T.C. McLane Custom Kaiken Pair

This listing is for the pair of the other two knives in this collections and is not representative of two additional knives. It is listed as sold out to avoid errant sales. Contact info@bernalcutlery.com to arrange the purchase of the pair.

T.C. McLane Custom Kaiken with Kogatana

This wildly impressive Japanese style kaiken (dagger) has a high polished carbon steel blade, most likely 01, and features a straight back blade with a slight trailing point grind and beveled and swedged spine. The habaki is hand engraved with angled grooves in fine sliver and sealed with copper along the spine.

The carved, rounded leather lined scabbard/saya appears to be a stained curly or fiddleback maple with the tsuba (hand guard), kashira (pommel) and koiguchi (opening fitting) are decorated with twisted fine silver and copper mokume-gane (non-ferrous damascus) seated in wrought iron. The kashira is pinned in place using an ornate flower pin. The handle features a tapered pin securing the blade in place that is encircled with a thin petal design on either side. Both ornaments are assumed to be wrought iron.

Also featured on this knife is a small kogatana blade with kozuka handle ornamented with matching makume-gane which slips securly into a slot with a satisfying click on what would be the outside of the saya if worn on a belt via the kurigata. The kurigata is the small loop that used to fasten the saya to a belt and appears to be made from horn or a dense, dark wood with a shito-dome as ornamentation around the opening. 

This knife shows no signs of use but there are some small oxidation spots (too small to be photographed) on the blade but no indications of corrosion. The habaki shows wear from the friction fit of the saya.

Total Length: 280mm
Blade Length: 145mm
Weight: 210g

T.C. McLane Custom Kaiken in Curly Koa

This wildly impressive Japanese style kaiken (dagger) has a high polished carbon steel blade, most likely 01, and features a straight back blade with beveled spine and a maru-dome (similar to a fuller groove) on either side. The blade is anchored with a copper habaki that's sealed with silver along the spine.

The handle and leather lined saya are made from curly koa and ornamented with wrought iron damascus tsuba (hand guard), koiguchi (opening fitting), kojiri (endcap)and kashira (pommel). The kojiri and kashira both feature fine silver and copper makume-gane (non-ferrous damascus) held by the wrought iron damascus fittings. The kashiri is held in place with a wide copper pin on both sides, surrounded by a thin shito-dome (thin ormanentation). The blade is held in placed with a dark polished tapered pin just above the oval shame-kawa made from either white ray or shark skin.

The saya features a kurigata, a small loop that used to fasten the saya to a belt and also appears to be made from curly koa with matching damascus fitting. 

This knife shows no signs of use but there is oxidation on the copper habaki which also  shows wear from the friction fit of the saya.

Total Length: 305mm
Blade Length: 170mm
Weight: 340g

We believe these knives to have been handmade by Thomas C. McLane sometime in the early 1980s. Though very little information can be found about McLane himself, we believe that he was a bladesmith and blacksmithing instructor working out of Tucson AZ. They were originally purchased as a pair from the maker at the Solvang Knife Show in the mid to late 1980s. 

We don't typically work with knives that aren't inherently culinary or utilitarian, but these knives were too impressive to turn away and continue to surprise us with the quality and fine details of McLane's work. Pamphlet shows is included in the sale of the pair only and is not available with the purchase of a single knife.

Please direct any questions about this knife to info@bernalcutlery.com, especially if you have additional information about the maker.