The first completed Rover kotanto of 2025, a charcoal-forged 1965 Series 2a Land Rover leaf spring steel blade, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword but is finished in the simple and humble style of farming and foresting tools of centuries ago.
Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated fields and the mountain wilds in Japan. Historically they provided soil nutrients, firewood, edible plants, mushrooms, fish, and game, and supported many local industries and crafts such as farming, timber construction, and charcoal making. The interaction of forest, arable land, wetlands, and streams are an important component of the satoyama landscape.
The subtle and rustic appearance of hammer marks on the blade and hand-carved wooden handle finished with 100% natural tung oil made from tree nuts—a beautiful grain reminiscent of lacquered hardwood furniture. A hand crafted tool for adventure that would be very much at home in the field, forest, or mountain landscape.
Forged from a reclaimed 1965 Series 2a Land Rover leaf spring, the wider blade profile of the field style kotanto is based on a kamakura sword and has more pronounced belly with slight drop point. The temper of this high carbon steel blade has been left relatively hard in order to hold a keen edge for tasks such as wood carving and hand 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.
The tang is constructed in a similar manner to a Japanese sword requiring only a single horn 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 handle and scabbard are carved from tropical hardwood and finished in multiple layers of 100% natural tung oil to highlight the colour and grain. A forged brass seppa accents the handle and the removable peg is carved from water buffalo horn.
The blade is just over 3.75″ long, the overall length is 8″, and 9.25″ when sheathed. The spine at the munemachi is about 4mm thick.
Katachi (geometry): hira-zukuri, kaku-mune (squared spine)
Hamon (edge pattern): rising suguha
Boshi (tip pattern): maru
Nakago (tang): futsu, kuri-jiri, one mekugi-ana
Mei (signature): mumei (unsigned)
Koshirae (mounting): satoyama aikuchi style, issaku
Materials: reclaimed Series 2a Land Rover leaf spring steel, brass doorplate, tropical hardwood, 100% natural tung oil, buffalo horn
Process
This knife was forged and underwent yaki-ire at the museum forge. It began as a section of leaf spring from a 1965 Series 2a Land Rover, which seems to be listed as 60sicr8 steel and has not changed formulation since 1948 when the very first series 1 Rover was built.
Ready for a day at the museum forge, the old 1966 Rover still earning its keep hauling tools overland at almost 60 years running (and on its original springs).
A load of several hundred pounds of tools ready for a day at the forge.
Opening the forge and preparing to unload the tools and steel.
This knife began as a section of leaf spring from a 1965 Series 2a Land Rover, nearing the end of its useful service life on a vehicle that was undergoing restoration.
A cold chisel was used to separate the leaves of the spring.
The leaves are cleaned of the deepest pitting, cut and sorted by size and condition before forging to shape on the anvil.
The charcoal swordsmith style forge with hand-powered wooden box bellows is used to heat the steel as it is forged.
View across the forge and out to the forest between heats on a cool and cloudy spring morning.
After a few hours the steel has been forged almost entirely to its final shape using a hand hammer.
A small amount of hand filing forms the notches and cleans up the spine and tang, completing the profile.
After some final straightening and filing the steel is ready for hardening with a traditional swordsmithing technique. A mixture of natural clay, charcoal powder, and polishing stone powder is prepared with water.
Adding the thin clay layer to delay the cooling of the body of the blade during yaki-ire (hardening).
After the clay dries, the steel is heated carefully in the forge to the lowest possible red-hot critical temperature and plunged into water to cool quickly.
It has survived the stressful process of yaki-ire. Due to the differential cooling rates the strip along the edge is now very hard while the rest of the blade remains tough and ductile, the best of both realms.
A seppa (blade washer) is roughly cut from an annealed reclaimed brass door push plate using hammer, chisel, and shears.
The opening for the blade is filed carefully to fit the tang snugly.
A scrap of tropical hardwood will become the handle and scabbard. First the handle halves are carved to fit the tang.
The position for the blade is marked before carving inside the scabbard.
The interior carved and ready for fixing together using hide glue.
After gluing it will be wrapped tightly to clamp the joint and allowed to cure for a week before further work.
Once cured, the exterior can be shaped using kanna (hand planes), chisels, and kiridashi knives.
Excess wood is first removed with kanna (handplanes) down to the finished block dimensions.
Next moving from four sides to eight sides to sixteen and so on, and the handle and scabbard is roughly carved with a kiridashi knife to a final form based on classical tanto lines.
A decision is made on the final length of the handle and the style of pommel.
The final design decision involves cutting to length and shaping the tip of the scabbard.
A thin kiridashi knife is used to create subtle sculpting over all areas of the handle in the style of a classical tanto.
The seppa (blade washer) is marked and cut to final shape based on the handle dimensions and the edge is given a subtle edo-style coining.
The placement for the mekugi-ana is chosen and drilled through the tang using an antique hand-cranked post drill. The mekugi (retaining peg) is carved from water buffalo horn.
The surface of the wood is worked over using finer and finer files to remove scratch marks.
A course of 100% natural tung oil protects and highlights the beautiful grain of this wood, it cures slowly in a slightly warm area, each layer takes up to a couple of weeks to cure. The blade is finally sharpened and the knife is ready for assembly.
