SOTW #21 – First Lighting of the Forge
First lighting of the newly rebuilt charcoal forge in the island kajiba. The first operation was to heat a tanto tang for stamping. Because it had already undergone yaki-ire, the blade had to be kept cool during heating to protect the temper. watch extended version | island forge kajiba project
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…
Chopping charcoal (sumi-kiri)
More about making blacksmithing charcoal: How Charcoal is Made