It is an unfortunate truth that one of the strongest drives in the world for innovation comes from military technology. In ancient Japanese culture, where anything less than perfection in a traditional craft was unacceptable, masters of metallurgy created one of the greatest advances in close quarters weaponry of all time. The samurai sword is so deadly, so simple and beautiful in it's form, that it has achieved legendary and almost spiritual status. As a fabricator and craftsman myself, the attention to detail and perfection in a samurai sword commands awe and respect.
At the age of 15 I began to test my metal as a budding fabricator by studying and replicating traditional sword mounting techniques in my fathers home workshop. Having no ability to make proper blades, I would cut and file steel bars from the local hardware store into blade shapes. I would make mountings for the makeshift blades from copper, brass, aluminum and tin. I would fabricate the tsuka or hilt for the swords from wood. I would wrap the tsuka in leather and flat cotton cord in the traditional braided technique. The examples I would create at this age were crude at best, but they contributed to my development as a fabricator.
I am currently continuing the craft. With decades of fabrication experience under my belt I am now creating uh... slightly more precise fittings and parts for a modern blade. In the second photo you can see the blade and the some of the tools and materials used in fabrication and maintenance of sword fittings.
The best Japanese blades are traditionally
made from a high carbon steel called Tamahagane. This steel was folded several times to create hundreds of layers. The layers are one of the qualities that
contribute to the beauty and subtle surface details of Japanese swords. The other prominent feature visible on Japanese blades is called the hamon. The hamon appears as a wavy line near the edge of the blade. It is created in the tempering process. The blade is first coated in a clay slurry. Tools are then used to remove the clay from the edge of the blade. After this is complete, the blade is heated to a bright orange and then quenched. The clay coated blade and the exposed edge cool at different rates creating a blade that is sharp like a razor blade and yet tough like armor. In modern terms a blade like this is called differently tempered.
To this day I have an emotional connection to Japanese swords because, at a young age, I began to push the limits of materials and methods that I had used while studying these masterpieces. My wife recognised this when we were recently at The Lords of the Samurai exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She purchased this miniature Samurai sword for me from the museum gift shop.
It is easy to dismiss this small sword as a cheap toy or trinket until you examine it more closely so I recommend that you take a peek in the artifacts gallery of the Cabinet of Curious Frivolities and admire the metal mountings, the lacquered wood scabbard, the silk wrapped hilt and the authentic differently clay tempered steel blade on the Mini Katana. Thanks for looking.
Full steam ahead.
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