Project Rebirth Personal Project of Cortana Clark

[Cortana Clark]

Terminus Research & Development Laboratories

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Entry ID: Cortana Clark

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Category: Study/plan

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Case: prosthesis prototype

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Encryption: Merluo #21k-28

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Scientific Report – Log 3


Good day.. *she smiled* in the last few days everything worked out quite well, thanks to our friends in the
junker congress we already got the needed materials. I need to say they always amaze me with their quick
delivery time. So while verac already started to forge the single parts, I searched for a doctor who could do
such a surgery. I was astonished when Dr. Aoki agreed to do it, but since I didn't know him we
decided to have a few drinks to understand us a bit better, and I think that he is the right guy to do this
job. As he said it wouldn't be his first time to do such a surgery which calmed me down a lot after we agreed
on the conditions for it, and he told me what risks it has to do which are honestly quite alot.. like, my body
would not accept the new parts which would end in me losing an arm, and I wouldn't be able to have the
thought-controlled protese. Or a massive blood loss which could kill me or I could react allergically to the
anesthesia which also could kill me... he said that those risks are minimal, but well you never know... so after
that, we fixed a date for the surgery...

*she lights up a cigarette*

I hope this won't be one of my last ones *she laughs*. Anyway, so while Verac was working on the arm I
started to look up how to craft the Wakizashi.. so here is what I found so far about its construction.
Traditionally, Wakizashi sword blades are made of refining steel. They are manufactured in an almost
unique way in a sophisticated process. The reason for this manufacturing method lies in the iron sand used,
which was freed from impurities under high temperatures to produce purer iron. The steel was made from
natural iron sand in a Tatara (a rectangular race oven).

It was initially inhomogeneous and had a non-uniform carbon content of about 0.6-1.5% (Tamahagane, jewel
steel). For the blade but you need steel with a uniform carbon content of approximately 0.6-0.7%. To eliminate all
impurities and to control and evenly distribute the carbon content of the blade, a unique folding technique
was developed, which was very useful, albeit labor-intensive. A unique feature of the iron sands is their
sulfur and phosphorus poverty. These elements are undesirable in steel because they lead to segregations
(significant disturbances in the steel structure). Therefore, low-sulfur charcoal is also used in forging.
Initially, the steel is forged from smaller fragments into a billet, which is then repeatedly heated, alternately
folded transversely and longitudinally, and forged again. When forging occurs a significant loss of
material by scaling of the steel, at the same time also reduces the carbon content by oxidation. In order to
compensate for the loss and to control the carbon content, steel ingots of different carbon contents are
Connected in the course of the forging. Further folding and embossing result in the numerous wafer-thin "layers" of the steel, which can be represented by special grinding and polishing techniques on the blade surface (Hada). This forging process is solely for cleaning and homogenizing the steel and controlling the carbon content. The view that a katana must consist of many thousands of layers of steel, true to the motto: the more, the better, is based on a misunderstanding. Depending on the quality of the Tamahagane and the desired carbon content, the ingot is reforged a total of about 10-20 times, and the blacksmith (e.g., Kanenobu) continued this process only until he obtained a completely uniform ingot with the desired properties. Unnecessary forging only softened the steel and led to further loss of material through burnup. There are also different kinds of hardening grades and construction methods as I will list now...

• Darkblue: Hard
• Blue: Medium
• Grey: soft

Different construction style description

• Maru The cheapest of all constructions
occasionally used for Tanto or Ko-Wakizashi; these
dull blades were not differentially hardened. The
blade consists of a single type of steel.

• Kobuse A more straightforward blade design that was often
used in major military conflicts with extensive material
requirements up to the Second World War due to
the cheaper manufacturing.

• Honsanmai is the most common construction for
blades. The side surfaces of the blade are protected by the skin iron. The blade is sturdy and has the
advantage that the back of the blade (with which it
could also be parried) is not hardened. As a result,
a breakage of the blade could be avoided. Some
old blades still show these traces of a fight today.

• Shihozume A construction similar to the
Honsanmai, except that the back of the blade is
protected by a thick iron strand.

• Makuri A more straightforward construction, in which a soft iron
a hard steel body surrounds the core.

• Wariha Tetsu Simple construction, but very flexible.

• Orikaeshi Sanmai A slightly modified form of
Honsanmai construction.

• Gomai A somewhat unusual variant with a hard
iron core, followed by a soft iron layer. Finally, the
construction is surrounded by a hard steel layer.

• Soshu Kitae One of the most elaborate
constructions with seven steel layers. This
design was used by blacksmith Masamune and is
considered a masterpiece.

I decided that we will forge Wakizashi with the makrui method since this should be one of the most natural ways. As I have seen, we should have all the needed resources here and the tools too. So while Verac is working on the arm prototype, I will start the work on the Wakizashi tomorrow...

For now, this is all,
Cortana out

*the video blurs out, and you can see her standing up and walking away*

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