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Questions on tamahagane


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Hi, I've got several questions regarding tamahagane.

I have read that tamahagane produced by NBTHK(Nittoho Tatara) has various grades. However, I am unable to find much information such as, what grades are there? And the information regarding these grades such as carbon content and usage. I've seen the some of the grades described as "First grade" and "Second grade" but also as "1A" and "1B".

Are "1A" and "1B" subclassifications of "First grade"? Or is "1A" another term for "First grade" and "1B" for "Second grade"?

Also are these grades restricted to just the tamahagane produced by NBTHK(Nittiho Tatara)?

 

I was hoping we could all share what we know on this topic as it seems rather hard to get details on tamahagane by searching the web. I've managed to find these posts in another forum that have quite a bit of info "https://www.jerzeedevil.com/threads/a-short-history-of-tamahagane.115867/". Hope I'm posting this in the right section and thanks in advance!

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WOW Great question. Although I can’t help I am very interested as it is something that I never thought much about. I hope others with the knowledge that you seek chime in. I like you will be interested in their answers. Thank you so much for posting the question.

     MikeR

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NBTHK's tatara makes three grades of tamahagane (Grades 1, 2, and 3). The site says Japanese swords are made from Grades 1 and 2. This also repeats the information about the carbon content of the steel, namely Grade 1 is between 1.0% - 1.5% carbon, while Grade 2 is between 0.5 - 1.2% carbon. It doesn't say what happens to Grade 3 tamahagane... maybe Grade 3 ends up in the souvenir shop of the sword museum.

 

https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/19308/

 

靖国たたらと日刀保たたらは、それぞれ異なる基準のもと分類されており、靖国たたらでは、「鶴」、「松」、「竹」、「梅」の4段階で品質を分けていました。日刀保たたらでは、「1級品」、「2級品」、「3級品」の3段階で品質が分けられており、作刀の際に用いられるのは1級品や2級品など、最高品質の玉鋼です。

 

As far as I know, there is no official translation of these grades, so when people like me translate into English, we'll use whatever English translation makes sense. So I have used "Grade 1" for 一級品, but another translator might decide to call this "1A".  Note that the predecessor of the Nittōho Tatara was the Yasukuni Tatara, and Yasukuni had 4 grades of tamahagane: Crane, Pine, Bamboo, and Plum. Crane would be the highest grade of tamahagane, while Plum would be the lowest. 

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This is from "The Art of the Japanese Sword"

Grade 1  C 1.31; Si 0.02; Mn 0.01; P 0.017; S 0.003; Ti 0.002; Ni 0.001; Cu 0.01

Grade 2  C 0,77; Si 0.01; Mn 0.01; P 0.022; S 0.004; Ti 0.004; Ni 0     ; Cu <0.01

Grade 3  C 0.31; Si 0.02; Mn 0.004; P 0.021; S 0.007; Ti 0.003; Ni 0.001; Cu 0.01

 

And this is from Usagiya website.

In the furnace, a big iron ingot is produced. It includes various qualities in parts. Then, it is broken into many small pieces. Then, the small pieces are classified into various grades by the terms of hardness and sizes. For example, hard and proper size is highest price, grade 1A (8,250.yen /kg). After it 1B. Some is the too hard (cast iron, 3,300.yen/kg). The steel pieces are classified more grades. And the last pieces are these lowest priced tamahagane. Some people say that this grade of tamahagane is close to the material in Koto period. So some smiths intentionally use this tamahagane.

 

 

 

After tamahagane is not homogeneous i think this are all more tendencys then facts for all the sorted pieces.

 

When i have read interviews with different mukansa smiths and they got asked about what the best tamahagane is they all gave different answers.

I think every smith has his own experiences and methods and prefer different things.

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