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Tamahagane
is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word means 'precious', and the word means 'steel'. is used to make Japanese swords, daggers, knives, and other kinds of tools. The carbon content of the majority of analyzed Japanese swords historically lies between a mass of 0.5–0.7%; however, the range extends up to 1.5%. Production is made of an found in Shimane, Japan. There are two main types of iron sands: and . is lower quality, is better quality. The (furnace master) decides the amount of the mixing parts. Depending on the desired result, the mixes one or more types of sands. The iron sand is put in a , a clay tub furnace. The clay tub measures about tall, long and wide. The tub is dried and heated to about . Then, it is mixed with charcoal to add carbon to the steel so it can be hardened. The process of making continues for 36–72 hours (a day and a half to three days), depending on how many people work and how much metal is to be obtained. Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Swordsmithing
Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan beginning in the sixth century for forging traditionally made bladed weapons ( ''nihonto'') including ''katana'', ''wakizashi'', '' tantō'', ''yari'', '' naginata'', ''nagamaki'', '' tachi'', '' nodachi'', '' ōdachi'', '' kodachi'', and ''ya'' (arrow). Japanese sword blades were often forged with different profiles, different blade thicknesses, and varying amounts of grind. ''Wakizashi'' and ''tantō'' were not simply scaled-down ''katana'' but were often forged without a ridge (''hira-zukuri'') or other such forms which were very rare on ''katana''. Traditional methods Steel production The steel used in sword production is known as , or "jewel steel" (''tama'' – ball or jewel, ''hagane'' – steel). ''Tamahagane'' is produced from iron sand, a source of iron ore, and mainly used to make samurai swords, such as the ''katana'', and some tools. The smelting process used is different ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamahagane
is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word means 'precious', and the word means 'steel'. is used to make Japanese swords, daggers, knives, and other kinds of tools. The carbon content of the majority of analyzed Japanese swords historically lies between a mass of 0.5–0.7%; however, the range extends up to 1.5%. Production is made of an found in Shimane, Japan. There are two main types of iron sands: and . is lower quality, is better quality. The (furnace master) decides the amount of the mixing parts. Depending on the desired result, the mixes one or more types of sands. The iron sand is put in a , a clay tub furnace. The clay tub measures about tall, long and wide. The tub is dried and heated to about . Then, it is mixed with charcoal to add carbon to the steel so it can be hardened. The process of making continues for 36–72 hours (a day and a half to three days), depending on how many people work and how much metal is to be obtained. Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward. Since the Muromachi period, many old ''tachi'' were cut from the root and shortened, and the blade at the root was crushed and converted into a ''katana''. The specific term for ''katana'' in Japan is and the term ''katana'' (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world. Etymology and loanwords The word ''katana'' first appears in Japanese in the ''Nihon Shoki'' of 720. The term is a compound of ''kata'' ("one side, one-sided") + ''na'' ("blade"),1995, (''w:Daijisen, Daijisen'') (in Japanese), w:Tōkyō, Tōkyō: w:Shogakukan, Shogakukan, , entry available onlinhere/span> in contrast to the double-sided ''Tsurugi (sword), tsurugi''. The ''katana'' belongs to the ''nihontō'' family of swords, and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatara (furnace)
The is a traditional Japanese Metallurgical furnace, furnace used for smelting iron and steel. The word later also came to mean the entire building housing the furnace. The traditional steel in Japan comes from ironsand processed in a special way, called the tatara system.https://www.jsme.or.jp/tsd/ICBTT/conference02/TatsuoINOUE.html "Science of Tatara and Japanese Sword - Traditional Technology viewed from Modern Science" by Tatsuo INOUE Iron ore was used in the first steel manufacturing in Japan. Tatara steelmaking process using ironsand was conducted in the Kibi Province, which later became the base of the Japanese sword#Classification by school, Bizen school of swordsmithing, around the middle of the sixth century, and steelmaking using ironsand is thought to have spread from Kibi to various places in Japan. In western Japan, a low box-shaped furnace different from the Chinese and Korean style was used to refine iron, and in eastern Japan, both a low box-shaped furnace and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bulat Steel
Bulat is a type of steel alloy known in Russia from medieval times; it was regularly mentioned in Russian legends as the material of choice for cold steel. The name ' is a Russian transliteration of the Persian word ', meaning steel. This type of steel was used by the armies of nomadic peoples. Bulat steel was the main type of steel used for swords in the armies of Genghis Khan. Bulat steel is generally agreed to be a Russian name for wootz steel, the production method of which has been lost for centuries, and the bulat steel used today makes use of a more recently developed technique. History The secret of bulat manufacturing had been lost by the beginning of the 19th century. It is known that the process involved dipping the finished weapon into a vat containing a special liquid of which Ononis spinosa, spiny restharrow extract was a part (the plant's name in Russian, ', reflects its historical role), then holding the sword aloft while galloping on a horse, allowing it to dry a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steels
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the most commonly manufactured materials in the world. Steel is used in structures (as concrete reinforcing rods), in bridges, infrastructure, tools, ships, trains, cars, bicycles, machines, electrical appliances, furniture, and weapons. Iron is always the main element in steel, but other elements are used to produce various grades of steel demonstrating altered material, mechanical, and microstructural properties. Stainless steels, for example, typically contain 18% chromium and exhibit improved corrosion and oxidation resistance versus its carbon steel counterpart. Under atmospheric pressures, steels generally take on two crystalline forms: body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic, however depending on the thermal history and alloying, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wootz Steel
Wootz steel is a crucible steel characterized by a pattern of bands and high carbon content. These bands are formed by sheets of microscopic carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite matrix in higher-carbon steel, or by ferrite and pearlite banding in lower-carbon steels. It was a pioneering steel alloy developed in southern India in the mid-1st millennium BC and exported globally. History Wootz steel originated in the mid-1st millennium BC in India, wootz steel was made in Golconda in Telangana, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka. The steel was exported as cakes of steely iron that came to be known as "wootz". The method was to heat black magnetite ore in the presence of carbon in a sealed clay crucible inside a charcoal furnace to completely remove slag. An alternative was to smelt the ore first to give wrought iron, then heat and hammer it to remove slag. The carbon source was bamboo and leaves from plants such as Avārai. Locals in Sri Lanka adopted the productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toledo Steel
Toledo steel, historically known for being unusually hard, is from Toledo, Spain, which has been a traditional sword-making, metal-working center since about the Roman period, and came to the attention of Rome when used by Hannibal in the Punic Wars. It soon became a standard source of weaponry for Roman legions. Toledo steel was famed for its high quality alloy. History The name "Toledo steel" comes from the city where these special steel products were most-notably crafted: Toledo, Spain. Toledo steel forging techniques were developed from ancient customs associated with culture in the Iberian Peninsula, and used to forge many different types of weapons over the course of many centuries. In simple terms, the Toledo steel technique consisted of a steel blade that enveloped a wrought iron strip, thus preventing the steel from bending or cracking. As such, the strong and durable Toledo steel weapons were said to have had a "soul of iron". In ancient Iberia, blacksmiths in Tol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noric Steel
Noric steel is a historical steel from Noricum, a kingdom located in modern Austria and Slovenia. The proverbial hardness of Noric steel is expressed by Ovid: ''"...durior ..ferro quod noricus excoquit ignis..."'' which roughly translates to "...harder than iron which Noric fire tempers Anaxarete.html" ;"title="as Anaxarete">as Anaxarete towards the advances of Iphis]..." and it was widely used for the weapons of the Roman military after Noricum joined the Empire in 16 BC. The iron ore was quarried at two mountains in modern Austria still called ''Erzberg'' "ore mountain" today, one at Hüttenberg, Carinthia and the other at Eisenerz, Styria, separated by . The latter is the site of the modern Erzberg mine. Buchwald identifies a sword of found in Krenovica, Moravia as an early example of Noric steel due to a chemical composition consistent with Erzberg ore. A more recent sword, dating to and found in Zemplin, eastern Slovakia, is of extraordinary length for the period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damascus Steel
Damascus steel (Arabic: فولاذ دمشقي) refers to the high-carbon crucible steel of the blades of historical swords forged using the wootz process in the Near East, characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water, sometimes in a "ladder" or "rose" pattern. "Damascus steel" developed a reputation for being tough, resistant to shattering, and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge. The term "Damascus steel" traces its roots to the medieval city of Damascus, Syria, perhaps as an early example of branding. However, there is now a general agreement that many of the swords, or at least the steel ingots from which they were forged, were imported from elsewhere. Originally, they came from either Southern India, where the steel-making techniques used were first developed, or from Khorasan, Iran. The methods used to create medieval Damascus steel died out by the late 19th century. Modern steelmakers and metallurgists have stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crucible Steel
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron, cast iron, iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. Crucible steel was first developed in the middle of the 1st millennium BCE in Southern India and Sri Lanka using the wootz process. In ancient times, it was not possible to produce very high temperatures with charcoal or coal fires, which were required to melt iron or steel. However, pig iron, having a higher carbon content and thus a lower melting point, could be melted, and by soaking wrought iron or steel in the liquid pig-iron for a long time, the carbon content of the pig iron could be reduced as it slowly diffused into the iron, turning both into steel. Crucible steel of this type was produced in South and Central Asia during the medieval era. This generally produced a very hard steel, but also a composite steel that was inhomogeneous, consisting of a very high-carbon steel (formerly the pig-iron) and a lower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomery
A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called a ''bloom''. The mix of slag and iron in the bloom, termed ''Direct reduced iron, sponge iron'', is usually consolidated and further forged into wrought iron. Blast furnaces, which produce pig iron, have largely superseded bloomeries. Process A bloomery consists of a wikt:pit, pit or chimney with heat-resistant walls made of earth, clay, or Rock (geology), stone. Near the bottom, one or more pipes (made of clay or metal) enter through the side walls. These pipes, called tuyeres, allow air to enter the furnace, either by natural draught or forced with bellows or a trompe. An opening at the bottom of the bloomery may be used to remove the bloom, or the bloomery can be tipped over and the bloom removed from the top. The first step taken b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
