In Edward Wilks’ store sits an authentic Samurai sword used by a Japanese soldier who tried to behead a U.S. Marine. The sword, forged from Japanese steel circa 1941, has been in his Rifle pawn shop, ...

The traditional katana sword is fashioned only from the purest steel, which the Japanese call tamahagane ("jewel steel"). Over three days and three nights, smelters using ancient techniques shovel ...

Samurai swords are reputed to be among the best ever produced, a fact attested to by the practice of testing the swords on human cadavers, usually those of condemned criminals. My question is, just ...

points out how the process begins when very pure, iron-bearing river sand is combined in a clay furnace with charcoal and heated to a near-molten state to create a pure steel known as tamahagane.