The qualities of tamahagane are mostly mystical. For hundreds of years Japan had only one local source for iron and that was iron sand. It took a lot of time, effort and money to remove the iron from that sand, mainly because the iron ore in that sand was NOT particularly pure. The steel made from this iron is pure in the way that it only contains iron, carbon and maybe traces of silicon and manganese, but not much else. It made sense to use that expensive steel in swords for noblemen. The fact that these swords were status symbols carried by rich and powerful men helped proliferate the reputation of tamahagane's purity - a virtue held high in Japanese culture - and the mythical way it was created. You can still make nice knives and swords from tamahagane, but any modern steel is easier to manufacture, therefore cheaper and better in almost all aspects.
the reason that the blades were folded so much is because the iron contained so much carbon that the blade would be extreamly brittle... the swords were made of iron, not steel.
@@Jimothy-723It was steel. If your starting material was carbon steel (tamahagane goes around 0.5-1.5%C), piled and forged and folded, it'll reach a desired carbon content for the edge. Plus we have works written on the matter that analyzed any kind of ironwork in Japan you could think of
"if you were to attempt making tamahagane you would fail to control the temperature and remove the impurities" except the rest of the world has made furnace iron/steel just like that for thousands of years, nowadays in europe in most blacksmiths fairs, people make iron just like that, and remove the impurities, and get a nice bloom. There's nothing mystical by itself about this steel, it's just a lot of work to make.
You have my absolute dream knife. Legit, ‘turn in your swords’, but saved, chopped into knives. Plus, you have a Canuck?! 😅 how’s it goin bud, sick FKN blade you made there, but out of my range, eh! One day i will get my Jewel.
I wonder if for the sword blade if there. Is any picture, lineage for the sword that was used?? It says 300 year old swords, but per knife would want to know.. 😊😊😊
"the world's purest steel" is absolute nonsense. Tamahagane has MUCH more impurities than modern steel. That is what gives it such interesting patterns. I don't know why you felt the need to lie in your title, but it honestly makes you look very bad. It's ok for it to be beautiful, you don't also have to lie about it. Tamahagane is impressive enough already.
The term "purest" here doesn't refer to the absence of solid impurities in the bloom/ingot but rather the absence of alloying elements like chromium and Vanadium whose carbides are larger than carbides of iron. Because of this, tamahagane and equivalent modern steels can attain a sharper edge. This isn't important for swords since you're swinging them with the force of a bat, but it's a nice bit of info. Western steel was always bettefm
The term "purest" here doesn't refer to the absence of solid impurities in the bloom/ingot but rather the absence of alloying elements like chromium and Vanadium whose carbides are larger than carbides of iron. Because of this, tamahagane and equivalent modern steels can attain a sharper edge. This isn't important for swords since you're swinging them with the force of a bat, but it's a nice bit of info. Western steel was always better
That myth of purity developed long before there was a thorough understanding of chemistry and the individual components that make steel. What was later understood as "pure" is the absence of elements that are detrimental to the steel's properties such as sulfur, oxygen, phosphorus and such. A pure steel is one that contains only iron, carbon and traces of manganese.