Thought this may interest some on here…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08v8gxl

Awesome thanks buddy – it’s hot topic in our house and my eldest is dead keen on sword forging in general.

Oh thank you, I like the whole thing about hand made swords, it’s fascinating.

Mrs is a hair dresser and you can get hand built scissors from Japan, using the ‘old ways’ I’m tempted to buy her a set but they are quite pricey.

Looks good but more interested in the programme on now being a bonsai obsessed freak.

My dad has a hand-forged Japanese sword in one of their places. From memory it was made in the mid 1800s and when he got it, the blade and tsuba were sound but the rest went in the bin. He made a new tsuka even hand-curing shark skin for under the wrappings. I’ll have to ask him where it’s got to.

That was 30 mins well spent.

I found that really interesting. So much work for it, but the end result had such a high level of finish … real beauty in the craft.

Ooo, have to catch that up. Stayed at a house in Kyoto with a set of swords on the wall in a case – they were jaw-droppingly beautiful.

I like.

😀

That could have been an hour. Fantastic.

I found that really interesting. So much work for it, but the end result had such a high level of finish … real beauty in the craft.

They missed so many steps and processes out; they didn’t cover how they select the tamahagane or how they create a jacket of hard metal on the outside with a soft core.

That could have been an hour. Fantastic.

This is worth watching:

[video]https://youtu.be/-t-oZ6X1sho?t=267[/video]

And this book is truly excellent:

The Craft of the Japanese Sword – Wordery

Watched on demand last nast – agree in that it could have been longer – was over far too quickly. Love stuff like this – even BF junior peered over his tablet occasionally to have a peek.

even BF junior peered over his tablet occasionally to have a peek.

There’s a very wholesome chap called Alec Steele who has a Youtube channel that’s worth watching with your kids. He’s on 19 (bless) but incredibly talented and infectiously enthusiastic.

Check out forged in fire too.

As other posters have commented,it could have been a 1 hr programme,loved it.
It’s the type of thing I expect James May to be filming

It was good to get a real impression of the work that goes into it! I’d get the scissors made that way if I could afford them for the GF mattyfez, the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into those things was pretty amazing.

I particularly liked the brother that sharpened the swords – 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, sharpening stuff. He said he enjoyed it, and spent 10 years as an apprentice getting good enough.

Check out forged in fire too.

If you’re watching with your kids though, be aware that there are two versions of the programme and the one that goes out after 9pm quite often doesn’t have the choice vocabulary bleeped out!

As other posters have commented,it could have been a 1 hr programme,loved it.

Check out that programme on Youtube

Really enjoyed that. Given the amount of labour involved, £20k seems very cheap. E.g. 2 months just sharpening it!

I would have like to see how they made the handle, unless it was there and I missed it? 😳

Quality – thanks.

I would have like to see how they made the handle, unless it was there and I missed it?

You didn’t miss it. That is theskilled fourth person in the process of making a sword and is a whole other skill set.

A lot of blades forged today that end up being collectors pieces never have a them made or if they do, they have plain ‘shirasaya’ rather than full ornate ‘koshirae’.

Interesting fact – the next time you hear the metal ‘shing’ noise of a katana blade being drawn from its scabard in a film, you’ll know the ignorance of the director towards Japanese swords.

Katanas and Wakizashis scabards are only ever made of wood; the ‘habaki’ is the metal collar that snugs into the wooden scabaard (saya) and keeps the blade secure with it until drawn.

Having an exquisite metal blade drawn against a metal scabard would be a dreadful shame and ruinous over time.

I missed it but will definitely catch it and as much as I can on the current Japan season on BBC4.

It isn’t a country I’ve ever visited – though we’re planning to go in 2020 to see the Olympics (daughter will be 10, so she should remember it well).

Japanese craftsmanship really appeals to me: I wear Japanese watches and the attention to detail is extraordinary.

I met a chap once who made pattern welded swords. These were the sort used by Anglo Saxon nobles and Viking chiefs. They are easily spotted as have a kind of double herringbone line up the length of the blade.

Apparently pattern welded blades are just as good as Japanese swords and require just as much craftsmanship to make. I wouldn’t know, but a newly polished one was a thing of beauty. No wonder the Anglo Saxons used to write poems about them.

Apparently pattern welded blades are just as good as Japanese swords and require just as much craftsmanship to make.

Pattern welding is also known as ‘Ddamascus steel’. It is lovely to look at.

The thing about katana swords is not so much the blade itself but how it’s used. Most blades from the same period would be just as strong and just as sharp, with equal cutting power. The difference is the weight; the weight of say a European broad sword is about twice that of the Katana.

Have a look in the video here specifically at 35mins 20secs

[video]https://youtu.be/-t-oZ6X1sho?t=2123[/video]

You’ll notice that in addition to being able to cut from the draw of the sword, the guy weilding the katana is able to make three cuts to the European broad sword’s two.

if you like that you might also enjoy this

John Neeman tool making

The difference is the weight; the weight of say a European broad sword is about twice that of the Katana.

If you mean a hand and half sword and are comparing it against a Katana on the lighter end of the spectrum then possibly. However overall the weight ranges for Japanese vs European swords is pretty similar.
Getting your hands on a proper European sword is quite hard. Most are the equivalent of bike shaped objects (even more so than the Japanese swords) and those that aint tend to cost. I have played with a couple belonging to friends and a properly made and weighted long sword handles amazingly well and is light.
That video seems to buy into the Japanese myth. A broadsword doesnt depend on brute force. Whilst many of the techniques are lost there are various attempts to reproduce them using training manuals and they end up being very sophisticated. For example the guard/pommel can be used for striking/trapping close in as opposed to just bashing away with the edge.