Forging the tip of a Japanese sword blade correctly takes time, patience and attention to detail. Before I explain how I do it, first a little history.

Most vintage Japanese swords were made with a high-carbon jacket of steel, or hadagane, wrapped around a soft, low-carbon inside core called shingane. The Japanese found a way to forge the point of the blade to shape while keeping the high-carbon jacket of steel around the edge all the way to the tip.

The technique was ingenious and opposite of how most observers would normally think a point would be forged.



After you have rough shaped the blade and before you have forged the edge, cut off the top tip of the sword at a 45-degree angle. The longest part of the sword is now the edge.

Place the blade on the anvil edge up and forge the tip down a bit more. Continue forging the edge thinner on the flats, delivering equal amounts of hammer blows on each side of the blade.

Continue until the point is at the top of the sword. You now have high-carbon steel all along the cutting edge right up to the point of the blade.