First post. I have a tanto that I inherited after my father-in-law passed away. I know literally nothing about it. He never spoke about the piece. He served in the Aleutian Islands soon after WWII, so I assume that is where he acquired it.
The cutting surface length is 17cm and the total length is 30cm. There are two aspects that I find particularly curious:
First, the scarab exterior is leather with stitching and a metal button, which seems to make this a modern piece. I also find it interesting that the leather is quite polished and worn, which might indicate that this was used regularly. Second, there is an intricate design of a serpent chasing a bird engraved into the metal on one side of the blade and a symbol on the other side.
I literally know nothing about Japanese knives so I am hoping to learn about what I might have here. The leather on the handle covers the peg holding the blade to the handle, so I don’t think I can even try to disassemble it to examine the tang without expert advice.
I have no interest in selling this and no commercial gain will be made from advice of the forum.
Many thanks for your patience and for any insight that you might have on this.
