Description
A reclaimed steel blade hand forged in a charcoal fire, water quenched with clay, and sharpened with waterstones. This diy blade is the size and style of the Tools for Satoyama Mountain Kotanto. Design and order a complete knife here.
The wider profile of the mountain style kotanto is inspired by a kamakura sword and has a more deeply curved tip (fukura-tsuku) and shorter drop point.
Custom design a complete knife here.
The temper of these high carbon steel blades is left quite hard in order to hold a keen edge for tasks such as wood carving and fine work. This particular combination of steel and heat treatment is well suited to users who require a good edge and are willing to take care of it. They are intended to serve well as carving, whittling, bushcraft, or utility knives.
The double tapered tang is constructed in a similar manner to a Japanese sword requiring only a single bamboo peg to hold the knife assembly together. In addition to the sense of beautiful simplicity, this design allows the knife to be taken apart for cleaning, polishing, detailed cutting tasks, or major resharpening work.
The blade measurements are around 5″ or 6″ long with a tang length of about 3.5″-4″. The spine at the munemachi is usually around 1/4″ thick. As this is a made-to-order item, there will be some variation, please allow 4-6 weeks depending on the current project load at the forge.
Blade Finish
Choose unfinished (as-tempered) to set your own edge geometry or choose from three different levels of finish, hammer texture for character and utility, kaji togi to roughly reveal the hamon, or polished for a smooth classy look.
- as tempered – no finishing (hardened edge will need 1-2mm removed)
- tsuchime – hammer texture (as-forged surface shows marks of hammer and fire)
- kaji togi – stone finish (blade is smoothed with files and a coarse stone before hardening)
- togi – polished (blade is smoothed with fine stones after hardening)
Approximate Specifications
Nagasa (blade length): 130-150mm
Motokasane (blade thickness): 5-7mm
Motohaba (blade width): 28-32mm
Sori (curve): uchizori
Nakago (tang): 90-100mm, kurijiri, single mekugi-ana
Mei (signature): hot stamped kamon
Potential Materials: reclaimed file steel, reclaimed harrow tooth steel
Process
