#smithwork

Ernst G. Siebeneicher and Jurgen Rosinski. Forging Japanese Knives for Beginners. Atglen PA: Schiffer, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7643-4556-2.

While it seems odd for a book originally in German to be discussing the smithing of Japanese knives, this is an excellent little book on the subject beginning with smelting the iron and finishing with two nice examples of different traditional Japanese knives -- a tanto and a hocho.

Following a short historical introduction, Siebeneicher and Rosinski describe the construction and operation of a bloomery furnace and the selection of steel from the resulting bloom. This is then followed by chapters on the tanto and hocho, and discussion of care of the resulting blades, safety, and the tools used.

All and all, it’s a nice overview of the process, starting earlier than most smiths do. My one quibble with the text is that while the products are very Japanese, the processes are basically European. Since the text, at least in this edition, is aimed at English-speakers (and the original was aimed at a German audience), this isn’t a bad choice. As a result of that choice, most of the processes are ones that as an American smith are either already in my skill set or not far from them. 

This allows the focus of the work to be on what is being forged, and it’s clear that the authors have a reasonable familiarity with both the techniques of a (European) smith and with the traditional Japanese blades.

The section on the tanto covers many of the techniques that go into the larger weapons, including a brief discussion of steel composition and differential hardening (the latter of which produces the distinctive hamon). The fittings are also described, including the construction of the habaki and fitting of the handle and sheath (although the subject of wrapping the handle is omitted).

The second knife project is a Japanese kitchen knife, and here the discussion includes background on the different types of kitchen knives and some nice tidbits about Japanese-style smithwork, including how a hard steel edge is added to a mild steel body. The authors also include a discussion of traditional hocho handles and sharpening the kitchen knife.