Preparing and Loading the Charcoal Kiln
The first fire is relatively small and is intended to dry out some of the moisture in the clay/earth around the kiln remaining after construction and before winter. After cooling and cleaning it out, a “floor” is created above the steel floor slats using thin boards and brown charcoal from previous charcoal runs. Then the…
Charcoal Kiln V.4.0
As part of the island kajiba project, reclaimed and natural materials were used to construct a larger traditional style charcoal making kiln. The basic concept is a simple chamber with a door on one end and a chimney on the other, insulated and sealed by being buried in clay/soil, and roofed to keep off the…
First Lighting of the Forge & Antique Habaki Utsushi (写)
First lighting of the newly rebuilt charcoal forge in the island kajiba followed by stamping the tang and then hand forging and filing a classical tanto style habaki, silver soldered in the charcoal forge and closely based on an antique Edo period habaki. An utsushi (写) is a closely based study of another work for…
Sumi-kiri – chopping charcoal for bladesmithing
Charcoal is chopped and then processed through four sizes of screen, the largest is for tanren, the second for hizukuri (I tend to use the largest for hizukuri as well and keep the second size mainly for yaki-ire), the third size isn’t useful in daily forging activity but may be crushed into fines or saved…
Making 篩 for charcoal screening
Traditional Japanese swordsmithing forges are fueled by softwood charcoal which is first chopped, screened, and sorted into several sizes for different stages of the forging process. The “furui” (篩) or sieve is used to separate different sizes of charcoal during the sumi-kiri process. This one is the smallest mesh of the four, made from window…
Making 箕 for charcoal sorting
Traditional Japanese swordsmithing forges are fueled by softwood charcoal which is first chopped, screened, and sorted into several sizes for different stages of the forging process. The winnowing basket shaped “mi” (箕) is used to store and move charcoal between screens during the sumi-kiri process. See the whole museum forge project here.
Soulsmithing part 5
Pierre Nadeau of soulsmithing.com prepares to light his new forge in Canada. The focus of this video is sumi-kiri, charcoal chopping, screening, and sorting techniques, and will offer some valuable details for astute observers. Read more about the project, or watch the whole soulsmithing series. The charcoal is chopped and then processed through four sizes…
Testing Blacksmithing Charcoal
More about making softwood charcoal: How Charcoal is Made
Making Charcoal for Blacksmithing
More about making softwood charcoal: How Charcoal is Made
Chopping charcoal (sumi-kiri)
More about making blacksmithing charcoal: How Charcoal is Made
Charcoal Kiln V.3.0
We always seem to return to the roots eventually, don’t we? After a year of forging with charcoal made in Charcoal Retort V.2, it was time to address the issues with the system. The main one was that, though much improved from Charcoal Retort V.1, the high operating temperature took its toll on critical components…
Charcoal Retort B15-18
The recent rash of outdoor blacksmithing demonstrations has taken a toll on our handmade softwood charcoal supply so it was time to get serious. The lower heat shield was burnt right through last batch, so a new one was cut out of slightly higher gauge steel for this round. We processed and chopped four batches…
Charcoal Retort B12-14
The wood for these two batches was completely dry and the process was correspondingly successful and efficient. The first batch was mixed split cedar and spruce from shop projects, and the second was mainly split spruce construction scraps. The burns were so efficient that there was time to complete two in one day, including the…
Charcoal Retort V.2.0
Update: An Iwasaki style kiln is a much more efficient and long lasting way to make charcoal of better quality for bladesmithing, read about it here: Charcoal Kiln V.3.0 The simplicity of the design of the version 1 retort allowed us to start making charcoal very quickly, but the toll of high heat on the…
Charcoal Retort D. 7-9
Before and after… This weeks scrap wood generously provided by Chris and his crew again, who have always been more than willing to assist with my experiments. The major new development this week was not in the burn phase, but in the chop and sort phase of the process. Using some scrap 2×6 and a…