Crude Tanto from my first post

[Ian]

Hi Pitt,

Thanks for reposting this interesting piece. I agree that this could well have been made in the Philippines, possibly during WWII. Filipino craftsmen are good at assembling facsimiles of other cultures' knives, and I have seen many contemporary small "tantos" sold as souvenirs around the country. Some are actually quite good little knives. Also, there are many Japanese visitors to the Philippines.

This one might have been made for a GI, or it could have been made for a Japanese soldier. Not all Japanese soldiers inherited fine weapons or could afford a well made tanto. Your knife looks like it has seen some use.

I like these old warriors. Yours could probably tell a few tales.

[Lee]

I, too, like this little knife. The form surely does remind one of a tanto in shirasaya, though the construction details are different. Of course, these are clearly simple working mountings rather than 'resting' storage mounts. The back appears to have a ridge. Is there any trace of a hamon (differential heat treating)?

Lew had a pedang with a blade that quite strongly resembled a Japanese sword blade (http://vikingsword.com/lew/w0132/w0132.html). Ultimately, XRF disclosed a composition much more consistent with typical Indonesian blades than Japanese ones.

In any case, I understand why your small knife would be a favorite

[Pitt1999]

I have a photo of the tang, as you can tell I haven't gotten around to cleaning it. I'll have to take a closer look at the blade later to see if there is a hamon. I had a theory about what this knife could be before I arrived at the "island sword" theory.

My theory was that this was the Japanese equivalent of the G.I. produced theater knives, or that this was some Japanese farmer's working knife. This knife looks like it was very hastily constructed with limited materials and without proper equiment needed to produce a higher quality piece. When I first purchased this knife I immediately assumed it was Japanese made due to the bamboo mekugi. I made the assumption that someone attempting to copy a tanto would simply make the mekugi out of whatever wood they had available to them rather than go through the effort of making them out of bamboo.

I should have provided some measurements in my opening post. If I remember correctly, it is 12 1/2 inches overall with an 8 inch blade (7 1/2 if you subtract the length of the habaki). I will also add that if this is a Filipino made copy of a tanto, whoever made it actually took note of the purpose of the habaki. When sheathing this knife the habaki does prevent the blade from falling out of the scabbard, I have to shake it around a fair bit before the knife falls out.