Dragonfly Forge

November 15, 2007

2008 Dragonfly Forge Swordsmithing School Course Schedule

Basic Forging Course

This is a hands-on course designed to give the student a working familiarity with the tools and metals utilized in the forging of a sword blade. Each student will forge his own blade of at least wakizashi length from forge-welded steel cable.

Skills learned will include forging, grinding, filing and heat-treating, with attendant emphasis on metallurgy and proper shaping and aesthetics. All tools, fuel, and material included.

The price of the course is $1100 and is limited to four students per session. A deposit of $200 is requested, refundable up to 30 days before session begins.

April 21-25
June 9-13
July 7-11
Sept 8-12
August 25-29 Continue reading “2008 Dragonfly Forge Swordsmithing School Course Schedule”

October 26, 2007

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Interactive Gallery Tour

July 16, 2007February 9, 2025

Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Interactive Tour of Japanese Arms and Armor

This link to an interactive tour by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts has some very nice detailed photos, mostly of tsuba and other koshirae fittings. We especially love nice Higo openwork iron tsuba.

UPDATE: This link is now dead.

December 3, 2005

Light as a Dragonfly by Kathryn Ortland and Justin Speyer.

An article and photos from 2005 by Kathryn Ortland and Justin Speyer. The article is in PDF format and was previously available online and can be read here.

July 15, 2005

Reflections of Steel, by Win Prue

It has been said the Japanese sword possesses a soul of its own–that it is an extension if not the very counterpart of the warrior’s soul itself. I believe this to be true, though I also maintain that the sword is a reflection of its creator–the tosho, the swordsmith. The swordsmith is charged with the arduous task of upholding a tradition that has existed for well over a thousand years. With only the barest of resources–iron, sand, fire–combined with his knowledge and the strength of his hands, the tosho must strive to create something greater than himself, instilling life in each blade with every strike of his hammer. Continue reading “Reflections of Steel, by Win Prue”

August 5, 1999February 9, 2025

Alabama Forge Council Bladesmithing Symposium, Michael Bell on Japanese Swords

An older article from Swordforum Magazine.

” This year, the Alabama Forge Council’s (AFC) annual Bladesmithing Symposium featured special guest Michael Bell – a swordsmith from Oregon and one of the premiere smiths working today, trained in the Japanese tradition by five-year apprenticeship under Master Swordmaker Nakajima Muneyoshi in 1970.”

The rest of the article is available here.

Article and photographs by Adrian Ko.