What is Tamahagane?
Traditional Japanese weapons such as a Nihonto and the Wakizashi are made from a steel called Tamahagane. The technology of Tamahagane production came to Japan via Korea and China and is probably more than a thousand years old.
You can translate it into Jewel steel (Tama-Hagane) or Jade steel. Tamahagane is made from Japanese iron sand (fe) known as Satetsu. The Satetsu is placed in a Tatara, a traditional clay oven. The Tatara is heated to a high temperature, approximately 1500 ºC and is mixed with charcoal which gives the Tamahagane hardness.
The Tatara in Japan usually works for +/- three weeks, one cycle takes seven days. Towards the end of the process when the walls of the tatara are broken down, a steel called Kera remains. You can find High (nabe-gane) and Low (hocho-tetsu) Carbon parts Tamahagane in the Tatara after this process.
In this photo you can find a piece made in the Nittoho Tatara from Shimane, Japan, this piece of Tamahagane can be found in my shop for people to take a look.
