The Japanese way....

[Stu in Tokyo]

I've been bopping around the net, trying to find some forge and or blacksmithing related things here in Japan, I found a few pages that I thought I'd share with you guys, as I think there might be some interest.....

Masa Sama Making hammers

Kajiba Sama Making Knives

Onsite welding of a rail at a train station This page was run through a machine translator, so the English is kind of strange.

Just thought they might be of interest.

Cheers!

[Alan DuBoff]

Great pics Stu. I'm always intrigued with the way the Japanese do things, they certainly have their own way, and the way they have smith'd for years really depicts the heart of their tradition.

The other guy holding his work in his feet in the other thread you posted, it's facinating that anyone would work metal like that. That type of stuff makes me scratch my head and say, "What is that guy thinking?". It certainly seems to work for them. :confused:

[Stu in Tokyo]

I'd love to find a smith here that would be willing to teach, or even just let me poke around, but traditionally the majority of the smiths are not here in the Kanto area, but further South.

I'm finding more and more stuff here about it, and I even found this on auction.........






Looks like it still works, they say there is Coke in it now, but the person selling it knows nothing about it.

If I were not living in Tokyo, I'd have a go and see if I could win it:D

One other thing about Japan, there are really few old machines here, of any type, the oldest you will see will be from the 1930s, but they are rare, mostly the late 40s and on, as during the war, most anything made from steel that was not in use for the war effort was melted down and used for something else.

Cheers!