Korean Masters - Lee Eun-cheul
Korea Times Photo by Choi Won-sukMaster restores ancient swordmaking skillBy Chung Ah-youngYEOJU, Gyeonggi Province — Still freezing outside, Lee Eun-cheul, a swordsmith, sweats buckets in front of a furnace flaring to more than 1,300 degrees Celsius. He pushes and pulls wooden bellows to feed the charcoal fire in order to prepare to make a sword in the traditional way at his workshop in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province.Lee is one of the few artisans who have the skill to make traditional swords through the ancient method. He has restored the forgotten art of ancient Korean swordsmithing because it is the "soul of the Korean culture.""Our ancient method from smelting iron to making iron artifacts declined around the 19th century. Even though our country boasts of its leading steel industry today, we lost our ancient iron-making skills for a long time. Now we are just beginning to restore them," Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times. Korea Times Photo by Choi Won-sukThe artisan began researching ancient iron smelting methods through historical documents along with a h
