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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cold

This weekend I had great adventure in a visit to a Japanese swordsmith, about which I'll write soon. One side event was that the swordsmith, who normally works with 1,000-degree metals, was also visited at the same time by a cold-forging metal smith, and the two traded notes and techniques of their vaguely-related crafts.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pewter Blanks
about the diameter of a US quarter

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Progress So Far
after a lot of hammering

The swordsmith is used to hammering, but not to touching what he's hammering with his bare hands (because it's normally glowing red hot).

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Smoothing Some Ridges

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Taking a Break

An hour and a half later....

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rough Shaping Begins

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Working the Edge

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Inspection by the Master

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Heh, This is Harder Than it Looks”
( I don't recall what he was really saying, but that's what I see in his smile )

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Little More Instruction

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
More-Refined Shaping?

This is, of course, the answer to the “What am I?” Quiz that will stump you from the other day.

Most of the products that the metalworker makes would not fit directly into any of these curves, so I'm not 100% sure on what they're for, other than some level of shaping. It's interesting to note that they're not used for the basic shape, but rather, that's done by many light taps at the edge of the wood.