Forging

• A bladesmith must be handy with a hammer and anvil for shaping a blade while it is hot and malleable. Forging determines the shape of the metal, so this skill is important for achieving the desired result. The bladesmith must also understand that it is necessary to work both sides of the metal with an equal number of blows from the hammer and maintain a forging temperature of 1,400 to 1,800 degrees during this process.
  
  

Normalizing

• Bladesmiths must "normalize" the blade, or heat it uniformly, after forging it. Then they must carefully air cool the blade. This kind of work requires patience and strength.
  
  

Grinding

• While forging a blade gives it basic shape, grinding involves shaping the sword in more detail and also cleaning up the sword from the grinding as the work proceeds. Learning to do this part of blade making well can take bladesmiths many years and is one of the most difficult aspects to master.
  
  

Heat-Treating

• Bladesmiths must learn to use a torch to heat-treat the blade. After this, they place the blade into a quenching tank filled with heated oil.