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We chose to go with brass on the first prototype to establish a base line. Of course Copper and Sterling-Silver will be standard options for… Read More »Habaki and Menuki for the Prototype are here

Manuel has been working on the Tsuba for the first Matsukaze prototype. It is an iron Mokko-shaped Tsuba with a fine Mimi and bears “千里之行… Read More »Matsukaze prototype Tsuba

Well,  obviously we do over here at Tokensho and lots of it. But what I meant to say is that our polisher Christophe discovered some… Read More »We have activity …

After some of the no all pleasant discoveries we had to make when the blade first got here (but remember, this is what protoypes are… Read More »Komi-Nagura polishing

The Polish is now in the Chu-Nagura stage and Komi-Nagura is next. While polishing, he discovered a small area in which the Shinogi-Ji got accidentally… Read More »Chu-Nagura polishing

Not the country or the river but rather the Japanese polishing stone. The initial grind, an associated craftsman in Japan had put the blade through,… Read More »Back to Kongo

Yakiire, the hardening of Matsukaze. The blade is coated by the mixture of clay and charcoal (Yakiba-tsuchi), and it is suddenly cooled in the water… Read More »Forging the first Matsukaze 4

火造,(Hidukuri) and 焼きなまし (Nakinamashi), followed by a cold hammering are the steps in which the blade is given its (more or less) final shape.

Shin sent over a couple of pictures during the night. He has formed a rough Sunobe and plans to start Hidukuri next Monday. We are… Read More »Forging the first Matsukaze 2

Shin (our smith Kanemasa-Ono) has been busy forging the first Matsukaze blade. It was forged from a billet of Shirogami 3 (Also known as Shiro-ko),… Read More »Forging the first Matsukaze 1