reposted from islandblacksmith.ca:
Pierre Nadeau of soulsmithing.com prepares to light his new forge in Canada. The focus of this video is sumi-kiri, charcoal chopping, screening, and sorting techniques, and will offer some valuable details for astute observers. Read more about the project, or watch the whole soulsmithing series.
The charcoal is chopped and then processed through four sizes of screen, the largest is for tanren, the second for hizukuri, the third size isn’t highly useful but may be used in mini forges or crushed into fines, the fourth is the fines for lining the bottom of the forge, and the remainder is dust used for mixing into yaki-ire clay or for brasque refractory. Learn more about sorting and screen sizes or read Pierre’s article on the art of charcoal cutting.
I met Pierre several years ago in Japan where he spent almost a decade working as a swordsmith apprentice. I am very grateful for his advice and assistance over the years. He is now continuing his research into traditional Japanese swords and historical crafting techniques.
The next step will be to light the forge for the first time.