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Forge Visit: Making Habaki for an Antique Sword
The Shibata family returned to the island this spring with some antiques freshly sourced from Japan. The boys spent a day in the forge assisting the preparation of the forge and charcoal, watching the forging of a habaki for an antique sword, and even helping run the fuigo bellows and striking for certain tasks. Careful […]
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Museum Forge Shiageba
As part of the 2022 artist in residence project a temporary shiageba (finishing area) was set up for carving handles and scabbards for the knives forged earlier in the year. This was the first time that the finishing stages of traditional knifemaking were demonstrated at the museum. Later in the season a full-sized traditional togi-dai […]
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Artist in Residence: Museum Forge
Although temporary demonstrations and events have been held at the museum since early 2012, the blacksmith-in-residence project at the museum forge was officially launched in 2015 by Red Cod Forge. Building and installing the traditional swordsmith forge was started in 2016, the first lighting in 2017, and since then bladesmithing has been a regular part […]
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Railway Days at the Museum
A yearly event around the theme of railways hosted by the Vancouver Island Garden Railway Club, The Oceanside Model Railroaders, and the E&N Division of the Canadian Railway Historical Association. Around four hundred people attended this year and enjoyed the many special exhibits on the grounds. The museum forge was open for viewing, though the […]
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Forge Visit: Shibata Family
The museum forge had a visit from a unique and talented family this summer. The Shibata family makes artisan foods on Saltspring, and the two boys, aged 10 and 12 are highly self-motivated creative students of craft who are interested in learning about traditional knife and sword making. They traveled to the island and spent […]
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Brass Forest Kotanto
The core of this project is a high carbon blade, charcoal-forged from reclaimed steel, water quenched with clay and sharpened with waterstones, an outdoor knife that has the foundation of the Japanese sword but is finished in the simple and humble style of farming and foresting tools of centuries ago. Satoyama are the managed forest […]
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Bladesmithing at the Museum Forge
Forging a custom forest kotanto in the swordsmith forge. The starting material was a harrow tooth, the finished blade is hirazukuri, mitsu mune, 140mm / 5.5″ nagasa, with a sturdy 6.5mm motokasane. The finish will be tsuchime (hammer texture) so there was no filing or polishing before yaki-ire, which was done at my forge for […]
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Making Fire with Bamboo – museum forge first lighting
The first night turned out to be quite an event as there were three forges and six blacksmiths/strikers operating in the museum workshop. Thanks to Tim of Reforged Ironworks, and Josh for their energy and charcoal chopping to get the forge up and running, and their assistance swinging the big sledges to finish drifting and […]
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Silver Soldering Habaki with a Charcoal Forge & Fuigo
A clip from yesterday’s work: silver soldering a habaki with the charcoal forge & fuigo box bellows. Watch the machigane area and you can see the solder begin to melt and flow around 0:40 until it is pulled out to stop the heating. The fuigo allows very precise air mix and heat control. When soldering […]
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Sounds of the Workshop: Tanto Overview
The tools are simple and few, but the work is long and hard. A collection of clips documenting the steps and sounds involved at many stages of the process of crafting charcoal forged classical tanto and mountings from reclaimed materials. Footage from several recent projects is included, some extended and some previously unreleased, some from […]
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From the Garden to the Forest
A pair of outdoor knives forged from a single reclaimed hedge shear blade and finished simply and humbly in the age-old style of farming and foresting tools traditionally used in managing satoyama lands. Satoyama are the managed forest areas that border the cultivated fields and the mountain wilds in Japan. Historically they provided fertilizer, firewood, […]
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A Japanese Media Visit to the Forge
We had a visit from a crew filming for TV Tokyo today. They were interested in some footage of the workshop and a brief interview. A great group of guys to meet and work with, we covered a lot of ground in a few hours and they probably learned more about steel than they bargained […]
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Sounds of the Workshop: Aikuchi Tanto Urushi Lacquer
…a.k.a.: the *even* quieter edition. The final stages of finishing the aikuchi tanto. This is a collection of clips documenting the steps and sounds involved at most every stage of the process of hand lacquering a traditional aikuchi tanto mount made from reclaimed driftwood. Several of the layers have been omitted from the video when […]
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Sounds of the Workshop: Aikuchi Tanto Koshirae
…Sounds of the woodshop, that is…a.k.a.: the quiet edition. Sit back and chill to the sounds of sharp blades and smooth wood. This is a collection of clips documenting the steps and sounds involved at most every stage of the process of hand making a traditional aikuchi tanto mount from reclaimed driftwood. The project began […]
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Tsukimi Tanto – Final Assembly
A quick clip of the final assembly of the Tsukimi Tanto. All parts of traditionally constructed tanto and koshirae fit together tightly and the assembly is locked together with a single bamboo peg. Each part fits only one way, even the bamboo peg has a specific alignment for maximum strength. Tsukimi means “moon watching” (in […]