[TheForge] Japanese Sen experimentation

[Blacksmith]

    At the ABANA conference in LaCrosse, Wisconsin the 
oriental smiths were making wood planer blades and the
saw blades that cut on the pull stroke. Both were being
shaped with hand scrapers. They were held in (vises) that 
were held closed by pressure from the big toe of the smith's
foot. Very interesting to watch.

Bob Willman
The Eagle's Anvil
Bowling Green, Ohio
WB8NQW

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frederick Faller" <f_faller at yahoo.com>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 11:04
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Japanese Sen experimentation


> Probably there is no difference. I had never seen a
> scraper used on iron (at least not in the context of
> black or blade smithing and the information I got
> about it in information about japanese sword making it
> was called a sen. 
> 
> --- Bruce Freeman <FREEMAB at pt.fdah.com> wrote:
> > What you're describing sounds like a scraper.  Is
> > there a difference?
> > 
> > Bruce
> > NJ
> > 
> > >>> f_faller at yahoo.com 3/17/2005 12:37:25 PM >>>
> > After the thread a few weeks back about the Japanese
> > using the Sen to remove metal from blades I did a
> > bit
> > of poking around and asked a few questions.
> > 
> > After I had some idea about what I was doing, I took
> > and old file that had been abused. It was about
> > .30"thick (big file) I ground the teeth off one face
> > about 3" wide in the middle. Then I ground the edge
> > so
> > that all the teeth were gone (carefull not to burn
> > the
> > steel in the grinding process) and then I ground the
> > bevel to the smooth side of the file to be 60-70
> > degrees and sharpened the edge with sharpening
> > stones
> > until it would shave my thumbnail.
> > 
> > Using a 1.5 X 1.5 angle iron I clamped in a vise, I
> > clamped a softened steel blade to the horizontal
> > flat
> > of the angle iron so I could support the blade over
> > its length and used the ground file (sen) as a
> > scraper. It was amazing. With a little practice I
> > could take off curls of steel like shaving wood with
> > a
> > good plane. I could even smell them ... like the
> > smell
> > of steel curls coming off a lathe.
> > 
> > In half an hour, I had done what it would have taken
> > several hours to do with a file and the surface was
> > surprisingly smooth.
> > 
> > An excellent way to remove metal and shape a forged
> > blade without lots of grinding. I'm sold!
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Frederick W. Faller
> > Shiloh Forge Ironware
> > http://users.rcn.com/ffaller/SFI_web.htm 
> > www.immerland.com 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > __________________________________ 
> > Do you Yahoo!? 
> > Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced
> > search. 
> > http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge 
> > theforge mail list group photo site is
> > http://www.photoaccess.com 
> > Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com 
> > password:  anvil
> > ___________
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> > theforge mail list group photo site is
> > http://www.photoaccess.com
> > Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> > password:  anvil
> > ___________
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> Frederick W. Faller
> Shiloh Forge Ironware http://users.rcn.com/ffaller/SFI_web.htm
> www.immerland.com
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
> http://mail.yahoo.com 
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
> 
> 
> 
>