The chevrons on this blade appear quite different to the first example. Much tighter in form and there is less contrast. As we can see seperate pieces of steel. However I still think the first example is iron scale, remember I did suggest this was more of a decorative/display sword in the original post. The use of clay as a heat shield is a fact in Japanese sword making and I can see no reason why under the right skilled hand it could not be used to make patterns, after all Japanese swords are not known for shattering.
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