Yasukuni Tatara Furnace: Komori Iron Sand Vs Masa Iron Sand

[barnejp]

Hello Everyone,

 

If buying a shinsakuto blade, which is more desirable...made from Komori iron sand or Masa iron sand?

 

Looking forward to members opinions.

 

Thank you,

Greg

[IJASWORDS]

In my humble opinion, the end result after forging, heat treatment and polishing is what counts. The raw sand again IMHO makes little discernable difference. KOMORI iron sand is called nursery sand as it reduces quickly to iron, and is almost exclusively used to start the smelting process in any Tatara operation. Impurities sulphur, silicon, vanadium etc vary from sand to sand, and even within the same sand deposit. The forging process is used to expel impurities and slags any way.  

Cutting to the chase, I have bought the blade not the sand. Neil.