How Sword Making works...

[Mark]

http://www.howstuffworks.com/sword-making.htm

Accurate...?

 

[Scarab]

Quite accurate, yes.

 

[bullseye]

It apears to be accurate, for what it is. There's only so much you can cram into that small a space, though, so I'll give it that. If you want more detail, check out any of the books by Jim Hrisoulas (you can get them from most book chains or from his website at http://www.atar.com where he's also got some information about his techniques).

One interesting technique I've seen is in the studio of a "Living Treasure" swordsmith in Japan. Too old to do most of his own hammering, he has his apprentices standing in semicircle in front of him, each hammering in turn, while he holds the steel and makes corrective taps. I know one swordsmith who does something very similar with an autohammer instead of apprentices.

 

[MythandLore]

Too old to do most of his own hammering, he has his apprentices standing in semicircle in front of him, each hammering in turn, while he holds the steel and makes corrective taps. I know one swordsmith who does something very similar with an autohammer instead of apprentices.

It's not because he's old, that's the way you make Japanese swords, they are called 'strikers'(if I remeber the name right).
Also a lot of Japanese sword smith use autohammers as well, not really a one or the other thing, at least that's been my experiance with the ones I've met.

 

[MythandLore]

http://www.howstuffworks.com/sword-making.htm

Accurate...?

It's a sweet article on western blademaking.
The damascus those guys were making is beautiful.
The eastern method is not the same.
The western method they use wrought iron, and add carbon to make steel.
The eastern they use cast iron and remove the carbon to make the steel.
It's not the same thing, but they do it to make the same thing.

 

[MythandLore]

I know one swordsmith who does something very similar with an autohammer instead of apprentices.

He Bullseye your in LA, are you going to the knife show coming up?
If you haven't been to one, they are great, well most of the time anyway.
You can get lots of info from talking to bladesmiths, well the ones that aren't jackazez anyway.
It's going to be Feb 22-24th.
Here's the website:
http://www.scblades.com/
Hopefully the info is there, it's going to be in Orange County.

 

[Lothaire]

Interesting stuff.

Thanks Mark.