I Made A Sword!!!

Okay. Honestly it was only a letter opener, but I used the same process as if I was making a sword. "Tatara" is the Japanese sword forging method.





Mine is the second one from the top!





We started the day with a demonstration from the swordsmith. He showed us his favorite swords he has made over the years. I was told that I looked at the sword correctly. Then I explained to him how my father collected swords and would sharpen them when boys came over to visit me. He thought that was hilarious!

 

 

 

 

Next it was time to learn how to make swords. Fire is key in this process, because you have to get steel very hot to mold it. The instructor taught us how to keep the fire going be blowing air on the coals.

Then we were off to work. Real swords start from lumps of steal like this.

We got to expedite the process by using steel rods.

The rod of steel are placed in the flame until that are red hot. Then you take it out and hammer on the hot steel as many times and you can til it cool. Then you heat it up again. You do this process over and over again. The goal is to evenly flatten the steel and shape it into the blade form. Talk about a work-out!!

Feeding Air to the Flames

 

A Traditional Fire Pit

My Work Station

Heating the Steel in the Fire Pit

 

After the forging station, you come to the sanding station. This is done with a wet saw. Here you shape up the knife better and try to remove any rough edges. You also create the blade edge with this machine. You honestly think you might lose a finger, but its not as dangerous as it looks.

Next the letter opener gets a hole drilled into the handle. This will be used to add decorations at the end. Then our teacher engraved my Japanese name into the blade of the letter opener. Then we hand sanded the blade for a smooth finish.

Next it was back to the fire for polishing. You heat the blade up one last time, then wipe it with a silk cloth. As the silk burns on the steel, it polishes the metal. Then you oil the metal to get the black finish.

The last station is the decoration station. Here we added beading to the end of the letter opener and created nice packaging.

To sum the day up in one word... AWESOME!!