Gentle Galoots,

Short version: made and cracked a sword

Long version:

Last week I attended a class at the New England School of Metalwork. It
was an Introduction to Japanese Swordmaking and we each forged out a
complete sword and did the heat treatment. The class was given by Don
Fogg who is a great teacher. Don posted some pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfogg/sets/72157608474758004/

That's me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfogg/2983498265/in/set-72157608474758004/

We started the class by forging a sen which is used as a hogging tool to
get rid of lots of steel, fast. After adjusting the bevel to a steeper
angle, mine started cutting nice curls, a revelation, you can plane
steel! The next day we forged the sword and the day after we scraped and
filed it flat. Then it was coated with clay, heated and quenched in
water. Unfortunately the first two blades cracked, I was first. The rest
of the blades survived after a small adjustment to the quench time. I
actually attempted a quench twice and both times lost the tip of the
blade, so now I have two small tip-shaped knives and a funny-looking
small sword :>

Even with the cracks, the class was fantastic and I highly recommend it.
No affiliation, etc., etc..

Adriaan

"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the
stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the
people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or
number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the
young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open
air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have
been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults
your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the
richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its
lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion
and joint of your body." - Preface to Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman


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