Japanese Damascene metal treatment, printed literature Options

[Fred E. Zweig]

I transcribed this from the book titled "Their Japan"

Their Japan
Frederic De Garis
1936
Yoshikawa publisher
Bentendori, Yokahama

Page 95

DAMASCENE WARE

It is believed that damascene was first brought to Japan about 2,000 years ago, reputedly form Damascus, through Korea. In course of time, Japanese craftsmen became skilled in it’s manufacture, and sword handles, helmets and other articles were adorned with damascene. To meet the demand, cigar and cigarette cases, cuff-buttons, boxes, brooches, powder jars, and numerous other articles, decorated with damascene inlay, are now produced in quantity. The United States and England are the largest buyers of this ware. Annually, more than half of the 300,000 Yen worth of damascene were manufactured in Japan is exported.

Steel is the usual foundation of the articles, though bronze, silver, and gold are occasionally employed. Craftsmen, sitting cross-legged before a low bench covered with chisels, little hammers, and balls of gold and silver thread, fabricate the articles, which go through many processes before they are ready for marketing. The following explains the method.

A design, first drawn on a piece of tissue paper, is placed over the metal surface and traced with a fine chisel into the metal---then removed. The outlines thus cut are undercut for times crosswise and four times diagonally (hatched) to produce something like a silken texture. Into these minute grooves, gold or silver threads almost as find as cobwebs are hammered, and a deer-horn hammer is used to smooth the surface and tamp down rough thread edges. The article is then placed in a cabinet and made to corrode by the use of nitrate acid, which later is removed with soda water. When dry, it is washed twice in weak salt water and baked over a fire. Eight or nine times a day for a period of five days in summer and seven in winter, the article is washed and baked until all the rust in the steel has been conducted out. The clean surface is the dipped into thick red-clay mud and baked again over a hot fire---this process being repeated from 50 to 100 times.

The next step is to coat the surface with powdered charcoal and oil, bake and repeat from 10 to 20 times, adding more charcoal and oil each time. A piece of cryptomeria wood is used to clean off the black powder, and a small steel rod to rub the surface to a polish. The last step is to add any necessary carvings. Often these are monograms or handwritten names of the purchasers, if desired. To retain the original polish, the ariticle should be rubbed once a month with a soft cloth dipped in olive oil. Should the inlays become tarnished, rub them with a cotton cloth stretched over a finger tip. The damascene wares of Ohayo, Shimmonzen St., Kyoto, can be recommended.


Fred