Kaiken
2018 year
Materials: steel, copper, cherry wood
Techniques: forging, hardening, polishing, wood carving, lacquer painting
Dimensions:
total length: 193 mm
blade length: 89 mm
blade width: 25 mm
spine thickness: 4 mm.
Kaiken is a kind of tanto used by both men and women for self-defense. Also kaiken is presented as a wedding gift to the bride. And today he is one of the attributes of the traditional Japanese wedding ceremony: the bride takes a kaiken, the bride takes a kaiken to be lucky.
The handle and scabbard are decorated with images of a pair of butterflies (a symbol of happiness) and a koi carp (a symbol of good luck and perseverance).
For zone hardening of the blade, I used the traditional Japanese yaki-ire method. The coating consists of clay, charcoal and fine sand. Part of the blade is covered with it from the butt side, the steel under the coating will not be hardened, which will give it strength and toughness. And the blade will take hardening and become much more solid.
