92 BC, Crossing the Sea of Hidaka [183] Master Ishik's Iron Forging
Chapter 7: Taking on the Challenge of Making an Iron Sword
Section 6: Master Ishik
[183] Episode 4: Master Ishik's Iron Forging
The iron hearth was empty, so I lit a fire in the furnace. Master Ishik sat down on a wooden stool placed in front of it.
“We call the charcoal fire in the furnace a 'fire bed.' It’s much like how we call the place where we sleep a 'bed.' The anvil is the same...”
—A fire bed, huh. They call it that in Hidaka, too.
The bellows here were ones Master Ishik had brought with him from Tuva. He said he had devised them so that even one person could handle them when forging steel. They were crafted into a wooden box and worked in the same way as the two-board bellows Naoto was using.
He placed the box-shaped bellows on the ground and secured them by placing stones at the four corners. A pipe connected to the nozzle in the center of the box was passed under the brick wall so that the air could reach the core of the furnace. The box had a handle, and the mechanism for pushing out air by pushing and pulling it was no different from the two-board bellows.
While watching the flames rising from the charcoal fire, the master, in time with the pushing and pulling of the bellows handle, said,
“Steel must have tenacity.”
He repeated it twice.
“The tenacity of steel comes from hammering and folding it. Do you understand? Watch closely.”
Using a lever, Master Ishik showed me the technique of folding himself.
Several small plates of steel were stacked on top of the lever. He put them into the charcoal fire to heat them, and when the steel began to glow yellow, he took them out, being careful not to let them collapse, and placed them on the anvil. While holding them down with iron tongs, he struck them with a hammer. He struck them many times, changing the position of the strike. Then, all the stacked plates seemed to have merged into one.
Naoto watched with his mouth open from beside the master as he skillfully used the iron tongs, holding them vertically and then laying them horizontally.
—That many small plates have become one. It’s the folding technique. If this is the case, as the master says, I might be able to combine the crushed iron grains into one. But to think he could handle such hot iron this well...
Naoto was more impressed by Master Ishik's strong spirit than by his skill as a craftsman.
He returned the steel on the lever to the furnace, added charcoal, worked the bellows, and burned it until the flames rose again. After a while, he took the yellow-glowing steel out of the furnace, held it with the iron tongs, and hammered it repeatedly while moving it finely to flatten it.
—I can't do anything without an anvil. Was I trying to do this with a flat stone...
After confirming that the many small plates had indeed merged into one, Ishik switched the iron tongs for a chisel, struck it with a small hammer, and made a deep cut in the middle of the flat lump placed on the anvil.
He placed the back of that cut against the edge of the anvil, held it down with the iron tongs, and struck it several times with a hammer to easily bend the lump of steel in two. While turning it with the iron tongs in his left hand, he continued to strike the bent steel with the hammer and flattened it again. The master's breathing had become heavy.
Since black dross was floating to the surface of the steel lump and sticking to it, he brushed it off with a tool like a brush made by bundling many thin iron skewers. The same black dross was scattered around the anvil.
Master Ishik muttered, “This is good,” turned to Naoto, soaked the iron tongs and lever he had been using in water to cool them, and handed them to him just like that.
“You will surely use these eventually, so keep them at hand. I will make a new chisel for you.”
“Thank you very much!”
When I picked up the iron tongs and looked at them closely, they were completely different from the ones I had been using until now.
“The tips are flat. And the handles are bent so that the two sides align well. The weight I feel in my arms is also different. Isn't the weight and size of what can be held with these limited?”
Ishik continued, pointing to various parts of the iron tongs Naoto had handed him.
“That’s right. There are various other improvements, such as making them slip-resistant. Here, and here. And here too... All of these are important for handling hot iron well. I use these to hold the steel for the folding I just showed you. And after folding, I soak it in water. Like this.”
He grabbed the lump of steel on the anvil, which had faded in color and turned red, with the iron tongs and soaked it in the water in the bucket with a hiss.
“Whoa!”
“Don't get burned, Naoto. Make it a habit to always think that everything you see here is this hot, regardless of how it looks. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Return this steel to the furnace, heat it, and repeat the hammering and bending nine more times. Use this brush to clean off the black dross that comes out when you hammer. Do this until you feel with your hands and eyes that it has gained tenacity.
But don't stop there. Fold it two more times after you feel that. Understand? Don't decide that it's good enough by the number. Look closely at the iron, listen to it, and follow your own heart. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand that.”
Naoto truly understood. It was the same way he decided when to take pottery away from the charcoal fire. You look at the fire, listen to the sound of the clay, and finally move by following your heart. Therefore, once you start, you don't have to think with your head; you move forward on your own. You can tell the fire by its heat and color. You can tell how well the vessel is fired by the sound. And your heart moves naturally. He thought it was the same.
Master Ishik was smiling faintly. But Naoto did not understand the meaning of that smile.
Master Ishik, who leads the craftsmen of Ninsha, has no family other than the father he left behind in Tuva. Naoto was told that when the Ninsha people he works with first moved here, Ishik was a very difficult person.
“Ishik is a craftsman among craftsmen. He can do any job in this kiln. And he is better than anyone else. But it is difficult to work with him because he is temperamental.”
However, Naoto did not understand why everyone said that. Master Ishik often spoke to Naoto and was always kind.
“There is plenty of good black iron sand near here. Besides that, red iron sand can also be collected. The soil here is also good. All of these are things you found in your own way.
The materials are there. Therefore, anything made of iron can be made in this iron hearth. The craftsmen for that are also gathered.
Naoto, if you need anything, tell me. I will prepare it immediately.”
“Master, what is red iron sand used for?”
“Red iron sand... For example, for pots. That anvil is also one. If you melt it and pour it into a mold made of sand, it can become any shape. For blacksmiths like us who make tools, red iron sand, which is easier to melt and has many uses, is actually more important than black iron sand. When firing red iron sand, the iron kiln needs a little modification. Would you like to see that work sometime too?”
“Yes!”
Naoto was allowed to actually do what Ishik had taught him at the iron hearth. He started by chipping away at the edges with a small hammer from the black, rugged lump, about the size of a person lying down, that Ishik and the others had fired and pulled out of the iron kiln.
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