Metal working

[druiaghtagh]

How can steel be polished as for example in sword making, and how are patterns in steel produced in sword making, thankyou

[Clanad]

Blade making, especially by an experienced artist, is a very complex process. There are many terms that describe the individual steps in achieving a finished blade. As a child, I cranked the forge blower by hand for my grandfather, who produced knives of various shapes and designs.

During the actual forging process, the natural design formed on the surface of the blade by the intermixing of various materials is enhanced by using an acid bath. This produces intricate and quite beautiful natural designs. If specific designs are desired the blade is engraved, using a variety of tools. This is done on an almost completed blade. The polishing process involves buffing with successively finer stones and cloths. This, of course, is a greatly simplified description of an art that is extremely time consuming and really is more of an art than science. The Japanese, for example, refined the process of achieiving an extremely hard but durable edge to swords by the use of a clay wrapping during the Bushi (Samurai) period during the 10th century.

Blade making appears to have developed in numerous cultures at roughly the same time periods in history, giving rise to the supposition that an individual or group of individuals dicovered and refined the process in a central location (possibly eastern Asia) and then exported the secrets for a price to other areas.

Good luck on your research. It can be very informative and can give insight to devleopment of many other metal working crafts...

[druiaghtagh]

Thankyou Clanad for such a full and interesting answer.