Not all katana are San Mai.
I wish people would stop peddling this lie though. There are nice katanas to be had for $3000 or so, made 200-300 years ago, with tamahagane and decently polished. of course if you're looking for a high-end modern art piece by Yoshimitsu, a million will get you probably half the tang and a wait list of over 15 years by my reckoning now.Katanas are $10000 & up, vs chef knives $100 & up, that would exclude most people.
Anyone is deluding themselves, if they think tamahagane is some kind of magical steel with superior sharpness or edge retention compared to modern steels.
It is however more asthetically beautiful if polished to the maximum potential.
So my question is whether this steel is worth the money and hype or it is just mystified for marketing pourpouse ?
I have a theory that unicorn knives such as Kato (shigefusa also following) are a dying breed
I’ve been given the impression in the past, sometimes by vendors that the old way of forging is dying off in Japan.
From what i see the traditional smithing in Japan is there to stay. It's part of their national heritage. The smiths are highly appreciated by their society and the japanese love their traditional knives. It's in their DNA and history.
Can we please stop with katana comparisons. Kitchen knives and katana have very little in common except that both are made of steel and cut things. The design purposes are so different that to draw any comparisons is just ridiculous.
nope, totally disagree. with modern steels, you can only get banding. in tamahagane, you can get different kinds of hada, depending on how the steel was folded and forged and how the hamon is clayed. how the hada appears is up to the skill of the smith in folding and forging and how the polisher is able to bring out those characteristics. also in tamahagane, a good polisher can bring out different kinds of effects in the steel, dependent on the pieces chosen.I might suggest this is even controversial. It is true that this is a part of the Nihonto art form. Blacksmiths and polishers will deliberately work to allow for creating/exaggerating patterns in the steel. Unique or intrinsic to tamahagane? I dont think so... Monosteel blades (honyaki) can produce intricate banding... and my tamahagane razors have zero interesting features beyond a boring hamon!
nope, totally disagree
depending on how the steel was folded and forged and how the hamon is clayed. how the hada appears is up to the skill of the smith in folding and forging and how the polisher is able to bring out those characteristics.
Blacksmiths and polishers will deliberately work to allow for creating/exaggerating patterns in the steel.
with modern steels, you can only get banding
Oh and can someone explain me the relevance of that tamahagane spark test? To me that looks really medieval. The physics behind sparks while grinding is that particles of iron ans steel are broken in the process and catch fire due to friction burn. The more britle the steel the more particles break loose ..the cleaner the iron the more fire it takes. If the steel has other compounds than iron and carbon these might form oxides that prevent burning.
What does this say about tamahagane? That is has less aloys and that it's very brittle. Is it better? Not relevant from this test.
They are beautiful knives, no doubt. What's stopping me is that they are white #2. What is such a knife going to look like after a year of daily use? How much of the Hamon and the mirror finish will still be present then? (That's a genuine question; I have never owned a honyaki.)
My thoughts exactly,. Under assumption it's really being used for a year
i could give two sh*ts about hamon and clouds. i like honyaki because of the dense cutting edge and soft spine, it really makes a difference in how a blade feels in use (feedback, edge stability, etc).
All the harder steel feels denser and heavier to me too compared to San mai and lower hardness mono.What's it mean for a cutting edge to be dense? Are you saying something besides high hardness?
All the harder steel feels denser and heavier to me too compared to San mai and lower hardness mono.
Total waste of money and only for poseurs. There, now you can feel better.....Please allow me my rationalizations. If I seem defensive, it's because I don't want to feel like I need to buy one.
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