1. Sword's raw material named Tamahagane |
2. First, the Tamagahane is crushed in to a thin plate. |
3. Then broken into smaller pieces. |
4. Each is sorted in harder pieces and softer pieces. |
5. Pieces of the same quality steel are stacked onto a plate |
6. And each plate is heated in a chacoal fire to about 1,300°C. The
pieces are then hammered and welded together |
7. Incisions for folding |
8. Each piece of steel is folded approximately 10 times. The exact frequency of folding differs from the school and smith. |
9. The softer piece is made(Shingane) and prepared for joining with the Kawagane. |
10. The harder piece is hammered into U shape(Kawagane). |
11. Two two pieces are joined and welded together. |
12. And the blade is hammered out. 1,300°C to 800°C |
13. At this stage, the steel is hammered into the intended shape of the
blade |
14. The blade is heated and the cutting edge is hammered out. 700°C |
15. Now that the blade has been shaped, a fire and tool called a Sen are used for smoothing the blade. For finer smoothing, a rough whetstone
is used. |
16. A mix of clay, charcoal and powdered whetstone is applied for Yaki-ire(quenching) |
17. The blade is heated red-hot 800°C to 900°C |
18. Yaki-ire |
19. Any distortions in the blade are corrected |
20. Polished using a whetstone(Aratogi). |
21. Lastly the blade is signed and now passed to a professional sword polisher. |
22. The finished Shinsakuto blade. |
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