Forging the handle on a San Mai style wrought iron clad knife

Traditional blacksmith forging to shape the handle on San Mai style knife. San Mai means 3 layers in Japanese, but this style was common in the west as well. When high carbon steel was too expensive to use abundantly, smiths would forge a high carbon steel core with lower grade steel on the sides for the rest of the volume needed for the knife. Today it's done to honor the old traditions and also to show the beautiful aesthetic value of wrought iron.

When properly etched, wrought iron shows a wood grain like texture that almost looks organic at times. There's no other steel that looks as beautiful as properly etched wrought-iron.

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