Bladesmith
Encyclopedia
Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, sword
s, daggers and other blades using a forge
, hammer
, anvil
, and other smithing tool
s. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking
techniques similar to those used by blacksmith
s, as well as woodworking
for knife and sword handles, and often leatherworking for sheaths. Bladesmithing is an art that is thousands of years old and found in cultures as diverse as China, Japan, India, Germany, Korea, the Middle East, and the British Isles. As with any art shrouded in history, there are myths and misconceptions about the process. While traditionally, bladesmithing referred to the manufacture of any blade by any means, the majority of contemporary craftsmen referred to as bladesmiths are those who primarily manufacture blades by means of using a forge to shape the blade as opposed to knifemakers who form blades by use of the stock removal
method, although there is some overlap between both crafts.
ians referred to iron as "Copper from the Heavens" because their lack of smelting
technology limited their accessible iron supplies to what little native
iron they could recover from meteorite
s. Despite iron's rarity, they gained enough familiarity with ironworking techniques to have used wrought iron
in the manufacture of swords and blades as early as 3000 BC. They exported this technique to Assyria, Babylon and Greece through trade and as they conquered other lands and were conquered themselves.
(8th century BC) were among the earliest users of iron swords. During the Hallstatt period, they made swords both in bronze as well as iron with rounded tips. Toward the end of the Hallstatt period, around 600-500BC, these swords were replaced with short daggers. The La Tene culture
reintroduced the sword, which were very different from the traditional shape and construction of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, characterized by a more pointed tip.
s) are usually of sanmei (three plate) construction, which involved sandwiching a core of hard steel between two plates of softer steel. The central plate protrudes slightly from its surrounding pieces, allowing for a sharp edge, while the softer spine protects the brittle core. Some blades had wumei or five plate construction, with two more soft plates being used at the central ridge. Bronze jian were often made in a somewhat similar manner: in this case an alloy with a high copper content would be used to make a resilient core and spine, while the edge would be made from a high tin-content alloy for sharpness and welded on to the rest of the blade.
The swordsmiths of China are often credited with the forging technologies that traveled to Korea and Japan to allow swordsmiths there to create such weapons as the katana. These technologies include folding, inserted alloys, and differential hardening of the edge. While the Japanese would be more influenced by the Chinese dāo (single-edged swords of various forms), the early Japanese swords known as ken are often based on jian. One sided jians from the Tang dynasty provided the basis for various Japanese forging styles and techniques. The Korean version of the jian is known as the geom or gum, and these swords often preserve features found in Ming-era jian, such as openwork pommels and sharply angled tips.
Korean sword
s include long swords such as the yeoh do, geom, and hyup do and curved swords such as Samindo. Metal swords of double bladed leaf structure have been found throughout Korea dating back to the Bronze Age. These bronze swords were around 32 cm in overall length, with a short handle.
and date to the fourth or fifth century A.D. Although appearing to be ceremonial in nature, samples of these straight blades preserved in the Shōsōin
were hand-forged with hardened cutting edges. By the time of the Heian period
(794-1185A.D.) the Japanese sword took on its distinctive curved shape as a mounted horseman would have more use for a slashing type of blade as opposed to a thrusting type. These swords were known as tachi
.
Due to the quality of metal found in Japan, Japanese bladesmithing became an extremely rigid, precise process, involving folding and forge-welding the steel many times over to create a laminated blade. By the time of the Kamakura period
(1185-1333A.D.) Japan was under the rule of a military class and repelling Mongol invasions. This became known as the "Golden era" of Japanese bladesmithing under Emperor Go-toba
, who became a bladesmith himself. After retiring as Emperor, Go-toba summoned Japan's finest bladesmiths around him in an effort to develop the perfect sword. It was determined that a sword had to be hard in order to maintain a sharp cutting edge, yet hard steel is brittle and can shatter under the stress of a heavy blow. Swordsmiths in Japan found the solution by wrapping a softer low-carbon steel core such as wrought iron, in a jacket of high-carbon steel and then hardening
the edge. However, under heavy usage, the edge would be more prone to chipping than its European counterparts, which were typically designed to deal with heavier armor than Japanese blades. This was answered by inserting strips of softer steel known as ashi in the hardened cutting edge.
The Mongol invasions
brought with them a need for swords also suited for hand-to-hand combat and the smiths began manufacture of shorter blades to meet this need. It was during the Muromachi period
that the katana
and tantō
came into being. By the sixteenth century, Japanese bladesmithing had become so renowned throughout Asia that the Japanese turned to large scale manufacturing of swords as an export to China. Smiths at Sakai
also crafted knives for cutting tobacco
, which had been introduced by the Portuguese. The Sakai bladesmithing industry received a major boost from the Tokugawa shogunate
(1603–1868), which granted Sakai a special seal of approval and enhanced its reputation for quality.
The Haitorei edict
in 1876 banned carrying swords and guns on streets, as a direct result many swordsmiths were left without a trade to pursue, and valuable skills were lost. Bladesmithing resumed in Japan during a nationalistic period prior to the Second World War, but was again outlawed in occupied Japan
by the American Occupation Forces and did not resume until 1953, under heavy restrictions to preserve it solely as an art. In modern-day Japan a swordsmith is only allowed to manufacture two swords a month by law, for example. As a result many smiths travel to Taiwan or China to make extra swords for the export market as foreign-made swords are also illegal in Japan. Bladesmithing is still practiced in Sakai, known in the West as "Seki City" and still found as the stamp on many blades produced there.
peoples also had extremely advanced bladesmithing techniques for their level of technology. Migration Era smiths would often forge-weld blades of multiple materials, and their blades were typically double-edged and straight. Migration Era blades were often forged with a hard steel edge wrapped around a pattern welded core. These swords are commonly associated with "Viking" culture, but it has been hypothesized that they were largely produced in the Rhineland.
was often used in these areas. The term Damascus steel can refer to two different types of artefacts. One is the true Damascus steel, or Wootz steel, which is a high carbon alloy with tremendous edge retention and flexibility due to its composition of carbon nanotubes and carbide nanowires, with a wavy surface texture originating from the crystalline structure of alloy metals such as tungsten and vanadium - elements that occur naturally in iron ore from southern India - to the surface during the manufacturing process. The other is a composite structure made by welding together iron and steel to give a visible pattern on the surface, called pattern-welded steel. Although both were referred to as Damascus steels, true Damascus steels were not replicated in Europe until 1821.
sword-making industry enjoyed a great boom, to the point where its products
came to be regarded as the best in Europe.
. With improvements in steel production, bladesmiths no longer had to forge steel and knives could be machined from flat bars of steel. As cutlery companies moved to mass production of blades and machine tool
s became more available, the art of forging steel began to disappear as knifemakers could grind blades out of existing stock
. By the mid 20th century, bladesmithing had been relegated to a cottage industry carried out by a handful of bladesmiths.
One of these bladesmiths was William F. Moran
, who forged his knives using a coal forge in the manner of a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil to shape the steel. Moran began trying to revive the ancient process of forging Damascus steel
in the late 1960s. However, no living bladesmith knew the exact techniques and without a recipe for the process, it was in danger of being lost; through trial and error he taught himself pattern welding
and referred to his end product as "Damascus steel".
In 1972, Moran was elected president of the Knifemakers' Guild
. The following year he unveiled his "Damascus knives" at the Guild Show and created a revival of interest in the forged blade, and along with the knives he gave away free booklets detailing how he made them, to encourage other knifemakers to take up the hammer and anvil. In 1976 he founded the American Bladesmith Society
(ABS), a group of knife makers dedicated to preserving the forged blade and educating the public about traditional bladesmithing techniques. The handful of traditional bladesmiths in the 1960s rose to several hundred by 2005.
, or coal are still in use, but gas forges are becoming the standard. Likewise the smith's hammer is being eclipsed by the use of hydraulic forging presses and power hammer
s.
such as O-1, A-2, D2 or other tool or high carbon steels
Swords
and longer blades, in modern times, are often crafted of 5160 carbon spring steel
, which is not as hard or brittle as a high carbon steel (such as 1095), but is more durable and less prone to breakage, and therefore more suitable for longer weapons. 5160 carbon spring steel is sometimes used for leaf springs in American trucks, making it readily available in the US. In Europe, EN-45 is more commonly used.
, producing a metal erroneously referred to as Damascus steel. Modern pattern-welded steel can be highly decorative as well as durable (if welded in certain ways with proper steels), and is often used in custom knife- and sword-crafting. Bill Moran
is said to be the "Father of Modern Damascus Steel".
, Highlander III: The Final Dimension
and The Lord of the Rings
and mislead their audiences into false understandings of the art.
. Casting involves heating metal to a liquid state, then pouring the liquid metal into a mold. Conversely, drop forging involves using mechanical equipment to push heated, non-liquid steel into dies or molds. The confusion possibly arises from use of the term "drop", which intimates drops of liquid, or dropping liquid into a mold.
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, daggers and other blades using a forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
, hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
, anvil
Anvil
An anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The inertia of the anvil allows the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool...
, and other smithing tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...
s. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking
Metalworking
Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...
techniques similar to those used by blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s, as well as woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
for knife and sword handles, and often leatherworking for sheaths. Bladesmithing is an art that is thousands of years old and found in cultures as diverse as China, Japan, India, Germany, Korea, the Middle East, and the British Isles. As with any art shrouded in history, there are myths and misconceptions about the process. While traditionally, bladesmithing referred to the manufacture of any blade by any means, the majority of contemporary craftsmen referred to as bladesmiths are those who primarily manufacture blades by means of using a forge to shape the blade as opposed to knifemakers who form blades by use of the stock removal
Stock removal
High stock removal is a technological process with the goal to remove large / substantial amounts of material. The quantity of material, which can be removed in a specific process, depends on the material properties and the machining tool used.-Materials:...
method, although there is some overlap between both crafts.
Related trades
Many blade smiths were known by other titles according to the kind of blade that they produced:- A swordsmith's specialty is making swords.
- A cutlerCutleryCutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
or knifemaker makes knivesKnifeA knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
and other cutlery. - A scythesmith is a smith who makes scytheScytheA scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
s.
Historic bladesmithing
Historically speaking, bladesmithing is an art that has survived and thrived over thousands of years. Many different parts of the world have different styles of bladesmithing, some more well-known than others.Egyptian
Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ians referred to iron as "Copper from the Heavens" because their lack of smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
technology limited their accessible iron supplies to what little native
Native Metal
A native metal is any metal that is found in its metallic form, either pure or as an alloy, in nature. Metals that can be found as native deposits singly and/or in alloys include aluminium, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, indium, iron, nickel, selenium, tantalum, tellurium,...
iron they could recover from meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
s. Despite iron's rarity, they gained enough familiarity with ironworking techniques to have used wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
in the manufacture of swords and blades as early as 3000 BC. They exported this technique to Assyria, Babylon and Greece through trade and as they conquered other lands and were conquered themselves.
Celtic
The Proto-Celtic Hallstatt cultureHallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
(8th century BC) were among the earliest users of iron swords. During the Hallstatt period, they made swords both in bronze as well as iron with rounded tips. Toward the end of the Hallstatt period, around 600-500BC, these swords were replaced with short daggers. The La Tene culture
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
reintroduced the sword, which were very different from the traditional shape and construction of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, characterized by a more pointed tip.
Chinese
Traditional Chinese blades (jianJian
The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the jian date to the 7th century BCE during the Spring and Autumn Period; one of the earliest specimens being the Sword of Goujian.Historical one-handed versions have blades...
s) are usually of sanmei (three plate) construction, which involved sandwiching a core of hard steel between two plates of softer steel. The central plate protrudes slightly from its surrounding pieces, allowing for a sharp edge, while the softer spine protects the brittle core. Some blades had wumei or five plate construction, with two more soft plates being used at the central ridge. Bronze jian were often made in a somewhat similar manner: in this case an alloy with a high copper content would be used to make a resilient core and spine, while the edge would be made from a high tin-content alloy for sharpness and welded on to the rest of the blade.
The swordsmiths of China are often credited with the forging technologies that traveled to Korea and Japan to allow swordsmiths there to create such weapons as the katana. These technologies include folding, inserted alloys, and differential hardening of the edge. While the Japanese would be more influenced by the Chinese dāo (single-edged swords of various forms), the early Japanese swords known as ken are often based on jian. One sided jians from the Tang dynasty provided the basis for various Japanese forging styles and techniques. The Korean version of the jian is known as the geom or gum, and these swords often preserve features found in Ming-era jian, such as openwork pommels and sharply angled tips.
Korean
Korea has a history of swordsmithing dating back 3,000 years. With Korea being in close proximity to both Japan and China (being invaded many times), the three countries have influenced each other.Korean sword
Korean sword
For much of Korea's history, swords were created for an individual user; thus, most Korean swords were different and did not follow a set standard model....
s include long swords such as the yeoh do, geom, and hyup do and curved swords such as Samindo. Metal swords of double bladed leaf structure have been found throughout Korea dating back to the Bronze Age. These bronze swords were around 32 cm in overall length, with a short handle.
Japanese
Japanese bladesmithing stems from Chinese blacksmithing and was brought to Japan by way of Korea. The oldest steel swords found in Japan are known as ChokutōChokuto
The is a type of Japanese sword that dates back to pre-Heian times. Chokutō were made in later periods, but usually as temple offering swords. Chokutō were straight and single-edged hacking swords. That chokutō's design was originally imported to Japan from China, though seemingly most often...
and date to the fourth or fifth century A.D. Although appearing to be ceremonial in nature, samples of these straight blades preserved in the Shōsōin
Shosoin
The is the treasure house that belongs to Tōdai-ji, Nara The building is in the azekura log-cabin style, with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Daibutsuden...
were hand-forged with hardened cutting edges. By the time of the Heian period
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
(794-1185A.D.) the Japanese sword took on its distinctive curved shape as a mounted horseman would have more use for a slashing type of blade as opposed to a thrusting type. These swords were known as tachi
Tachi
The is one type of traditional Japanese sword worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan.-History and description:With a few exceptions katana and tachi can be distinguished from each other if signed, by the location of the signature on the tang...
.
Due to the quality of metal found in Japan, Japanese bladesmithing became an extremely rigid, precise process, involving folding and forge-welding the steel many times over to create a laminated blade. By the time of the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
(1185-1333A.D.) Japan was under the rule of a military class and repelling Mongol invasions. This became known as the "Golden era" of Japanese bladesmithing under Emperor Go-toba
Emperor Go-Toba
was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198....
, who became a bladesmith himself. After retiring as Emperor, Go-toba summoned Japan's finest bladesmiths around him in an effort to develop the perfect sword. It was determined that a sword had to be hard in order to maintain a sharp cutting edge, yet hard steel is brittle and can shatter under the stress of a heavy blow. Swordsmiths in Japan found the solution by wrapping a softer low-carbon steel core such as wrought iron, in a jacket of high-carbon steel and then hardening
Differential hardening
Differential hardening is a method used in forging swords and knives to increase the hardness of the edge without making the whole blade brittle. To achieve this, the edge is cooled more rapidly than the spine by adding a heat insulator to the spine before quenching. Clay or another material is...
the edge. However, under heavy usage, the edge would be more prone to chipping than its European counterparts, which were typically designed to deal with heavier armor than Japanese blades. This was answered by inserting strips of softer steel known as ashi in the hardened cutting edge.
The Mongol invasions
Mongol invasions of Japan
The ' of 1274 and 1281 were major military efforts undertaken by Kublai Khan to conquer the Japanese islands after the submission of Goryeo to vassaldom. Despite their ultimate failure, the invasion attempts are of macrohistorical importance, because they set a limit on Mongol expansion, and rank...
brought with them a need for swords also suited for hand-to-hand combat and the smiths began manufacture of shorter blades to meet this need. It was during the Muromachi period
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...
that the katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
and tantō
Tanto
A is one of the traditional Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate...
came into being. By the sixteenth century, Japanese bladesmithing had become so renowned throughout Asia that the Japanese turned to large scale manufacturing of swords as an export to China. Smiths at Sakai
Sakai
Sakai most often refers to one of the following:*Sakai, Osaka, a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan*Sakai , Japanese surnames written with various kanji*Sakai Project, an open-source educational and research software project...
also crafted knives for cutting tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, which had been introduced by the Portuguese. The Sakai bladesmithing industry received a major boost from the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
(1603–1868), which granted Sakai a special seal of approval and enhanced its reputation for quality.
The Haitorei edict
Haitorei Edict
The was an edict issued by the Meiji government of Japan on March 28, 1876 which prohibited people, with the exception of the military and law enforcement officials, from carrying weapons in public. Violators would have their swords confiscated....
in 1876 banned carrying swords and guns on streets, as a direct result many swordsmiths were left without a trade to pursue, and valuable skills were lost. Bladesmithing resumed in Japan during a nationalistic period prior to the Second World War, but was again outlawed in occupied Japan
Occupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
by the American Occupation Forces and did not resume until 1953, under heavy restrictions to preserve it solely as an art. In modern-day Japan a swordsmith is only allowed to manufacture two swords a month by law, for example. As a result many smiths travel to Taiwan or China to make extra swords for the export market as foreign-made swords are also illegal in Japan. Bladesmithing is still practiced in Sakai, known in the West as "Seki City" and still found as the stamp on many blades produced there.
Germanic
The Germanic Migration periodMigration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
peoples also had extremely advanced bladesmithing techniques for their level of technology. Migration Era smiths would often forge-weld blades of multiple materials, and their blades were typically double-edged and straight. Migration Era blades were often forged with a hard steel edge wrapped around a pattern welded core. These swords are commonly associated with "Viking" culture, but it has been hypothesized that they were largely produced in the Rhineland.
Indian/Middle Eastern
Bladesmithing was common practice in India and the Middle East during the Middle Ages. A special type of steel known as Wootz or Damascus steelDamascus steel
Damascus steel was a term used by several Western cultures from the Medieval period onward to describe a type of steel used in swordmaking from about 300 BCE to 1700 CE. These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water...
was often used in these areas. The term Damascus steel can refer to two different types of artefacts. One is the true Damascus steel, or Wootz steel, which is a high carbon alloy with tremendous edge retention and flexibility due to its composition of carbon nanotubes and carbide nanowires, with a wavy surface texture originating from the crystalline structure of alloy metals such as tungsten and vanadium - elements that occur naturally in iron ore from southern India - to the surface during the manufacturing process. The other is a composite structure made by welding together iron and steel to give a visible pattern on the surface, called pattern-welded steel. Although both were referred to as Damascus steels, true Damascus steels were not replicated in Europe until 1821.
Spain
Between the 15th and 17th centuries the ToledoToledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
sword-making industry enjoyed a great boom, to the point where its products
Toledo Steel
Toledo steel, known historically as unusually hard, is from Toledo, Spain, which has been a traditional sword-making, steel-working center since about 500 BC, and came to the attention of Rome when used by Hannibal in the Punic Wars...
came to be regarded as the best in Europe.
Modern bladesmithing
Bladesmithing began declining after the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. With improvements in steel production, bladesmiths no longer had to forge steel and knives could be machined from flat bars of steel. As cutlery companies moved to mass production of blades and machine tool
Machine tool
A machine tool is a machine, typically powered other than by human muscle , used to make manufactured parts in various ways that include cutting or certain other kinds of deformation...
s became more available, the art of forging steel began to disappear as knifemakers could grind blades out of existing stock
Stock removal
High stock removal is a technological process with the goal to remove large / substantial amounts of material. The quantity of material, which can be removed in a specific process, depends on the material properties and the machining tool used.-Materials:...
. By the mid 20th century, bladesmithing had been relegated to a cottage industry carried out by a handful of bladesmiths.
One of these bladesmiths was William F. Moran
William F. Moran
William F. Moran Jr. or Bill Moran was a knifemaker who founded the American Bladesmith Society and reintroduced the process of making pattern welded steel to modern knife making. Moran's knives were sought after by celebrities and heads-of-state. The "William F...
, who forged his knives using a coal forge in the manner of a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil to shape the steel. Moran began trying to revive the ancient process of forging Damascus steel
Damascus steel
Damascus steel was a term used by several Western cultures from the Medieval period onward to describe a type of steel used in swordmaking from about 300 BCE to 1700 CE. These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water...
in the late 1960s. However, no living bladesmith knew the exact techniques and without a recipe for the process, it was in danger of being lost; through trial and error he taught himself pattern welding
Pattern welding
Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge-welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Often called Damascus steel, blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly...
and referred to his end product as "Damascus steel".
In 1972, Moran was elected president of the Knifemakers' Guild
Knifemakers' Guild
The Knifemakers' Guild is an organization made up of knifemakers to promote custom knives, encourage ethical business practices, assist with technical aspects of knife making, and to sponsor knife shows...
. The following year he unveiled his "Damascus knives" at the Guild Show and created a revival of interest in the forged blade, and along with the knives he gave away free booklets detailing how he made them, to encourage other knifemakers to take up the hammer and anvil. In 1976 he founded the American Bladesmith Society
American Bladesmith Society
The American Bladesmith Society or ABS is an non-profit organization composed of knifemakers whose primary function is to promote the techniques of forging steel blades. The ABS was founded by Knifemaker William F...
(ABS), a group of knife makers dedicated to preserving the forged blade and educating the public about traditional bladesmithing techniques. The handful of traditional bladesmiths in the 1960s rose to several hundred by 2005.
Tools
The basic art and principles of forging a blade has remained similar for thousands of years and the modern bladesmith uses a variety of tools and techniques in order to produce a blade. Forges formerly fed by wood, cokeCoke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
, or coal are still in use, but gas forges are becoming the standard. Likewise the smith's hammer is being eclipsed by the use of hydraulic forging presses and power hammer
Power hammer
Power hammers are mechanical forging hammers that use a non-muscular power source to raise the hammer preparatory to striking, and accelerate it onto the work being hammered...
s.
Steel
Modern bladesmiths use a variety of steels to produce their blades, most commonly high carbon steel, such as SAE 1075 or SAE 1095 (the '10' representing the 10-series carbon steels, while '75' '85' and '95' reflect the carbon content of the steel), tool steelTool steel
Tool steel refers to a variety of carbon and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools. Their suitability comes from their distinctive hardness, resistance to abrasion, their ability to hold a cutting edge, and/or their resistance to deformation at elevated temperatures...
such as O-1, A-2, D2 or other tool or high carbon steels
Swords
Swords
A sword is a cutting/thrusting weapon made of metal. Sword or swords may also refer to:* Swords, County Dublin, Ireland* Suit of swords, a suit in Latin-suited playing cards and Tarot decks* SWORDS, a ground-based military robot...
and longer blades, in modern times, are often crafted of 5160 carbon spring steel
Spring steel
Spring steel is a low alloy, medium carbon steel or high carbon steel with a very high yield strength. This allows objects made of spring steel to return to their original shape despite significant bending or twisting.-Grades:...
, which is not as hard or brittle as a high carbon steel (such as 1095), but is more durable and less prone to breakage, and therefore more suitable for longer weapons. 5160 carbon spring steel is sometimes used for leaf springs in American trucks, making it readily available in the US. In Europe, EN-45 is more commonly used.
Damascus steel
Many bladesmiths are able to forge a special type of steel using a technique called pattern weldingPattern welding
Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge-welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Often called Damascus steel, blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly...
, producing a metal erroneously referred to as Damascus steel. Modern pattern-welded steel can be highly decorative as well as durable (if welded in certain ways with proper steels), and is often used in custom knife- and sword-crafting. Bill Moran
William F. Moran
William F. Moran Jr. or Bill Moran was a knifemaker who founded the American Bladesmith Society and reintroduced the process of making pattern welded steel to modern knife making. Moran's knives were sought after by celebrities and heads-of-state. The "William F...
is said to be the "Father of Modern Damascus Steel".
Movies
A number of myths about bladesmithing have sprung up in the modern era due to incorrect depictions of bladesmithing in movies and other media, as well as a widespread lack of understanding of the art. These depictions often occur in modern movies such as Conan the BarbarianConan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
, Highlander III: The Final Dimension
Highlander III: The Final Dimension
Highlander III: The Sorcerer, also known as Highlander III, Highlander III: The Magician, Highlander III: The Final Dimension, Highlander: The Final Dimension and Highlander 3: The Final Conflict, is the third installment in the Highlander film series. It was first released on November 30, 1994...
and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and mislead their audiences into false understandings of the art.
Drop forging misconception
Drop forging is sometimes confused with castingCasting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
. Casting involves heating metal to a liquid state, then pouring the liquid metal into a mold. Conversely, drop forging involves using mechanical equipment to push heated, non-liquid steel into dies or molds. The confusion possibly arises from use of the term "drop", which intimates drops of liquid, or dropping liquid into a mold.
Further reading
- Weygers, Alexander G. The Complete Modern Blacksmith, 1997.
- Weygers, Alexander G. The Modern Blacksmith, 1974.
- Erik; Jones, F.D. Oberg. Machinery's Handbook 13th Ed, 1946.
- Legendary Swords' Sharpness, Strength From Nanotubes, Study Says