A moment of mastery by a blacksmith. .

At the end of the day, Mr. Togashi visited the company. I had a few things I wanted to ask, and our conversation drifted to his experiences as a blacksmith and the art of heat treating.

Mr. Togashi is a renowned master in crafting deba knives. As I’ve mentioned before, achieving a clean heat treatment on the delicate steel known as Shirogami A (White #2) is quite challenging. He shared with me the intricacies of achieving a clean heat treatment, emphasizing the importance of pinpointing the moment when the red-hot knife is submerged in water for just a brief 0.5-second interval. Timing is everything—not too fast, not too slow. It’s about not missing the right moment when the knife reaches the optimal temperature and swiftly swimming it through the fresh, cold water to create a beautifully tempered blade.

I’ve witnessed heat treatments many times at Doi-san’s workshop, and during the process, there’s an aura of intensity and focus that’s almost palpable. It’s like being in the presence of a force that temporarily paralyzes you. Even when attempting to capture the process in photographs, aiming to photograph ten heats, only a few pictures turn out just right… I always seem to hit the shutter a little too late.

“Alright, into the water!” I thought once, but for some reason, I hesitated… and it was precisely at that peculiar moment that the knife was plunged into the water. Blacksmiths seem to possess an innate sense for this crucial moment when life is instilled into the blade.

I believe your own knife has gone through this precise moment, becoming a blade after passing through these stages of intense dedication and practice.

hibishugyo

2006-12-05