The other day we met at the smithy to have another hammer - In and some barbecueing afterwards. Daniel dropped by to show off the sword he bought at Hohensyburg medieval fair and to have some smithing. We had some argument about the ethics of swordplay, and I sincerely hope he is not angry with me for speaking my word. I guess it is a good thing he is taking up reenactment, and will live up to the responsibility that goes with owning a weapon, blunted blade or no. Nick dropped by, and I had a chance to have a look at his first knife, a neck knife with a bone handle, made out of selectively tempered spring steel. I helped a bit with the quench, but otherwise it´s all his work. I would have fitted the handle a bit differently, but that´s all my preference. I especially love the sheath with atenned piece of bone. He used a concoction of walnut, coffee and onion peels to colour it. Sweet! Have to try it myself.
Willy was there, too, and relished in working on this 3 to manual press we want to use in smithing. I simply love to see someone loving what he does, and I can safely say that we were quite a different bunch of smiths were it not for Willy´s knowledge, skill and misanthropic humour;-).
Daniel made a fork for carving up "Spießbraten", a German version of "Shish-Kepap". BIG ones, in fact. He made it from silver steel. Although I do not understand his choice of steel, it´s not my business, and it´s made very cleanly.
Willy made this spoon from mild steel.
Nick´s first fork... cudos, bro!
This, however, is the first damascus knife Daniel made long ago in the smithy of our old master, Matthias Zwissler. Monster damascus from the world´s biggest damascus billet (2,4 to), 75Ni8, 15N20 and 1.2842 steel. Hats off!
Hats off for Daniel for providing us with delicious sausage and BBQing in the bargain.
And a quick fork Daniel made for grilling.
I also considered to make a gif from those two pics of Nick having a beer, I guess that slightly leery smile tells a thing or two about the AFTER-smithing party;-).
I guess this goes without saying, but when forging, do not drink alcohol!
We had lit the fire, and had a chat and a delicious meal provided by Daniel, and some good work done. We chatted, and Volker joined us, we laughed and told stories and shared our time, and talked about what we want to do and what we had done and where we want to get. We talked about dreams and schemes and plans, and the stars came out, and an owl flew overhead, and the deer passed in the distance on a field.
This is what I did to my little integral that day, some tiny bit of sloppy engraving. I normally am not overly fond of overdecorated thingies, but since this is one brutally capable bastid, ther´d be no harm, I thought, and this is a skill I still have to work on.
I try to get some kind of face out of the buttcap. As is, I tanned it with iron oxide in vinegar / salt / citric acid concoction. I still have a lot of work to do on it, but to date I am relatively content with the outcome.
The other side.
I also finished quenching this La Tène Celtic short sword, and it came along nicely, passing the British saber test (Bending five inches out of true to either side, see if it comes out straight) and the Zlatoust test of lateral strength (Whacking it flat over a round piece of wood), so I guess, the temper is there. I still have to memorize, though, that the overall hardness of a sword quenched in the modern European style is lower than that of a knife. I am still working it out how to do some slective edge-quench without loam / Hamón technique on a double-edged blade, but I have some ideas...;-)
It was a great day with good food, and as usual, quality people, and projects getting there. Life can be great, if we can keep it simple.
