Sword Archives - Ronin's Grips

I thoroughly enjoyed this Japanese video that covers the forging, engraving and heat treat of a Japanese Katana by a Master – Sadatosh Gassan. The video provides a great overview and while it is in Japanese, there are subtitles in English.

What I found most fascinating was the detail of the creation and application of the clay to create the hamon. Sadatoshi-san also is shown carefully engraving a dragon around a plum tree.

Close-up of clay being applied to a katana sword mold for hamon and engraving. — He evenly applied the clay and is now drawing the hamon pattern into it prior to the heat reat.

Japanese katana sword being quenched with clay, showing the hamon — Here it iss just prior to the firing.

Artisan engraving intricate details onto a katana sword blade — Carving the dragon into the blade.

Japanese katana sword with detailed hamon and engraving, showing exquisite craftsmanship. — The end result is beautiful.

The Video

I hope you found this video as interesting as I did!

Please note that all images were extracted from the video and are the property of their respective owner.

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I bought a beat up HI Uddha sword about a year back where the handle was toast. The cool part was that the blade was made by Bura, who was one of the best kamis in Nepal. He had to retire due to health problems and his blades are collector’s items now. At any rate, I decided to replace the trashed handled with black paper micarta, acid etched the blade and made a custom Kydex sheath. It has a new owner now but thought you might find it interesting.

Specs:

24″ overall

16.5″ Blade

7.5″ Handle

Weight of the sword alone: 1.86 pounds

Weight of sheath: 1.08 pounds

Total weight: 2.94 pounds