The knife that happened... ;-)

 This is yet another tall Fimbulmyrk tale... but i daresay you´re accustomed to weird stuff like this by now. There are a lot of extremely weird coincidences in my life indeed... it all started with a hike from the bus stop  to the ironforge. I had a schedule what I had to make or what I at least planned to make. On the way I first encountered something. At first I thought it were a stray dog, but as I came closer I saw it was a fox, only that it was a blonde one. It was by absolute coincidence that I followed him for quite some time, until he made his merry way into the thicket.

I want to make sure you understand that I am not saying that this event had anything to do with what happened next. It is linked to the other event by mere coincidence of course. Or not at all. Near Gut Ahlhausen, the manor in the neighbourhood of the ironforge, I found a right treasure hoard of bloomery steel, among which there also was an ingot of already refined steel. It turned out to have an estimated carbon content of about 0,5-0,7%, and I could not resist probing it by forging a blade from it.

Now this is a very special event to me, and a very special steel. It was a bit like a belated birthday present. All you faithful readers of my blog are well acquainted to the fact that I am questing and researching on a local variety of rondel knife, the "Brakkersfelders Knopmetz" of old hanse provenience. And my research up to date has made it very plausible that this steel was - amongst other places - refined at the site of our ironforge. I state that due to the research I have made in the Civil Archive of the town of Breckerfeld and the Ennepetal Ironforge Chronicle from 1592 (fragment). The Manor of Ahlhausen was the property of the Duke of Bönen, who in that period of time also was patron of the ironforge. I found the bloomery steel on an ancient trail leading from the ironforge to the manor. So I was very excited that the steel I found is most plausibly the legendary steel from which the Brakkersfelders Knopmetz was made from!

And I could not resist forging an utility blade from it to test it and its properties. As I said, the spark analysis offeres clue that there was roundabout 0,5%-0,7% carbon in it. The steel, although wrought, reacted quite nicely to the forging process, with a temperature window from 900-1100°C. It offered a strange resistance to the hammer, an indication of high ductility. In the forging process there was one layer coming off, which I rewelded in the forge using Borax as flux. It welded very nicely and evenly, even if it was done the dirty way with no grinding beforehand.

 It did not move that well under the hammer, too. Annealing after the forging process was done in 8 cycles, bringing it up to dull orange and letting it cool besides the forge and then at room temperature, which then was about 25°C. After achieving a softness that made it possible to work it with a file easily, it was ground. Forging to final shape, by the way, had been done nearly 90% beforehand, so little grinding was required. Then I did a probing quench in lard with additional tempering from the heat in the spine and some heating over the open forge, until a blue hue was achieved. This turned out to be too much, so I repeated the quench and just tempered to a golden hue. The blade appeared too soft afterwards still (testing by slamming it edge first into mild steel rods).

 So I annealed it once again, and, gathering my resolve, did a selective water quench, first with a long temper to a blue hue, then again to a golden hue.

 Afterwards the blade still dented when I slammed it into iron rods. A file was able to take off shavings, not as easily as before, but still far too easy.

Bummer, I thought, you have messed that one up and was right mad with myself for that.

48h later I tested again. Still denting on steel rods, but now it chops stag antler without denting, carves the spine of selectively tempered spring steel knives, and the file slides off with the minutest of shavings. A knife of defined 58HRC can carve the edge of the knife, but a Karesuando blade of 12C27 with an estimated hardness of 57HRC just slips off. Blimey, what´s that, I said, and tried to carve the 58HRC blades edge... and it bit. From all I can know I would estimate it to 54-56HRC, but that last feature simply is not logical. My theory is that the blade is not that hard, but makes up for what it lacks in hardness in tensile strength and ductility. The fact that it dents on iron rods but chops stag antler and carves spring steel could maybe be explained by the composite nature of wrought iron. Some areas dent, others do not. It´s not a homogenous material after all! Bending it to 15° showed no adverse effects, slamming it tip first into hardwood and levering it out bent the first millimeter of the tip, but left the knife unaffected otherwise.

Be it as it may, for a 16th century steel this would have been state of the art.

Now I have made a big fuss in the beginning of this article by saying that there was just a coincidence, and the events are not linked to each other, and from a logical point of view, this cannot be supported. But then I can say I have never searched and researched consciously for that steel. It just came to be. It just happened. Word led me from word to word, deed led me from deed to deed. It has been a fairy tale so far, and it still is. And in this fairy tale there´s another story that goes like this:

"once upon a time, in a land far away and around the next corner..."

It just happened. t occured to me. Again, and I like it. ;-)

We are told a lot of lies these days. I daresay I´ll stick to my fairy tales more from now on... ;-)

The quest for the Brakkersfelders Knopmetz and a lovely weekend with lovely people plus some morons on top.

 

It was long scheduled and thoroughly planned. We had arranged a lecture at our favourite ruin about the history of the local language, a dialect of Nether German, the "Plattdiütsch" still spoken by elderly people and some sorry few younger ones. To achieve this, we originally had planned a crossover concept. I had contacted one of the greatest teachers I ever had, and a man I strongly admire, Mr. Prof. (em.) Dr. Heinz Menge for the philological part, and Ms. Friedel Hillner to contribute with some poems and stories in the dialect. We had planned a discussion, over some good food and wine, and meant the best, and, although we were being a bit sceptical due to our experience, we still had a go at it.

 

But it came to no surprise when Dr. Menge cancelled his appearance due to health problems, and one might suspect he had an inkling about what was to come. But sick is as sick does, and a cough is a cough is a cough. So my lovely and utterly competent companion and soulmate, the magic troll, put up a lecture with a bit of contribution on my part in but three days (and nights) course, which is a feat I encourage anyone to try. Of course we got mad at each other in the process, and of course it did not change anything, and of course we love each other even more for´t. So, even though even Dr. Menge said it could not be done, we did it, and we have another stinky finger to point at the world.

 

 

Off to the smithy, looking forward to the rewards that were to come, and hoping for the best. My beloved mother and her partner, the always helpful Fritz, who has taken me out of a lot of fixes already in this life, fetched us by car, and off we were. Entering the yard of the smithy, we were instantly greeted by Ewald, the owner. Of course, he had granted we could use the beamer and of course he came over and stated the light bulb had burned through only but yesterday. I did not believe a word, but chuckled away at it, for it was that obvious. Ms. Hillner were there already, and I welcomed her personally and expressed my gratefulness and apologized for the improvisation that were to come.

 

 

I then read through the lecture, for the magic troll did not take much to improvising without the material at hand (which I obviously understood, for I did not like it that much, either). I held the lecture, Ms. Hillner read out some poems, we had a discussion, and we invited all of them along for food. I asked Ms. Hillner if there were anything we could do better, and received her "heartfelt compliment" and she made her excuses she could not stay for dinner and took her people with her. (Last week I learned she is telling everyone the lecture was just for academical airheads and it was the worst thing she ever listened to, as well as the fact that Ewald admitted that he was lying to me about the light bulb, and gave me another tall tale about his brother-in-law not wanting to give him back the beamer, which of course I cannot verify or falsify.)

 

 

So, too bad, but begone, the people worth our attention were still there, and good food galore.  

 

 

I had prepared some lamb chops with rosemary and garlic, and there was some homemade salad. I cannot help the language dying out and the ruin crumbling even more, so I do what I can do: Enjoying myself and contributing to an enjoyable time for the people around me that deserve it. Those that do not deserve it will eventually take care of themselves. I do not need to hate them, they will die anyway. I will die too, one time, and so I do not want to give morons permission to waste my life time.

Nick enjoying a brew and having a good talk to Gudrun.

...while Henning did a good job at the BBQ.

There were few people, but the company was great and diverse,

and we all had a good time despite the adversaries...

...oh, maybe a little grievance: They simply don´t make mugs for mead! ;-) We split up in the late evening, making for home...

The other day we met again to do a lovely little hike over old hills and far away. We started with a very nice custom of miner´s culture provenience: We met at Käse Deele trailside café for "Buttern" (having a snack before work): We had a coffee, and soup, and cake, and lots of talking. And it was somewhat funny... when we got into the dairy shop to get us some more cheese and sausage and butter milk for snacking, the lady selling the goods looked at us, and with a longing sigh said :" You are one heck of a homelike troupe! I´d love to join you!" She said this so sincerely that it really went down into our heart of hearts. She then told us she was going on a holiday soon to do some kayaking in eastern Germany and we had a chat with this good - natured person. We did nothing special to deserve her admiration, just bought some snacks, but something must have radiated off us. But what is it? Nothing special at all. It does not need much money. It does not take much time, nor equipment, nor this or that. Just friendship, love and a hike that does not need to be rushed.

We climbed up the hills on an ancient wagon road that also is the St. Jake´s pilgrimage trail. We enjoyed the scenic vistas and feasted on raspberries and collected some herbs on the way, all the way submerged in good-natured jokes and talk.

Always there are wonders beside the trail for those who can see it. It can be as simple as a fallen tree...

...or fields of chamomile.

I loved Nick and Kathrin´s snack box...

...so much in fact, that they kept calling me a foot blogger...

...anyone know what they mean with that? Anyway, just in case, this is a foot.

Along the creek we went through trails in the sunshine...

...until finally we arrived at the city of Breckerfeld. Now my faithful readers know that I am nearly obsessed with the thought of one day doing an accurate reconstruction of the famed "Brakkersfelders Knopmetz", a knife that made the Hanse community of Breckerfeld famous for their knives, sword blades and daggers in the whole of medieval Europe.

This sculpture in the city relates to this history, and it is outright hilarious. I have browsed the internet, museums and libraries for a picture of the knife...

...and it has been there, right under my nose. I cannot even remember how often I passed by this sculpture without noticing it... maybe the figures come alive and tried to hide it from me ;-).

YEAH, I AM TALKING OF YOU, HANSEL! This is a representation of a Hanse merchand...

...and a medieval smith selling the knife to him.

Unfortunately he did not want to hand it over to this faithful colleague of his...

...so I tried to wrestle it from his hands. ;-) Turns out, he did not want to give it away, and while I am writing these lines, I slowly recover from my black eye and all the bruises... ;-), so I should say I have to forge one for myself.

All in all, it was a weekend that started out really shitty with foul characters playing dirty tricks on us... but they can eat their own shit, as far as I am concerned: They did not succeed in ruining our days.

Advice: Trust no one but your friends and family, but do not let it get that far that it ruins your day. Failure is a part of life. Try again, if you succeed one time out of hundred, you are successful still. And no one can take from you the sun on your face, and the wonders by the trailside, the joy of good company, and good food. Take everything as it comes, and they will kick the bucket while they feed on their own bile.