bladesmithing
Forging edged weapons
Bladesmithing is the craft of forging knives, swords, and other edged tools.
It involves heating metal, shaping it through hammering, and heat-treating the finished blade for hardness and durability.
The term distinguishes this specialty from general blacksmithing: He studied bladesmithing to make custom hunting knives.
Metal-shaping block
- hammerTool for striking nails
- forgeFurnace for shaping metal
- tongsHinged grasping utensil
- quenchingRapid cooling process
tempering · billet · hardening · normalizing · upsetting · punching · drifting · swaging
Sloped edge or cut
Carbon-hardened iron alloy
Boundary or sharpness
- whetstoneStone for sharpening blades
- honingGradual sharpening or refining
- stroppingSharpening on leather
- razor-sharpExtremely fine-edged
keenness · apex · burr · compound · cutting-edge · angle · grit
Learning trade through employment
- journeymanQualified trade worker
- guildProfessional mutual-aid society
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- kukriCurved Nepalese combat blade
barong · katana · lineage · techniques · lore · mastersmith
anvil
Metal-shaping block
quenching · tempering · billet · hardening · normalizing · upsetting · punching · drifting · swaging · flux
bevel
Sloped edge or cut
steel
Carbon-hardened iron alloy
annealing · stainless · decarburization · scale · toughness
edge
Boundary or sharpness
- whetstoneStone for sharpening blades
- honingGradual sharpening or refining
- stroppingSharpening on leather
razor-sharp · keenness · apex · burr · compound · cutting-edge · angle · grit
apprenticeship
Learning trade through employment
- journeymanQualified trade worker
- guildProfessional mutual-aid society
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
kukri · barong · katana · lineage · techniques · lore · mastersmith
polishing
Smoothing by friction
patina · pinning · epoxy · hand-rubbed · stonewash · engraving
- metalworkgilding, silversmithing, enamel, metal crafts, metalsmithing
- metalworkingwelding, casting, smelting, anvil, forge
- weaponcraftswordsmithing, bow making, bowmaking, gunsmithing, fletching
- craftssewing, knitting, painting, glue, scissors
- bladesedge, knife, cutting edge, scalpel, dagger
- swordssword, sabres, longsword, rapier, saber
bladesmithingcasting
Shaping through liquid form
machining · die casting · sand casting · laser cutting · metal casting
blade, smith, forging, smithing, metalworking, blacksmithing, bladesmith, knifemaking, swordmaking