Somthing worth looking at!

[David Gendron]

I got the link from Andre Lunn Blog page.
http://web.mac.com/nami_aru/Daiku/%E...%E3%81%84.html
just click on the titles at the top for different video!

[george wilson]

I may be doing it wrong,but I can't make anything happen.

[David Gendron]

I don't know George, I just click on the link in my post and it brings me to the web page, and then, I click on one of the title at the top of the page and it open a QuickTime Player clip.

[Jim Belair]

Works for me and very interesting. Thanks David.

George, the videos play with QuickTime Player. If you don't have it you should be able to search for it and download.

Jim B

[Joe Cunningham]

Japanese tool making for anyone interested (at least I am assuming it is Japanese). Very interesting videos

[Leigh Betsch]

Jeez not one electron microscope in sight!
Obviously these guys must not get there edges sharp.

Seriously, very interesting.

[jerry nazard]

Jeez not one electron microscope in sight!
Obviously these guys must not get there edges sharp.

Seriously, very interesting.

Probably have a gray matte finish, too....

[Tony Shea]

Now that's cool stuff. The first one with the saw is just awesome, although haven't had the time for the others yet. The speed the guy sharpens those saws is impressive. And the other person putting the set on the saws with a pointed hammer is just insane at how precise they are with it. I couldn't set a saw with a hammer if I practised for years on end, that takes some serious skill. The entire process just awe struck me. Good stuff.

[Jim Koepke]

Wish I could understand what they were saying.

jim

[Andrew Gibson]

OK I am seriously impressed!

I think the part that got me the most was watching the guy temper the blade in the second video I think, and getting the teeth purple and leaving the rest of the blade softer.

Or maybe the hammer maker pulling the head out of the water with his bare hand after about 20 seconds of it being in the water after being red hot, and watching the steam come off the steel.

The guys setting and filing the saw teeth was amazing as well... all around very impressive.

[Leigh Betsch]

Wish I could understand what they were saying.

jim

My Japanese isn't very good but I'm quite sure I heard one of them say something about "loosening up the molecules"!

[David Gendron]

I think it's more like:" Just wait until a western woodworker see this..."

[Leigh Betsch]

I wonder if making steel tools this way is really any better than making them out of modern tools steel. I can see that before there were good steel mills and mass produced tool steel this was probably the only way to get good metal tools. Seems to me that today all the pounding and hammering goes on at the mill and our job is to machine it into shapes. I know that the way they are working the steel changes it properties and makes it much better but I wonder which is better, hand worked steel or modern methods to produce high alloy tool steels.

[David Gendron]

If you go on Barr tools web site, He explane the benefits of "handforged" tools vs. milled or machined tools. He is the only one I know in N-A that do it comercialy.

[Jim Koepke]

I wonder if making steel tools this way is really any better than making them out of modern tools steel. I can see that before there were good steel mills and mass produced tool steel this was probably the only way to get good metal tools. Seems to me that today all the pounding and hammering goes on at the mill and our job is to machine it into shapes.

There must be something to be said about the "old ways" since many people use the chisels and planes made this way and say they do not want to bother with even older western tools.

There really is not one right way. My western chisels may need sharpening more than a quality Japanese chisel, but that is my choice. I have used inexpensive pull saws and they have many qualities not present in western saws. I may be clumsy or it may be the lower quality of the less expensive pull saws that I buy tend to end up with bent or broken teeth. I also seem to have more problem getting them to track straight than with a western saw. Now I have so many western saws that something has to be a considerably great deal for me to even consider a purchase. Unless of course it is a good back saw. I do not have too many of those yet.

I know that the way they are working the steel changes it properties and makes it much better but I wonder which is better, hand worked steel or modern methods to produce high alloy tool steels.

Maybe both… One of the problems with modern methods is the need for profits and speed. To the manufacturer, being able to cut a few dollars off of a ton of finished goods is better even though the quality may be a little lower.

To those of us who feel a spirit resides in even the least of physical entities, the spirit that finds residence in a piece produced with the care of a dedicated artist has more to give to what the masterpiece can do than the spirit that has taken residence in an item made by a machine just before quitting time.

All good chisels go to heaven?

jim