Grosses Messer-Update

I have been desperately in need to practice my swordsmithing abilities, so after talking to James Elmslie on the sword expo in Solingen last year and the lovely work of Jake Powning I felt inspired to give a "Grosses Messer" (in this case more of a hunting sword) a go for practice. As a single-edged weapon, tempering is a bit easier, for a thick spine makes it not that prone for warping in the quench.

I want to make abundantly clear that I owe a lot to these masters, as I do to Peter Johnsson, Stefan Roth, and Petr Florianek, as you all full well know, and since the occasion arises from time to time, I want to emphasize that I do not want to copy any of their works, but feel inspired by them to eventually find my own style. I also want to say that plagiarism does a lot of harm to a most ancient and honourable art, especially if it is done at a lousy quality. It fouls up things for all of us, and it will eventually ruin the art and the atmosphere of it.

The blade is made from Unimog spring steel with a carbon content of about 75%. The guard and pommel will be wrought iron. The blade will get a selective temper on edge and spine. For scales I plan stag antler or bog oak. I´ll keep you posted!