RainsFire

verry nice, I love the beaten fresh from the fire finish on the middle and top one.

I like clinker you could yell klink for short.

wow, beautiful!! almost would be cool to leave with the old metal finish.

yes, a tanto.. I thought I said that.. I meant to anyway. what I meant with that sentence was that it would have all the characteristics of a katana, Ive seen tanto that are wood handled, and wood sheathed. just plain.

Just finished the construction of the blade, now its time for a rough shaping with sen/files, drawing out the tang a little more, peircing it. and the temper. then ofcourse, all that we have discussed. 1050 steel, roughly 12-13in blade length, will be constructed like a small katana, because I am trying to get down the basic methods in a dry run, so to speak... thaks again ya'll.

Ha, I own the complete blade smith great book, basically one of a few smithing/bladesmithing books that got me started. Im going out to start one now, Ive got a new forge design to try out.. might work for coal, but is designed for charcoal. Thanks for the help guys, I believe I can take it from here :D

wow, verry cool. What is your name? and the names of your books? so, what you are saying is lower alloy's take temperlines better, because deep hardening steels soak heat faster making the whole blade closer in temp? cool, its nice to know I have the perfect steel, thanks ALOT for that beautiful peice of literature, good luck on your book and Ill probably be getting a copy when it is published.

oh, cool. but wouldnt that make the blade softer than the spine? and do I need to temper? or just harden?

erm, then how am I going to get a hamon? am I missing something? I thought the hamon was created by the differing thickness of the clay layer on the spine/front of the blade..(need to memorize those darn japanese terms).

haha, the 2nd one sucked.., atleast compared to the first. and the movie, well..

^^yes it does. could I use 1050 steel? I found out I have a 6ft 2x1/4 bar. I read somewhere it takes a nice hamon, but is a biatch to get the spine hard enough.

yes, Ive researched a bit into this stuff. 10yr apprenticship to become a sword polisher, only one or two Americans to have completed the training. Its done with waterstones that are becoming increasingly more rare/expensive. A sword smith is responsible for a basic shaping of the blade with the sen, and a coarse stone (I believe) and the polisher does the rest, including bringing out the hamon, and final shaping of the blade.

yep, just introducing myself. This forum is an excellent resource, well made and well packed with information. Blueprints is amazing, I didnt know anything like it existed. Thanks for all the help Ive gotten, and will get from this community.

A charcoal supply? do you mean coal? I have a few venturi blowers, and just finished a charcoal blower, the venturi is really the way to go if you have the time, funding, and energy to get or build one. I love my forge's..

thankya's!!

thankyou, I think I may be picking up some 1075. Although the proccess behind smelting Tamahagane is amazing and incredibly interesting, I dont think I have the skill or time to aquire the skill to do this.

Ordered thanks man.

Wow, beatiful blade. What is the clay mixture you used to achieve the hamon? Does it need to be purchased, or would slip formed from water and standard ceramic clay work?

So, I plan on starting a project tanto durring the next few weeks and I want it to be as close to traditional as possible. This is a precourser to making katana's and other japanese weapons, so essentially I want to use mainly the same technique. Obviously I cant do the 10year practiced polishing, so I will have to make do with that aspect, but I am making a sen, and I have a few water stones. Any way, my main problem is finding what the mixture is for the clay coating to the blade. I read somewhere it is a mix of clay and charcoal, but I need specifics. Also, is a katana's edge double beveled like common knives, or is the entire blade a bevel going straight to an edge? make sense? Thanks alot. Any advice would be INCREDIBLY helpful.