Now this was a most interesting find. On a recent stroll through my backdoor woods;-) (NO!PUN!INTENDED!*ggg*) I found a piece of steel, somewhat crescent-shaped with something like a tang protruding from it. It looked as if someone had disposed of a knife in the middle of the forging process. It was rotten with rust, and a strange blooming sort of rust characteristical for high-carbon steels and had some strange jingling, ringing sound when I hit it to a stone so I thought I would rescue it and do something with it. I had called Willy and offended him (sorry, dude, again!) if I could book a smithing tutorial with him to take care of the judicial problems I was faced with at the smithy at Volker´s. To make double sure, I also called Volker, and I was surprised, for he offered me some conditions I still have to contemplate. Bad ones, but still, it´s a smithy...
So off to Witten after a long time again. It wasn´t easy for me to swallow my pride again (and again, and again, and again), but flesh will not last, but steel is eternal. I had this piece of steel that had waited for me for a long, long time, and that wanted to be a knife, no, it screamed to be one. It was not easy to forge, being a high-carbon (spark analysis was like a fireworks...) one and me not wanting to ruin it all;-). But, following the pre-form that long - forgotten anonymous smith had given it, I made a knife from it. The steel is somewhat strange, in that it showed a distinctive pattern after quenching. At first I heat-treated it quite conservatively resulting in a less than ideal temper. Testing it, I realized it had an abnormal amount of flexibility so I pushed the envelope a bit. Still it felt soft in the edge... until I chopped brass and antler with it. Weird.
The blade tapers towards the tip... The handle will see quite a lot of work still of course. It´s made from reindeer antler and a brass bolster plate.
If you look closely you can see a hint of the pattern that showed. The blade measures in at a "highly illegal" ;-) 14 cm, but I will make a sheath and a case for it that locks. It will come in handy, for it is well balanced and without any stropping whatsoever is already bitingly sharp. It will make a good bushcraft and re-enactment knife, I guess.
My thanks go to Willy without whom this knife would not have been possible, and to Volker, even if I still have my grave reservations.
I will keep you posted on the progress and of the name-finding process...
Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
Mittwoch, 12. August 2015
On the bench these days - a viking shrubbery lore;-) knife from steel I found in the woods
Beliebte Posts
-
(Photo courtesy of Secrets Of The Ice, Norway) This is an awesome story. Says I. Because it was once upon a time, in the sixth century, ...
-
On request I am doing a personal evaluation of a very classic bushcraft combination. The famed Roselli hunter and carpenter´s knife. I pur...
-
You all have read my post about the Knifemaker´s Fair in Solingen Klingenmuseum which...
-
This is a project that has taken quite some time and energy to make-and was great fun to accomplish. It is a kind of talisman to me, for ...
-
At my recent visit to Solingen I also dropped by the Otter knives booth. Now they were very persuasive;-) and I got this beautiful tradit...
-
Then I met with Peter Pfaffinger, and this was a right pleasure and a privilege to boot. Peter makes "Drudenmesser", tradi...
-
Kai called the other day if I was in the mood for a hike and some looting and pillaging;-), and it turns out I was;-). So he fetc...
-
Hobbit Day 2017 was a HUGE success. It is only natural that the chairmen of the club decided to cancel the layout for 2018, making ...
-
(English article below the German version) Neu in den Kinos und schon zum Scheitern verdammt zu sein scheint der von der FBW Filmbewertung...
-
Now, back to earth...;-), I set out to do some foraging again... winter will come sooner than I´d like... got myself some hawthorn berries ...