RainsFire

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).

Been reading alot of Eragon lately?

^^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.

thanks for the replies, and some helpfull info..

i'm making one brick forge or two anyway, so probably the i don't need a big torch for now.. this set up just to get me started.. and probably if i'm quite liking it i would expand to a bigger set up.. and i'm still got my option open for charcoal forge, since i just found out that there's a charcoal supply nearby..

i got this website "hybridburners.com" the models here are quite simple yet sufficient for the job, and it doesnt need the blower.. and somehow there's a burner diagram/plan, so you could make it one by yourself..
however since i dont have enough tools, probably making it is not a good option
have you guys have any experience with it??



forging1 = i'm still willing to buy the torch if you're still selling.. just pm me

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.