Katana making, making Tanto SÓSHU. Hardening without clay.

Katana making. Just a short visit to the forge today. It's still freezing. For hardening, it was necessary to melt the ice in the container. The steel to be translated was already prepared. So just a quick forging of the blade. Hardening without clay. I was honored to produce Sóshu tanto style. Hamon is midare choji. Utsuri is very distinctive. Some kinsuji and inazuma in contrasting Sóshu jigane. A short visit to the forge paid off.

[@derphoenizier385]

Nobody who hastn tried this by themselfes can imagine how much experience you have to pull this of. There is so much that can go wrong. Even with clay its hard to produce a hamon the way you want it to be.... Thats mastery right there.

[@katanamaking2606]

Thank you. Practice is of course important. It develops the non-technical part of sword making. The ability to perceive steel. This is important in my opinion. Small differences in steel properties will significantly affect the result. Once you learn to recognize them, you can use them to make different activities and types of hataraki. There are many details, for example the difference in the heating of the blade during hardening, which significantly changes the result. But this is also depending on the sensitivity of the steel, carbon content and the like. It's really interesting to study it and experiment with different details in making blades.

[@derphoenizier385]

@@katanamaking2606 I recently did this by accident with a big bowie blade. I wasnt even aware that this is a fairly common practice in japanese swordmaking. I feel it dpends also very much on the blade geometry. A thick back and thin blade seems to work quite well. But after that comes the experience part. You have to know quiete precise when and how long to quench. You used severel dips with varying time in the water, right? Do you have that plan in your head before yaki-ire? Or do you look at the steele during the quench and decide from there?

[@katanamaking2606]

With modern steel, it's a little different. It's harder in a way when you muddy the water. There is a higher risk of cracking. So I always take modern steel out of the water before it cools completely. Tamahagane you can adjust the carbon content as needed. This will then affect the way of hardening. If the carbon is lower, there is no need to remove the blade from the water before it cools completely. More carbon is problematic. You need to watch for changes in curvature and they will pull the blade out a little earlier. When it has a temperature of about 250°C. This is the temperature at which the tension in the blade is removed after hardening. When cooled to this temperature, I will no longer affect the formation of any hataraki. It just prevents cracking. And there is no need to adjust the bowing of the blade, which would probably be more if it were completely soaked in water. But I always decide before hardening. Of course, there's always a plan. But at the end of the forging work, I know the properties of the steel for a particular blade. And I adjust the hardening process accordingly.@@derphoenizier385

[@anjaygaming-qh8ti]

That's so exciting sir, u are my inspiration

[@clodoaldo2474]

Espetacular

[@katana24]

nice temper line

[@danyodachi8529]

😍😍😍😍

[@christopherfranklin972]

You make it sound so easy!
With such outstanding yakiba and hada it's one of the nicest blades I've seen in your videos.

[@ttdusk678]

Beautiful, very vivid and contrast line!