Crane Tanto

Paul Chen Crane Tanto - Limited & Discontinued - mid-90s

This was from a very nice set of 8 Paul Chen Japanese Tantos that were very limited and are now long discontinued.

These 8 tantos were all different and formed a set that were produced before Paul developed his Shinto and later series. These were very limited productions and were rumored to be less than 100 of some models and less than 250 on other models. They were imported and sold by Cas Iberia .

 Each has an edge tempered blade, genuine ray skin and Japanese cotton handle wrap, and bronze and buffalo horn fittings. Each blade is hand forged (I believe 1095 steel) and finished so dimensions vary - blade lengths from 10" to 11" and blade thicknesses from 0.2" to 0.4". Overall lengths vary from 14" to 15". Each comes with a silk bag and wooden storage case.

 This model is the Crane Tanto (1053-GT). Mounted with no grip bindings, fully exposing the ray skin grip cover, this tanto features a polished cowhorn kashira and fuchi and crane menuki, with a copper-lacquered saya. The blade grind is in the hira-zukuri style. A kogai is fitted.

 This is a rare chance to buy this particular Crane Tanto model.