Last Sunday it was a forging session at the Industriemuseum again. Willi and Daniel showed up, to pound some metal and have some serious fun. Mr. Rothenberg came up, too, and I finished his knife. Might be he was a bit afraid of it afterwards, it was getting SHARP!!! Seems something went well with the heat treatment finally!;-) Daniel threatened Willi a bit, and they whacked each other with some red - hot tongs ... seems to be their kind of humour, I guess;-).
Finished my Celt-Tac bush knife. The scales are pink ivory, as I found out, the hollow pins are copper tube from the plumber´s shop. I really like it, it´s a cutter, being thin and with aconvex razor edge to it. Situated around it are the well known axes made by Willi.
A halfway decent photo of Willi´s left-handed foraging sickle. All silver steel.
And the same in a right handed version: White paper steel, Mammoth ivory, and Bubinga wood.
That´s a wardrobe hook Daniel made. The pidgeon´s ever getting better at the trade!
That´s a viking style kitchen and utility knife made by Jens Nettlich, three layers of spring and file steel, with the cutting layer "shoed on", meaning, a v-shaped layer of file steel is forge-welded over a centre of spring steel.
Some ancient axes we got as a donation from visitors. The first in the row is a three-layer laminate in an ancient Westfalian form.
Can´t see why people keep calling us weirdos...
Willi forging a miniature axe from 6x6 mm stock. Insane!
Daniel repairing some tongs he managed to bend... his nickname is "Beché" for a reason... man, that guy hits like a rock, and I don´t ever want to cross him any!
Besides pounding steel so hard he bent the tongs, he made these wall hooks.
This is another knife by Willi I really like a lot. It´s a Hubertus blade made from 440C. the handle is yew, cut across the grain. The rivets are copper, and it features a sunk lanyard hole. The sheath is made by Willi, too, and meticulously finished!
That´s a Hungarian cane axe Willi made. In Poland it´s common, too, and it´s called a Poszanka (don´t have a clue if the spelling is correct). I really like the design and the idea, and I´d like to make one myself, if it were not so haphazard to explain to the police. Willi is a bushhead, too, and a little less concerned about those things, what with living on the countryside and such.
FLLLLAAAAAIIIIIIIISSSSSCCCHHHHH!!!!! SCHNAAAAAPPPPSSSS!!!!!;-) Had one smoky mess of a BBQ for food, and a whole lotta fun all the while!
If you see this guy approach......
RUN!!!!;-)
Forged a "viking" style loop tang that went quite well. Someone will get it to some special occasion;-). Made from spring steel.
And the final touch to my little bush full tang. Did I mention I messed up the drilling? I completely messed up thedrilling. No, really, I messed it up. The drilling, that is. I messed up the drilling.
Willi gave this "belgischer Brocken" EDC sharpening stone to me, and I am very fond of it. Thanks a lot, my friend, it is very appreciated!:-)
That´s Willi´s interpretation of the viking style loop tang. By the way, it´s not quite correct to call it a viking knife, for the design is much much older, and there are no actual find from the viking age, but the one example from a women´s grave in Birka dates to the Vendel age. This one is silver steel.
I rode home by bike, and it was raining hard. So I decided I´d ride through the forest, because there I´d get less of a soaking;-)
Those beloved hills of home.
And my beloved mud beast. I actually owe this bike a lot. It gets me places, it is a great and fun alternative to a car, it gets me airborne and gets me earthed back to my spiritual roots. It makes me feel alive. Riding bikes and blacksmithing has always been a part of my life, and I hope it will continue to be this way.
And my beloved mud beast. I actually owe this bike a lot. It gets me places, it is a great and fun alternative to a car, it gets me airborne and gets me earthed back to my spiritual roots. It makes me feel alive. Riding bikes and blacksmithing has always been a part of my life, and I hope it will continue to be this way.
