TimeWarp #1 - Forging a Tanto from a Century-old Carriage Spring

Charcoal forging a traditional tanto style blade from half of a reclaimed horse carriage leaf spring at 4x speed. (total actual forging time including heating was about 2 hours)
Serious students of the forge can watch the full process version here: https://youtu.be/y7fROs7i8-U

The two distinct stages are sunobe and hizukuri...sunobe establishes the geometry and proportions, and hizukuri is putting in the bevels and creating the final shape. The final dimensions take a little extra care as this blade is being forged very closely to a traditional kata.

The finished forging has a subtle recurve and a slightly dropping spine compared to the kata as the process of yaki-ire will cause the spine to curve upwards.

Shear steel is a very old and somewhat rare form of steel produced by increasing the carbon content of wrought iron using heat and charcoal to create a reduction atmosphere and then forge welding and folding layers together to homogenize the billet. The finished blade has distinct visible layers telling the story of its history.

Design your own custom knife or tanto: http://islandblacksmith.ca/