Orishigane Wakizashi

[DanielC]

Shooting for a Waki, but it may be a tanto when it is all said and done. Started with nearly 3 pounds of material for this. This video shows the initial start to the first fold. Hit fold 6 today, and will do another 6 another day. I could have got more in today, but a good part of it was prep for this. Had to create my own clay slurry for one. Also had to refine my flux recipe. All went well.
 

 

 

[Michael Cochran]

I enjoy watchin the process and will follow along to see what becomes of this.

What did you use for your slurry? I thought about doing some scrapmascus using the same stack and weld method but couldn't figure out the slurry or the paper to use.

[Mark Ling]

was that a gas forge I heard in the background that you were using? if so that's an impressive gas forge to be able to bring that mass of steel up to forge welding temp.

                                                                                                     Littleblacksmith

[DanielC]

I made my own mix, but the base was simple red clay found here in the Southeast US.

 

Yes it was a gas forge. A blown ribbon burner. This lump was about 3 pounds to start. I have welded 7-8 pound billets of modern steel pattern weld in it. All without using itc-100 (which I finally nabbed some and need to apply it!).

[Michael Cochran]

I have great repeat for anyone who can take a stack like that and weld it solid. I can weld about 60% of my attempts on flat bar but never managed to get a stack like that to stick. Did you just use wet newspaper for the paper wrap?

[DanielC]

I literally wrapped it in brown paper bag. I followed what I have seen several japanese smiths do. Lay out dry paper, cover the stack in rice straw ash, wrap it carefully so as not to disturb the stack, and wet another sheet of paper, and wrap it again, only tighter. Then I coated in mud, and tossed more rice straw ash on top of that. The paper/mud acts as an insulator allowing the bar to heat as even as possible, and the rice straw ash being ~90% silica melts and creates a flux.

Some people start off the very first heat with a light hand hammer. I have basically mastered the control of my mechanical power hammer, that I was able to set the welds with the power hammer alone.

Also not shone was the actual fold. It's just me out there working, so sometimes, especially when adrenaline is pumping as weeks of preperation - creating the steel, chopping 100-150 pounds of charcoal to make the steel, squishing, hardening, breaking, inspecting, more orishigane creation, etc etc etc....then creating the mud and all the other little bits to come together. Eventually it boiled down to, I was forming together several hundred dollars worth of special steel....stressful initially. Though once I was there with it at welding heat, I simply knew it would work.

Basically the fold acted different than any other type of iron or steel I have created using bloomery material. Instead of breaking due to slags and impurities as it does with bloom, initially, but rather it actuslly bent and folded over on itself and didn't break apart. That was a massively good sign. (First pic is of the bar at that first fold - can someone please flip it?)

 

As of right now I am 6 folds in (second pic). I stopped there to assess carbon content. It is a constant struggle to ease the carbon levels as slowly as possible, or rather get then to where you want. Sometimes the smith's add more chunks of orishigane at this point. I am deciding that now.

 

[tdaleh]

Daniel have watched your post on here from doing smelts to this .I appreciate you sharing this with us. 

Tony

[Michael Cochran]

Thanks for clarifyin Daniel. I look forward to seeing what come of this.

[DanielC]

No problem. My desire to know in theory and in practice how the japanese create their works of art is strong. Most of my technique can be seen and read in various sources, but its the little details that have taken a tremendous amount of research, discussion with various Japanese smiths, and my own practice to get right.

So you guys know, as of right now I am at a point where I can decide to up the carbon content by added fresh orishigane. I feel like by the 13th fold the carbon content will possibly be below where I want it to be. I have decided to make a purer chunk of orishigane to add to the bar, not only upping my carbon content, but my material as well. Probably in the neighborhood of around another pound. This could leave me with around 2-2.5# of kawagane in the very end, while I have a bar of 13 fold shingane already made up and ready to insert as the core bar. The grain of that in particular running perpendicular to the kawagane. This should give me enough to make a sunobe for a katana length blade. If not, a very nice wakizashi. We shall see. Today I am going to be firing up the charcoal retort and making more charcoal while I make repairs to my forge and add ITC-100.

[Momatt]

Thanks for sharing this, I really admire those who start with raw materials and create.  Someday I would love to try to create iron/steel from ore in a charcoal furnace. 

[DanielC]

Yea, it's really turned into a passion. Bloomery, and the Japanese process has really taken a foothold in my shop time.

 

This project will be a drawn out one. I have way too much going on to fully concentrate on solely this. I have many sanmai blades to make and a ridiculous amount of hammers to make as well. Though it will get finished, especially now that I have orishigane down to a science.