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Making a Tanto Style Takedown Handle
The tang and handle of a classical tanto are constructed in a manner that requires only a single bamboo peg to hold the entire knife assembly together. In addition to the sense of beautiful simplicity, this design allows the knife to be taken apart for cleaning, polishing, or sharpening work. Carving and fitting the inside…
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Forest Kotanto
A clay tempered blade hand forged in a charcoal fire, water quenched with clay, sharpened with waterstones, and finished simply and humbly in the age-old style of farming and foresting tools traditionally used in managing satoyama lands. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated fields and the mountain wilds in Japan. Historically…
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Mountain Kotanto
A clay tempered blade hand forged in a charcoal fire, water quenched with clay, sharpened with waterstones, and finished simply and humbly in the age-old style of farming and foresting tools traditionally used in managing satoyama lands. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated fields and the mountain wilds in Japan. Historically…
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MadeFor: Creating Off The Grid
See the full feature on MadeFor.com.au: Crossed Heart Forge – Off The Grid We come into this world with an innate yearning to discover. The belief that there is something out there bigger than us, beyond our own frontier, constantly compels us to make more with what we’ve got, for the time we have here.
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Sounds of the Workshop: Tanto Overview
The tools are simple and few, but the work is long and hard. A collection of clips documenting the steps and sounds involved at many stages of the process of crafting charcoal forged classical tanto and mountings from reclaimed materials. Footage from several recent projects is included, some extended and some previously unreleased, some from…
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Touzai Tanto
Touzai (東西) can be literally translated “East West” and carries the idea of spanning across distance or covering and including everywhere. There is also a saying, “kokontouzai” (古今東西) which means for all time and all places, literally “old, now, East, West”. This project began with the concept of ideas from different times and places coming…
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From the Garden to the Forest
A pair of outdoor knives forged from a single reclaimed hedge shear blade and finished simply and humbly in the age-old style of farming and foresting tools traditionally used in managing satoyama lands. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated fields and the mountain wilds in Japan. Historically they provided fertilizer, firewood,…
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The Bone Knife
This project is part of the artifact series which tend to have the appearance of far older variations of my fusion style works and seem to come from an alternative history where cultures might have blended at different times and in different ways. This particular work is more of a departure from my usual designs,…
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Making an Outdoor Knife
The Japanese swordsmithing tradition has been in place for generations and many of the design elements have been tested and refined for centuries. With careful study and practice, this can be a solid foundation for today’s bladesmiths and knifemakers to build their work upon. This article will provide an overview of the process and cover…
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Hatsu Yari
This project began as a personal challenge and an exploration of the beauty and symmetry that can be found in the sankaku style yari (三角槍). The cross section of the blade is triangular in this style, the spine quite thick and strong, and the tip is centered on both axis. The basic form is fairly…
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Yozakura Tanto
The nightime viewing of cherry blossoms by moonlight is cherished for the unique perspective and focus it brings to the experience. The dark tones of the sky and the gentle light of the moon provide subtle variations in colour, texture, and detail that cannot be fully appreciated by day. This piece is reserved in its…
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Kuromatsu Aikuchi Tanto
The Kuromatsu tanto with koshirae is named for a species of Black Pine (黒松) that grows near the seaside in Japan. The bark changes from grey to black as the tree matures and ages, symbolized by the colour and contrast of the smoother texture of the blade with the leathery texture of the darker scabbard.…
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Kuromon Aikuchi Tanto
Kuromon can be translated as “the black gate”. Designed around the concept of textural exploration as a companion project to Kuromatsu Aikuchi Tanto, this tanto with koshirae is a bold yet restrained piece that has the austere simplicity that appealed to the refined tastes of working samurai centuries before the Edo period. This tanto is…
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Tsukimi Tanto
The bright orange moon of late Summer and early Autumn is the inspiration for this work. Tsukimi means moon watching, and brings to mind a lovely harvest moon and the rustling sounds of the dry, frost coloured susuki grass as the evening breeze blows across the plateau. The unusual ring and plate style kurikata is…
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Forging the Ashinoho Tanto
This tanto began as a reclaimed carriage spring and was hand forged in a pine charcoal fire, smoothed with files and a sen scraper, differentially hardened using traditional water quench yaki-ire with clay, and polished by hand with natural Japanese water stones. This tanto was forged from an antique horse-drawn carriage spring in early 2014,…