Mokume-gane

[kristin]

Mokume translates from Japanese as "wood eye" which refers to burl wood grain and gane means "metal". Today mokume refers to any pattern made in the Japanese lamination technique. During the samurai era, mokume gane was used to make parts of the handle for the samurai's sword. The beautiful patterns in these handle pieces reflected similar patterns of the sword blade.

James Binnion's website has a great description with step by step pictures of this unique process.

http://www.mokume-gane.com/Pages/What_is_Mokume.html