Future Antiques - PKN16 presentation: Before & After @islandblacksmith

Uploaded July 2013 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

I was invited to be a guest presenter at PechaKucha Nishinomiya, Japan #16 on April 19, 2013. The event format is 20 slides x 20 seconds each with narration.
My presentation was based on the concept of "Before and After" and was a walk through of photos from each stage of the Mikazuki Kotanto project as well as a discussion some of my goals and motivations as an artist and craftsman.

PechaKucha Nishinomiya was founded in 2009 as the 200th city to join the PechaKucha community. This will be the second time Davej has been on the presenter's list.

pechakucha.org/cities/nishinomiya/events/50b3ffc7f3b43bdb0b00091f

Future Antiques - PKN16 presentation: Before & After

SOTW #8 - Creating a Hand Carved Aikuchi Tanto Mount

TimeWarp #10 - Forging Habaki for a Tanto

Charcoal Making - Testing Blacksmithing Charcoal

Soulsmithing 2: adventures in hitech/lotech - fuigo blower manifold

Making a Bamboo Scoop for Water Forging (竹の水差し)

TimeWarp #1 - Forging a Tanto from a Century-old Carriage Spring

Jikatabi Skateboarding - Anvil Skating in Tabi Boots

TimeWarp #8 - Carving a mekugi and Mountain Kotanto final assembly

$Sumi-kiri - chopping charcoal for bladesmithing Read more about the museum project here: http://islandblacksmith.ca/2017/01/building-traditional-swordsmith-forge/ See more charcoal making videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBJ5AOs7cMwAi0VcrZt-tyGIsrOUrzhyj A sample of the sumi-kiri process; charcoal chopping, screening, and sorting techniques, and may offer some useful details for astute observers.** Traditional Japanese swordsmithing forges are fueled by softwood charcoal which is first chopped, screened, and sorted into several sizes for different stages of the forging process. The charcoal is chopped and then processed through four sizes of screen, the largest is for tanren, the second for hizukuri (I tend to use the largest for hizukuri as well and keep the second size mainly for yaki-ire), the third size isnt highly useful but may be crushed into fines or saved for tatara, the fourth is the fines for lining the bottom of the forge, and the remainder is dust for mixing into yaki-ire clay or for brasque refractory. Measurements for the screen sizes are given in sun-shaku and the type of charcoal they keep in is listed rather than what they allow to pass through. 3.03022 cm = 0.1 shaku（尺） = 1 sun（寸） = 10 bu（分） = 100 rin（厘） **Three things to note, 1. after setting up, i moved the camera orientation 180 degrees and rather than move all of the charcoal i moved only the chair to the opposite side, but for efficiency it is a good idea to have the charcoal at the left side within reach of the non-chopping hand...2. rather than chopping directly into a screen as i do, the normal procedure is to chop onto the tarp and then rake most of the largest charcoal off the top by hand before screening the remaining pile (https://youtu.be/3DdXdxSb3vE)...3. also, some of this charcoal is quite soft having been heated too quickly in the kiln or overcooked so it looks more crumbly than it should.$

SOTW #13 - Salvaged Carriage Spring Disassembly

Soulsmithing 4: adventures in hitech/lotech - building the fuigo floor