Japanese Tanto | Knifemaking

Tanto knife made from ball bearing steel, brass plate and mutenye wood.
Overall lenght is 36cm with 23cm long blade 4mm spine thickness.
This is the first time I try this kind of construction, it's very satifing but takes a really long time as a good fit require lots of fiddling. I also love the fact that it can be disassembled, but it sure is some extra work!
This bearing steel is very hard, forging took some effort, but it does make for a very hard edge after heat treatment, with 65 Rockwell file barely scratching in some areas. Unfortunatly the steel did not took the hamon too well, it's there, but not very dark. Still, after finishing the steel to high grits it was cool to see the steel structure peeking through after the etch in ferric chloride.
Here are some of the videos about the tools I used:
File Guide: • File Guide VOICE OVER
Hardening oven: • DIY Heat Treatment Oven
Tempering oven: • PID Controlled And Ins...
My lovely drill press: • ROSA Drill Press Resto...
Grinder - Buffer: • 1950s Italian Bench Gr...
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Index of operation and materials:
0:15 Coke forge
0:30 Split with hot cut tool
0:50 Open up and flattened
1:28 Forge tip
1:56 Forge Bevel
Annhealed off camera
3:00 Grind profile with 2x72 belt grinder
3:55 Single bevel ground with help of file guide
4:40 Hand sand up to 220grit pre heat treatment
5:15 Wire wrap to help clay stick to the blade
5:35 High temperature car exhaust sealer
6:10 Hardening process, heat to 800°C and quench in warm oil at 70°
7:15 Tempering to 240°C for 2 hrs with straightening jig to remove a slight bend introduced while hardening
7:43 Hand sand up to 200 grit for test etch
8:00 Test etch in ferric chloride
8:20 Test hardness with files
8:40 Brass plate
8:50 Mark indentations to help bending
9:30 Brass needed to be annhelaed many times during this process
11:00 Silver soldering brass bits to finish the piece
11:30 Ground to shape with belt grinder and finished off by hand with sandpaper
12:00 Final etch in ferric chloride after hand sanding to 2000 grit
12:55 Grind cutting edge on the slack part of the belt grinder
14:00 Wood is cut to size, hand planed flat and split in half with band saw
14:50 Tang shape is marked and chiseled on the handle
15:55 3mm hole drilled for a single pin to lock the handle in place
16:30 Regular wood glue
16:55 Same procedure for the scabbard, using various flat and round chisel
18:20 Profile of the handle and scabbard is done on the belt grinder
19:00 And finished by hand up to 400 grit
19:20 White mineral oil as finish
20:00 :)
Thanks a lot for watching, I hope you liked the video!
Suggestions and comments are welcome.
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