# Tamahagane and blue steel history/legend notes



## refcast (Aug 20, 2021)

http://daikudougu.web.fc2.com/no36Forum.html



There's a short story in the translation that says blue steel was developed by Yasuki steel based on Western cannon steel. The webpage also has a kanna museum and Sanjo blacksmithing history with some Iwasaki notes


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## Barmoley (Aug 20, 2021)

Very cool article, but the way I read it blue steel was developed based on bits that were used to cut British cannons so most likely drill bits or maybe bits that cut rifling if rifling on cannons was cut at that time. Most likely drill bits. Drill or cutting bits make more sense since cannon itself is unlikely to be made out of steel that is appropriate for knife blades, very different requirements. 

"The model for the blue paper was the blade of a bite that sharpened a British cannon. Nagahiro Nagao, the first generation of Echigo Sanjo, used what was produced as scrap steel from the artillery arsenal and saw it with good results, so he sent it to Dr. Haruto Kudo of Yasuki Steel to make the same steel. .. It is a kind of high-speed steel because it is a bite that sharpens a cannon."


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## refcast (Aug 20, 2021)

Yeah that makes more sense than the cannon itself, or even a cannonball -- i would imagine those would be lower carbon steel with no need to be very hard. I assumed that the cannon or cannonball had to be somewhat hard, so it would require air cooling or oil quenching for such a large size, and those steels would probably have chromium or tungsten too


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## Barmoley (Aug 20, 2021)

Yeah I don't know about cannons, but modern rifle barrels are made out of 4150, 416R and the like. I would imagine it was similar at the time too, if maybe inferior to today. Low carbon, tough steels with added elements to improve wear and corrosion resistance.


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## refcast (Aug 20, 2021)

There were two kanji, "big" and "cannon", so I would imagine artillery then, which is about as big a cannon can get aside from Naval stuff.

-- Oh, and later down in the article, it says the "bite", or cutting tool was used on the inside of the cannon, so it makes sense to be some high speed steel or tungsten steel type thing, and not the cannon.

-- also another blog post of yasuki steel legends / hearsay








安来鋼伝説と新潟の名工達　―永弘・初弘・栗林信吉など― : 鉄の表情ぎゃらりー


こんばんは、ご無沙汰です。 新年に掲載した道具の内数点については記事を書きましたが、忙しさと内容の複雑さによる情報収集の難しさにかまけていくつかの道具については触れずじまいでした。 しかしそろそろいい加減に記事を書かないと本当に年を越してしまいそうなの




blog.livedoor.jp


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