Visits to factories are always fun. Visits to Japan are always fun anyway, but factories even more so. We visited our Nata maker, Kanenori, up in Niigata, earlier this year, and caught them mid way through a run. It was fascinating to see the production line, with half a dozen people involved in the laminating stage alone, when the hard SK is laminated to the softer steel body. Beyond this stage would be heat treating, grinding, sharpening, polishing, then handle fitting and packing.
Most factories making garden tools are pretty similar - pretty grimy, strong smells, loud bangs, hot in the summer, freezing in the winter...
These are the SK steel hagane blades, waiting patiently for greater things...
Flux is sprinkled to the jigane, then the hagane placed on top...
They’re fed along a conveyor belt...
Into a giant machine that heats them up and whacks them..
They wait their turn to swing round the corner - this guy helps one on its way...
Out the other end, piping hot, this chap presses the newly laminated steel into a more familiar form...
Like this...
Every so often there’s a hiccup in the system, and an excuse for a breather...