TLDW #18 - Aikuchi Tanto Koshirae - Making the Fittings @islandblacksmith

Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

**WARNING: This is the longer process version intended for serious students of historical knifemaking. The wood is hounoki,The fuchi and koiguchi are from a reclaimed buffalo horn souvenir, the kurikata is from a reclaimed horn button, the wrapping is rawhide samegawa, the mekugi is copper and silver...All of the parts are first shaped and fit, then the samegawa is wet formed to the handle contours, dried, and then attached with sokui (rice paste glue)...after the scabbard and handle are lacquered, the horn parts will be polished and attached with sokui as well...the mekugi cap is soldered on with hard silver solder in the charcoal forge...

The previous stage is carving the outside of the handle and scabbard: youtu.be/4U9_vp-EpuQ

And before that, carving the inside of the handle and scabbard: youtu.be/ZMLh7ocI9b4

finished work is here: islandblacksmith.ca/2017/08/aikuchi-tanto-koshirae

islandblacksmith.ca/process

TLDW #18 - Aikuchi Tanto Koshirae - Making the Fittings

SOTW #5 - Forging A Tanto Blade...from a carriage leaf spring

TLDW #23 - Replacing the Higuchi (tuyere) in the new forge

Museum Forge part 4/7 - making a tuyere from clay and charcoal brasque

Tanto Geometry - inside look at traditional kaiken mounting

Museum Forge part 1/7 - building the fuigo wall

TimeWarp #4 - Forging a Mountain Kotanto from a Reclaimed Harrow Tooth

TLDW #15 - Building a Charcoal Tanto Forge

TLDW #12 - Hand Carving a Saya for the Mountain Kotanto

Museum Forge part 2/7 - natural earthen tsuchikabe fuigo wall

$SOTW #4 - Charcoal for Blacksmithing made in a Japanese Style Charcoal Kiln A quick video shot as we made a batch of charcoal for the forge. We are using a kiln style cooker based on Iwasaki~sans version of a miniature Japanese charcoal kiln. (iwasaki-sumiyaki.com/) Blacksmithing charcoal must be softwood (bbq charcoal is always hardwood) and we use deadfall pine, mill scrap cedar, and construction scrap from local sources. 97% carbon, charcoal burns much cleaner than mineral coal and is healthier for the smith and for the high carbon steel that knives are made of. It is, however, about 1/5th the density of mineral coal which means a lot more shoveling to maintain the forge fire while working. Charcoal wood is split into small pieces and stacked inside the kiln, then a small fire is started in the combustion chamber. The flue gasses from this fire travel through the stacked wood and steam out the water and most of the volatiles at a relatively low temperature. After a couple or three hours, the steam stops and the smoke becomes blue and clear. At this point the kiln is sealed as tightly as possible on all sides to prevent oxygen entering while the charcoal cools overnight. The next day it is opened and the charcoal sorted, chopped, and screened before being stored for use in the forge. The goal is to create charcoal that is mostly pure carbon but has some of the volatiles left in it. Properly made charcoal is shiny, has a ringing sound, and stays together relatively cleanly. Overcooked charcoal is blown out, crumbly, and very soft. It will still work for most forging, but lacks some of the heat, and loses much volume to dust by the time it is moved around and shoveled into the forge. One run of the kiln from loading to chopping takes about a day and a half and produces two steel garbage cans full of chopped charcoal, usually enough for a few weeks of our work in the forge (because we do not need to run the forge full time for knifemaking). Two important notes if you are attempting to use Iwasaki~sans design... *the wood must be as dry as possible, using wet wood will greatly lengthen the burn time and increase the amount of fuel needed. **this type of kiln must be insulated to function efficiently, he uses a dry soil mixture and bricks, ours must be portable for now so we are currently using a refractory fibre blanket in the interim (not shown in video)$

Future Antiques - PKN16 presentation: Before & After