J.S. Hill

Have you tried this pinned thread? I don't use this process, myself, but it works for MANY folks: http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17602 Hope that helps, Shannon

Photos of Handle and Sheath. Handle is 6 3/4" length. Jyo-saya is 11 5/8". Total length sheathed is right at 19". They are both made from a nice piece of dense red oak. Thanks, Shannon

Price is now $575.00. in Binsuido or $750.00 in fulll (mid-level) polish. There seems to be a lot of folks on the fence about this one, so please let me know if you are seriously interested. I am especially pleased with the shaping on this piece and I think it would be a nice addition to any collection. Thanks, Shannon

This one is now $400.00 with mid-level polish included. For those that have inquired, this is a good time to get this one with a very expensive polish included. Thanks, Shannon

This one is now $200.00 with mid-level polish included. Thanks, Shannon

This one is now $300.00 with nice wooden handle and jyo-saya. Thanks, Shannon

Bump! This one is for only $100.00, now. Thanks, Shannon

Here I have available a very robust and powerfully-shaped wakizashi influenced heavily by the ichimonji-style during the nambokucho period: Here are the stats: nagasa: 21 3/4"" nakago: 5 1/2" motohaba: 1 7/16" kasane: 5/16" mune: iori-mune boshi: tsukiage w/ long kaeri sori: 9/16"--tori-sori (generous sori) hamon: midare with ashi in the Ichimonji style finish: binsuido Material is W2 differentially heat-treated with hamon. Tempered fully (medium hardness) as working blade/sword. Very nice and robust sugata with generous fumbari and nice shaping of the nakago and kissaki. Photos of blade are in rough-grind, however the blade is priced in full foundation polish up to binsuido. More photos here: http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa182/jshannonhill/hira-zukuri%20wakizashi%20--%20ichimonji-style%20--%202012/ I would like $650.00 plus actual shipping for this blade AS IS or best REASONABLE offer. I can ship world-wide and already have swords in several countries. Additional options for this blade can be polish, habaki, reasonable-cost shirasaya, up to full-koshirae. Modest additional charges and all done by a very good professional I am now working with exclusively. Just depends how much you want to spend. This will be a very interesting blade for study in good polish or even cutting. Please contact me with any questions and/or offers either via pm here or at jshannonhill@hotmail.com. Thanks for looking, Shannon

Here I have available a very well-proportioned osoraku-zukuri in a longer tanto-length (smaller wakizashi length) with an impressive and robust presence: Here are the stats: nagasa: 14"" nakago: 4 3/8" motohaba: 1 5/16" kasane: just over 1/4" kissaki length: 9 5/16" mune: iori-mune boshi: tsukiage w/ long kaeri sori: right at 1/8", but appears greater hamon: choji-midare featuring billowy nioi-guchi and proficient ashi finish: binsuido Material is 1050 differentially heat-treated with hamon. Tempered fully (medium hardness) as working blade/sword. This is an aggressive sugata with a strong presence. 1050 tends to show a lot of very nice activities additional to just the nioiguchi and ashi we usually see in monosteel. More photos here: http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa182/jshannonhill/osoraku-zukuri%20tanto%202012/ I would like $400.00 plus actual shipping for this blade AS IS or best REASONABLE offer. I can ship world-wide and already have swords in several countries. Additional options for this blade can be polish, habaki, reasonable-cost shirasaya, up to full-koshirae. Modest additional charges and all done by a very good professional I am now working with exclusively. Just depends how much you want to spend. This will be a very interesting blade for study in good polish or even cutting. Please contact me with any questions and/or offers either via pm here or at jshannonhill@hotmail.com. Thanks for looking, Shannon

I have a few blades laying around that I have just finished heat-treating and would like to sell at good prices. Here is a nice small tanto with really interesting activities: Here are the stats: nagasa: 7 1/8"" nakago: 3 7/16" motohaba: 1 1/8" kasane: 7/32" mune: iori-mune boshi: tsukiage w/ long kaeri sori: mu-zori hamon: choji-midare featuring billowy nioi-guchi and proficient ashi finish: binsuido Material is 1075 differentially heat-treated with hamon. Tempered fully (medium hardness) as working blade/sword. Blade is short but has a nice, strong presence. Additional options for this blade can be polish, habaki, reasonable-cost shirasaya, up to full-koshirae. Just depends how much you want to spend. More photos here--you can probably see more details of the hamon in various photos, but I chose the above photo to show the overall shape: http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa182/jshannonhill/Small%20Tanto/ I would like $200.00 plus actual shipping for this blade AS IS or best REASONABLE offer. I can ship world-wide and already have swords in several countries. Additional options for this blade can be polish, habaki, reasonable-cost shirasaya, up to full-koshirae. Modest additional charges and all done by a very good professional I am now working with exclusively. Just depends how much you want to spend. This could even be a nice edc with the right mount. Please contact me with any questions and/or offers either via pm here or at jshannonhill@hotmail.com. Thanks for looking, Shannon

I have a few blades laying around that I have just finished heat-treating and would like to sell at good prices. Here is a nice chef's knife that is in binsuido stone-finish. Here are the stats: cutting edge: 10 1/2"" width (widest spot): 1 3/8"" thickness: 1/8" tang length: 3 1/2" boshi: tsukiage w/ long kaeri hamon: choji-midare featuring billowy nioi-guchi and proficient ashi finish: binsuido Material is 1095, differentially heat-treated with hamon--tempered on the harder side to keep it keen for kitchen work. This would make a nice project blade. I can make a nice Japanese-style handle for additional cost, but would rather sell it as-as since I am limited on time with another child due to be born in late January / early February. More photos here: http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa182/jshannonhill/chef%20knife%202012/ I would like $250.00 plus actual shipping for this blade AS IS or best REASONABLE offer. I can ship world-wide and already have swords in several countries. I would not mind bringing up the polish on this to a good kitchen-grade polish at no additional cost. Adding a nice handle and/or scabbard is options at additional costs. Please contact me with any questions and/or offers either via pm here or at jshannonhill@hotmail.com. Thanks for looking, Shannon

I recently had a very strange incident of a katana breaking during the quench right below the machi. Odd windy day and the forge needing more "tuning". I took the nakago and made this kiridashi. Here are the stats: cutting edge: 1 3/8" OAL: 5 1/2" thickness (at greatest point): 1/4" Material: W2--differentially hardened and tempered for fairly high RC Edge is shaped with stones and has binsuido finish appropriate for a working knife. Would be excellent for an edc or woodworking. Steel is colors of temper, but I can remove that at customer's request. This is just a nice little user upcycled from a broken sword. Kinda fun to use. More photos here: http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa182/jshannonhill/kiridashi/ I would like $125.00 plus actual shipping or best REASONABLE offer. I can ship world-wide and already have swords in several countries. Please contact me with any questions and/or offers either via PM here or at jshannonhill@gmail.com. Thanks for looking, Shannon

JJ, Do you have the specs for this batch? Just curious, as I am kinda tracking how much the lower-manganese changes the results. Good looking knife. Looks like you grew some nie and possibly even some ara-nie in there. A ten minute soak on a hypo-eutectoid will do that. I think the hamon is technically "hotsure" in suguha, nie-deki. Funny, kinda looks like it has ayasugi-hada ala Gassan-school. As far as sheath, I would go with something practical with this hybrid style. Leather pocket it fits down into with a belt-loop. Just my humble opinion. Thanks for showing! Shannon

No traditionally-trained togishi will admit he/she is using any acid or etching compound. It is considered shady and bad-form--a way to cheat the time it takes to do a really good stone polish. The black powder is kanahada or jitekko--suspended in oil with filtered leavings from uchigumori and they become nugui (kesho if kanahada is used, sashikomi if jitekko is used). It helps bring out the jihada and darken the hue of the steel. Looking up and learning nomenclature is integral to learning about Japanese style blades and nihonto. The terms are specific and make discussion about nihonto easier when they have been learned and understood. You learn Japanese style polishing from a trained togishi. A good written source is The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing by Takaiwa/Yoshihara/Kapp. It is fairly in-depth and gives a good technical overview. Of course, there is nothing like experience to teach us....but polishing your own work is the only ethical way to do this until you are able to produce excellent results. Yes, stone-polishing gives different results. Although acceptable results can be had via paper/buffing/etching on modern steels, there is nothing like a good stone polish on traditionally made steel. Of course, the differences will have to be studied--with good examples from each side to compare and see the difference. And you would have to have an "apples to apples" comparison, since all hand-made steel is different. The results of each polish-type are definitely different. The difference comes form one micro-abrading the surface to show off the activities (stones), while the other micro-etches the steel to show off the activities (paper/buffing/etching). While both are just removal of (tenths of) microns of steel, the action that causes it is different enough to produce different visual results. If you want to create traditional-looking Japanese-style blades, you really need to look at obtaining some electrolytic iron to smelt via orishigane process and use that to make your sunobe. Then learn to polish via whatever method you are able to learn to enhance that. Once you are able to do those complimentary processes, you will be able to improve each one to suit your aesthetic. I am not sure whether manganese will carry over through the aristotle process. Using a cleaner (less-alloyed) parent metal will definitely give you fewer alloys in the steel via this process. Guess you will just have to try it and see. Shannon

Q-1: What causes the lines in any pattern-welded blade? Carbon migration certainly occurs, which one would think would create a less-intense pattern in high-layer count blades (which DOES occur, to some extent). But there must be some amount of difference in the steel where it has de-carb'ed then been folded into higher-carbon steel. Possibly heating inside the charcoal forge creates a type of "case-hardening" effect that gets folded into the mix as well. Take into account that there is little if ANY soaking done in traditional Japanese forging and you negate at least a portion of the carbon-migration between all the layers. Regardless, MANY of the traditional kitae patterns are extremely high-layer, very complicated, and result in a very smooth hada that is difficult to see if the blade is not properly polished and doesn't get the appropriate polishing work for the particular hada. A close-knit itame hada, and especially nishiji are both examples of this. The answer to this question is extremely complicated, but is simply the folding together of different materials. Q-2: Does the old japanese steel really have lines/layers? Yes. To my knowledge ALL traditionally made Japanese steel and iron was purified through folding. Even nanbantetsu blades were adjusted via the orishigane method and then stacked, welded, and folded. ALL TRADITIONALLY MADE JAPANESE BLADES WILL SHOW HADA. At least to some degree. Sometimes it is described as "muji" hada, but there is still something there to discern it as folded, or it would be disregarded as non-traditional. "Muji hada" is actually an antiquated term because their polishing techniques did not allow them to fully "express" the hada from the blade. Modern polishers can do it more easily now and enjoy the fruit of their labor in allowing people to appreciate such fine hada as nishiji and ko-itame, usually highlighting ji-nie and other beautiful activities that previously weren't always discernible. "Nanbantetsu" means "(southern)barbarian iron". It was considered a novelty and a status symbol for the wealthy Japanese. It was incorporated into sword-making as a fashion, not to improve the swords. When a customer requested its use, the smiths just looked at it as another source of iron, one of the raw-materials, and adjusted it through orishigane as necessary to produce steel viable to making swords. There are extant examples marked on the nakago that they were made from nanbantetsu--it added to the value during that particular period of time because of the fashion of the time. From what I can gather, it was rarely used alone for a sword (it was precious, expensive, and rare), so it was usually mixed to some degree with the smith's own orishigane or tamahagane. I have a feeling your blacksmith friend either has a sword made from monosteel--possibly Japanese made gunto or a reproduction. Or, if his sword is authentic and traditionally made, it is probably just in need of polish. A GOOD polish will only last about 100 years of really good, careful preservation before it naturally matte's out and obscures the finer details. If his sword is authentic, it needs professional attention by a Japanese-trained togishi. DO NOT PUT ACID ON IT until someone with proper credentials has confirmed it is NOT traditionally made nihonto. There are other tell-tale signs of a sword's age--especially if it is supposed to be from the 1600's--but those can be faked, too. Best to let a professional look at it. To add--etching won't necessarily bring up hada--it takes "mechanical" enhancement of stones and usually has to begin with koma-nagura if the hada is fine enough. The iron nails in the fire is making of "orishigane", not tamahagane. Tamahagane is made strictly in a tatara. Orishigane is made many ways, but usually in the smiths own forge. I remember a thread here where Skip Williams was making puddled steel with an aristotle-type furnace out of rebar and it worked well for him. Might look that up. Buffing/etching may or may not bring up the hada. Depends on the difference in the steel. If it is close to the same consistency (homogenous), then it will not show as prominently. In Japan (or here if you are working traditionally), stones are used. Bringing up the hada begins EARLY if the hada is really fine. Usually starts at koma- or chu-nugura with careful stone work and then enhanced with the tsuya near the final stages of the polish using increasingly harder segments of narutakido to make the hada more and more prominent. This is exhaustive work and takes a lot of experience to get right. Like Zeb and Al said--the sulfur in coal will kill the steel and impart properties that will make it unusable for a sword. Doug and Al--tosho have ALWAYS recycled iron/steel. It was too precious not to. Tools, swords, armor, anything iron. And yes, most new blades by higher ranking smiths ARE made from NBTHK tamahagane--but that IS definitely a modern thing. Lower-ranked smiths are actually making swords more like swords were made before the NBTHK. From anything they can. I wonder that getting their tamahagane from NBTHK doesn't at least make a paper-trail that will keep Japanese tosho looking legit, even if they are throwing the odd thing in the mix sometimes. Not sure if they use the NBTHK tamahagane because of law, politics, or convenience. NBTHK definition of their trade regarding the making of steel say they have to use NBTHK supplied tamahagane, make their own tamahagane, or make their own orishigane (which assumes a portion of tamahagane will be used with the orishigane). It gets fuzzy on not really defining what can be used as iron for the orishigane process. I am sure some of it is political, but I am also sure that it is a matter of convenience for the higher-ranked swordsmiths--they get their pick of the annually-made tamahagane FIRST, the leavings get filtered down to the lesser-ranked. The lowest-ranked smiths MUST be using tamahagane that is almost all iron and impurities (NBTHK leftovers) and adding their own orishigane to make up the difference. Yes, the government is very strict on licensing and tosho obeying the rules. Of course, they are all competitive and would likely cry foul if someone in their ranks were cheating so much that it was obvious.... Clear as mud? Shannon