On Friday I had a tutorial scheduled on knifemaking Thorid and Bärbel dropped by to fit a handle to a blade we forged some time ago. I was there early, so I had time to forge something for myself, too. Then those two friedly people arrived at 3 p.m. and we soon set to work. I had drilled a hole in the handle, some stag antler from a wildstock farm in the region, beforehand...
...and Thorid filed the hole to fit the tang.
This is the blade we forged from spring steel, 3 mm spine, with a selective temper, that stood the test;-).
The handle filed to fit.
Then we forged a bolster piece by chiselling out the hole for the tang, too, and then filing it to fit.
Thorid did well fitting the handle and, even if he was being very "cool" and "chilled" obviously had fun.
We then burned the stag to give it some colour and glued the whole thing together. Since we epoxied it in and it´s a thin blade in the first, we did not peen it over a buttcap, for Thorid wanted the handle to be a bit longer. Below is some leather I brought to them as a little nicety;-), for sheath making was not subject of the tutorial.
And Thorid was proud!
Seems, Mummy*ggg* was proud, too, and righteously she was!
They brought me this piece of mahogany wood I accepted as a part payment. They were low on funds;-) and I understand that well. Also I like the concept of bartering and trading niceties, and I simply refuse to get paid properly;-). Plus, they are really nice people, and it was a simple joy to work with them!
Then we did a theoretical summary, for the project was a school project for a Anthroposophic Waldorf school. I accompgny this project and will write a report on that.
After the tutorial, I set to work on my own blade. Strange damascus by Matthias Zwissler, torsional rose pattern. This will be a light crane bag user;-), provided I. Get. That. Darn. Crane. Bag. Together. Finally.*ggg*
And as I rode home I was thinking it could get a name, but could not think of any, when this occured:
A great sight to behold, and the knife has a name now... funny, how the cogs of life work.
I rode home with a feeling of deep satisfaction,, tired but content. Blacksmithing does that for me. There are times when it´s raining hard, you´re soaked through and have the prospect of forging another 10 hours in the rain, but there´s never a trace of doubt about it. Viktor once said I had it in my blood, and though I find this being abit too strong a compliment for the factual quality of my work, I feel the same. I am still crap at forging really good projects, but I could not do without anymore. Much of this satrisfaction has to do with teaching to young ones. There is no better way to learn than to teach, provided you keep an open mind... in that way I want to thank Bärbel and Thorid for the experience, it was a joy to work with them!
