Thread: Kagi-ba-Sword forging shop

Thank you for the pictures they are very interesting. I admire the clean layout.

Charlie

can't wait to see the finished shop and some of the magical creations you make...

Very interesting.
I am a bit puzzled though. What is the pit for?

Bruno, of the Japanese smiths shops I've been to...the young men work kneeling or squatting on the floor. As they get older and their knees suffer the effects of carrying more birthdays...they move the floor downward. One of the most entertaining fellows put a solid floor on the bottom and had a nice little roll about stool in the pit. We had a huge laugh with him about that when we asked why not simply raise the equipment up to waist height and work from a solid floor.

The simple answer is that it is their tradition to do it this way.

Looks nice. It's amazing how much work goes into such a simple design....

I admire your ingenuity an initiative. Something special about mapping a plan and executing it. I thank you for giving us the opportunity to see your forging shop come to fruition.

Best Regards
Kenny

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Bruno, of the Japanese smiths shops I've been to...the young men work kneeling or squatting on the floor. As they get older and their knees suffer the effects of carrying more birthdays...they move the floor downward.

I should have realized.
This is a typical Japanese thing to do.

I once read about a swordsman who lost his right hand.
Now, you can fight with a sword one handedly rather well if you are good, but the mechanics assume you'll be drawing with your right hand. With only a left hand left, this was not possible.

Rather than simply move his sword to his right side, he developed a complex technique for drawing and then cutting with his sword in the normal position using his left hand, and practiced long and hard until he was good. The Japanese answer (work harder) is often not the solution we would go for (work smarter).

That said, from a logistical pov (supplying charcoal, making the apprentices hammer the steel with heavy hammers, ...) I can see how lowering the floor is also the most practical solution.

I'm wrong in so many ways for saying this. But the American way of working smarter not harder, usually results in a poorer quality product, but ten times as many of it. JMHO. This is of course excluding those few individuals that consider themselves craftsmen, before businessmen. +1 to the sword forge in progress!!

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Bruno, of the Japanese smiths shops I've been to...the young men work kneeling or squatting on the floor. As they get older and their knees suffer the effects of carrying more birthdays...they move the floor downward. One of the most entertaining fellows put a solid floor on the bottom and had a nice little roll about stool in the pit. We had a huge laugh with him about that when we asked why not simply raise the equipment up to waist height and work from a solid floor.

The simple answer is that it is their tradition to do it this way.

Mike,

Mizuochi-san explained it much more logically.

If you have people of different heights working in your forge, they need the equipment at different heights....but it's really hard to adjust the height of an anvil. So they dig a pit in the floor, then have boards cut to fit that can be placed in the pit to adjust the height to fit. Easier than lifting an anvil, in the pre-hydraulic jack days.

Jim, your comment illuminates very well, the practical nature of the blacksmith shop regardless of cultural traditions. I have always enjoyed discovering the different ways the work gets done.