SOTW #5 - Forging A Tanto Blade...from a carriage leaf spring

**This is the overview edit, for the full length version from start to finish, see: http://youtu.be/y7fROs7i8-U

Charcoal forging a traditional tanto pattern blade from half of a reclaimed horse carriage leaf spring. 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 blade shape is based on the Aizu Shintogo kata, however there was not enough steel to produce the full thickness on the mune (motokasane) of the original blade. Info on the Aizu Shintogo tanto: http://islandblacksmith.ca/2014/04/aizu-shintogo-kunimitsu-tanto-kata/

More about classical tanto geometry: http://islandblacksmith.ca/tag/tanto-geometry/

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. Finished blade has distinct visible layers telling the story of its history.