knife blade in it. On the belt sander/grinder start shaping the handle and sheath. Do this with the blade in the sheath. This assures the alignment of the handle and sheath..
Go slowly, removing a little here and a little there., until the rough shape starts to appear. If you are putting end pieces on (use the same wood/material as the spacers) san d the ends flat and glue on the end blocks now.
REMEMBER, you can always take more off….you can’t put any back on!
As the final shape gets closer, switch to finer belts, finishing with as fine a belt as you desire. Hand sand to final finish. Apply any stain and finish desired (I just buff the wood, and apply a wax at most).
A note of caution:
When you remove the blade from the sheath during the grinding stages, open the space about ¼” and blow out the grit in the joint. Always remove the blade with the sheath pointing upward when sanding. This will prevent any grit from entering the sheath and scratching the blade later. I Give the sheath a light tap (to knock out any grit) and then carefully blow out the sheath with an air gun whenever I take the knife apart when sanding.
JAPANESE BLADE TERMINOLOGY
Every part of a blade and every kind of knife has a special name in the Japanese knife world. A few commonly used ones are shown on the diagram. Here are some used in blade reference:
Nekago - Tang of the blade
Tsuka - Handle
Tsuba - Guard
Saya - Sheath
Mekugi - Peg holding blade in handle, often wooden.
Menuki - Ornamentation on handle
Hamon - Line created by differential hardening
Tanto - A knife or dirk
Aikuchi - A tanto with no guard
Wakazashi - A short sword
Katana - A long sword
O-Dachi - A very long sword
Kissaki - -The point of a blade
Same’ - Stingray skin
Ito - Cord wrapping on handles
Tsuka-make - The technique of wrapping Japanese handles
http://www.nihonto.com/abtdia.html
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/glossary.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/terms/terms.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/terms/terms2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/glossry.htm
