Modern sword smiths often use shortcuts during production: mono-tempered blades, buffing wheels and grinders to polish their swords. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know what you’re buying. Some of these time-saving techniques are used by Dynasty Forge – for example, in making our entry-level Musha class, where value and solid workmanship are the primary goals – but what sets us apart is our dedication to traditional process in crafting our higher-end swords.

These swords, in the Daimyo Tamahagane line are made in an elaborate process. This begins when the smith hammers and folds the raw iron. The folding action removes impurities from the metal and introduces the Hada, a rich yet subtle grain patterning of the blade. Our Bushi line also undergoes a similar folding process but uses modern steel as its base material rather than raw iron.

Every great blade is the embodiment of compromise. The smith must make choices in order to produce a sword that is sharp, which demands a hard edge, and resilient to shock, which requires flexibility in the metal. This is accomplished by careful heat-tempering of the blade’s leading edge, a process that results in one of the most remarkable visual aspect of a great Japanese sword. This effect is called Hamon, the undulating line running the length of the blade. Considered the most important esthetic feature of the blade, Hamon is the visual expression of the metal’s physical reaction to intense heat. It’s created when the smith covers the main part of the blade in clay so that only the edge feels the full force of the heat. A milky-white pattern forms where the crystalline structure of the steel is modified. No two Hamons are exactly the same. The Daimyo and Bushi class all undergo this intensive process.

Traditional polishing of the blade is perhaps the most labor-intensive (and thus costly) step in the making of a Japanese sword. Both lines of swords in the Daimyo Class are hand-polished by a series of graduated stones imported from Japan, an artistic procedure that requires more than 30 hours of meticulous handwork. Each stone is finer than the one before – the scratches left by the very last stone are so minute as to actually be smaller than the structural variations in the steel.

To the inexperienced eye, every blade looks glorious. Full appreciation comes through knowledge. Our goal at Dynasty Forge is to promote a fundamental understanding of the lore of the Japanese sword, perhaps the most recognizable blade in the world. As one famous sword expert, Inazo Nitobe, one said. It is no wonder the Japanese sword thrills “with mixed feelings of power and beauty”.