How Japanese Masters Turn Sand Into Swords | Veritasium

This is a video about how Japanese samurai swords, aka katanas, are made – from the gathering of the iron sand, to the smelting of the steel, to the forging of the blade. References: Tanii, H., Inazumi, T., & Terashima, K. (2014). Mineralogical study of iron sand with different metallurgical characteristic to smelting with use of Japanese classic iron-making furnace “Tatara”. ISIJ international, 54(5), 1044-1050. Tate, M. (2005). History of Iron and Steel Making Technology in Japan Mainly on the smelting of iron sand by Tatara. Tetsu-to-Hagane, 91(1), 2-10. Krauss, G. (1999). Martensite in steel: strength and structure. Materials science and engineering: A, 273, 40-57. Krauss, G., & Marder, A. R. (1971). The morphology of martensite in iron alloys. Metallurgical Transactions, 2, 2343-2357. Yalçın, Ü. (1999). Early iron metallurgy in Anatolia. Anatolian Studies, 49, 177-187. Kapp, L., Kapp, H., & Yoshihara, Y. (1987). The craft of the Japanese sword. Kodansha International. Matsumoto, C., Das, A. K., Ohba, T., Morito, S., Hayashi, T., & Takami, G. (2013). Characteristics of Japanese sword produced from tatara steel. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 577, S673-S677. Inoue, T. (2010). Tatara and the Japanese sword: the science and technology. Acta Mechanica, 214(1), 17-30.