A large industrial bearing serves as the unlikely starting point for this Damascus steel katana build. The project follows the transformation of hardened steel into layered patterned metal through ...

The traditional katana sword is fashioned only from the purest steel, which the Japanese call tamahagane ("jewel steel"). Over three days and three nights, smelters using ancient techniques shovel ...

Sparks illuminate the soot-covered studio of Japanese swordsmith Akihira Kawasaki as his apprentice hammers red-hot steel, ...