Great stuff! Been watching your vids for years and have never been disappointed. Thanks for sharing such useful content!

Cool!!! That was an excellent introductory overview!

Thank you so much for this episode

Very informative. I really enjoyed this video. As always you have great content.

I love your videos. So simple and common sense.

It seems your prequenched swords are curved.(?) During my 50+ trips to Japan I stumbled on a museum in Tokyo suburb that had 100+ steps (w/videos) of the sword making process. It was actually a war museum that westerners very seldom visited. The heat treat - hardening was the most interesting. The blank was straight, then heated by a heated block moved over the sword like an iron to ensure that the temperature of the cutting edge and the blade back stock were controlled precisely. Then it was plunged into water bath where by the different metal structures caused the curve of the blade overall. The scallops were the result of fold interfaces in the material and (i guess) differences in carbon content from the process. It seems there are many ways to do the heat treat. Thanks for your very informative videos for novice and professional engineer alike. I'll go down the rabbit hole on the swords later, but just a comment on this one for now. I really liked the screwdriver series.

Unbelivable hamon on your swords. Thanks for video Walter Sensei !

So interesting, this kind of thing is why i'm interested in knifemaking, cheers Walter

Great video ! You gave me some new ideas.😁

Another great video about my favorite blade, japanese. Thanks Walter

Love those videos Bought them all

Nice to see the clay applied and the final product on the same blade and the same video.

Wealth of information here. You're very talented sir. Thank you for the free information 👍🍻

Love it thank you I'll take all the tips I can get. Have a katana cut out of W2 still have to put the angles on it I've got Parks 50 I might do an interrupted quench it's satinite works good for me 2 in between projects it's probably been a year so far. It take so long for me to put one together I don't want to mess it up but it has to look good. Love your videos thanks for the tips

Top knotch video, as always, very professional, like watching a TV show

Great video! You make beautiful swords and knives.

Since this quarantine started my family had a lot of time in our hands, so me and my old man are planing on making one, we have the material to make it and we have the tools what's left is to know the details of making one.

So coool, always wondered what that was, i thought it was damascus but that didnt make much sense to me, how does putting those little lines on the blade edge affect it? Would love to see the finished product.

Thanks for all your content Walter.. its all A+ great stuff.

Nice boshi!!!!

Nice vid, does the clay retain heat or just act as a barrier to heat transfer between the steel and the water?

what clay do you used??

What’s the optimal water temperature for the quench?

I make my clay with clay I dig from my yard, then just add ash and crush/mic together, add water, and it works like a dream

I would love to study with you

How do you temper the blade after the quench?

how do you polish your swords?

Now with the current alloyed steels does this differential tempering contribute something? Thank you

Hello sir, do you mind sharing the method of controlling and adjusting the curvature in the blade during and after this process? I've read it in the text but have never seen it done through video footage. Thank you!

I have a question but I don’t know who will answer it ,if I had made a 1080 carbon steel blade and do the clay temp and do what he did dose the blade come out curved?

You should go into more detail about Quenching in water, Something that seems very hard.

Question for the KZfaq comment peeps out there: Are there places where I can order a high quality katana blade? Just the blade. Not polished. Not sharpened. Just black smithed and quenched properly. I want to make my own katana but I don't know anything about metal smithing

If i make a knife and use that technique, will it bend that much or it won’t make a difference? It’s a 13-14 inches long blade and 3/16 inch thick .

You said modern refractory… is this the same refractory like in a gas forge? And if you don’t mind answering, why do you take some of the refractory all the way to the edge? Does it not leave soft spots on the edge?

Isnt it a reverse edge

You're doing a hybrid quench right? water, than oil?

I am interested in learning to make a katana, is that even possible in America?

So, after quenching, Japanese baldes dont get tempered at all? Or is it still recommended, even though the clay slows down the quenching of the material beneath?

Doesn't those stripes of clay extending to the edge creative soft spots on the edge?

Rutland's? Just about everything I've tried has cracked off a bit- unintentional hitatsura!

Do you try and make the clay waves on both sides match?

I always figured that they were quenched in oil.

Is that a zero grind? If not, what is the bevel?

Make me one!?!?

My favourite hamon is the hitatsura hamon! Look it up!

What type of steel do you use? I know the traditional japenese steels are damn near impossible to acquire so I’m assuming it’s either a 10 series variant or by looks of the whispers of the Hamon in the video, I’m guessing W2?

We’ll be serving hwhite cake now

Your sword don't have kissaki tip.. Or just not finish yet?

Sumi-e.

Yes sir do you do repairs and do you sell swords get back at me thank you

cool , pity they werent made that well 1000 years ago , samurai soldiers wouldnt have been bow men 😀

Absolutely incorrect that the Japanese ONLY developed using a clay slurry on the blade . European smiths solved the problem in just the same way . Each smith develops his own clay mix whilst under his teacher smith . Why American or European smiths run to refractory cement instead of taking the time to develop there own mix , I don't understand . To much trouble I suppose , its easier to run to a commercial produced product . It’s part of the process of your hammon [ hardness line ] development . These blades that are copied so much rarely show the refined details necessary in the blade of a Japanese sword . Where as these details are the living soul of the Japanese sword and the training process a Deshi goes through to learn this art form . I suppose the difference between a reproduction as to a copy . Two different things . .

Wow you look like George W Bush

I will donate $20 to your patreon if you change your soundtracks to something new.

how do you polish your swords?

Isnt it a reverse edge