Sica and the 440C mishap

 Also on the bench these days are two obsessions of mine... the lower knife in the pic is another experiment with handle ergonomics and blade layout. I had one strange billet still lying around from the days of Matthias Zwissler, and it seemed to be monster Damascus. Okay, I looked forward to it and forged it out into a seax blade, a small billet and this bush design. When forging it, it proved a bastard with just a very small forging temperature window, and blimey was I glad to have a power hammer at hand! So, I looked forward even more to it, and normalized it for drilling and grinding, and did all the usual stuff I do to carbon steels, but-bummer, it did not work. I dulled my cobalt drills, and even my glass drill I normally use for weekend project blades that are already tempered did not move any material at all. So, back to the drawing board, some more annealing, and when I was at it I thought... well, why not punch it through, and with a bit of help by Moritz, hot-punched the holes, did some annealing (5 hours at about 600 ° C or so), until I could work it with a file all over. Then I ground it into shape and gave it a selective quench in pre-heated lard. Off to the polish then. It worked down my water stone, so I used the diamond strop instead. And grinding. And grinding. And when I was done grinding I did some more grinding with little effect. I was becoming eager and wanted to do a quick etch with salt, vinegar and citric acid. No pattern showed. Okay, I said, give it a coffee... no effect. But it was only after I had left it in 24 hours (normally ten minutes or so...) that I realized that this was no carbon steel. Since the only stainless steel Matthias had ever used was 440C, I guess the knife is 440C. Spark analysis shows a carbon content of 07-1,00% or so when compared to spring and file steel. First stainless steel for me, and I am surprised and pleased to see it gets a fine edge and seems sturdy enough to take a beating. Might be more stainless blades then for me in the future... I plan to fit some striped maple or elk horn handle with fibre liners and mosaic pins to it and give the blade some engraving and polishing. We´ll see.

The next one  is a very interesting style of historical knife. I found a historical piece of crucible steel in the woods that once seemed to have been a cold chisel, and it has a carbon content of about 0,7-1,00%, too, when compared to file steel and spring steel. I have always called this blade shape a "Kopis", but morphologically it is more correct to call it a Sica, a knife made famous by Dacian people in the iron age. There is a whole world of variations, the one thing in common is that they offer one sickle-like edge (the word "sickle" derives from Roman "sicula"-tiny sica). The earliest examples from the Hallstatt period (from 890BC) are often strongly curved with little or no straight tip section. Later on the tip section was becoming more pronounced for some examples resulting in a shape more like the blade I forged. The integral bolster is not authentic, at least I do not know any examples of this, and this would be logical if you keep in mind how precious iron, and more so, high-carbon iron of good quality had been at the time.

Look at these excellent articles (in Romanian language):

http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=709%26Itemid=377

http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=734%26Itemid=402

http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=741%26Itemid=409

http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/?operatie=subiect&locatie=armele&fisier=observatii_asupra_unei_variante_de_falx_dacica

It is a most fascinating type of knife and I plan to do more of that stuff... watch this place!

*φoutanjā-lugra-moros!;-) my kopis: done.

 I finished the kopis that has been on my bench for some time now... I am currently a bit over the top, for I have to use my kitchen for knifemaking, grinding, polishing wood and antler, glueing, riveting, filing and making jam, drying food, cooking and the like. Certainly not healthy, and my home looks more like a battlefield on a junkyard than a place to live. I will have to get a proper shop. Soon. And completely rebuild this cavern I call home, for that mess has to stop. But for now it will have to do, and it does. I first made the bolster plate from a fitting from Karesuando, lazy bum that I am;-) and gave it a fit and a ball peen finish. The head plate I wanted to do from Mokume Gane Matthias made some years ago, but it was cold-rolled out and came apart when riveting. So, I thought, so what, "all art is a recovery from the first step"(Todd;-)) and made one from brass.

 The handle is reindeer antler. I first drilled three holes into the bolster side of the handle, about 1 mm less in diameter than the tang is thick. Then I drilled one hole from the other side of the handle, about the diameter of the tang´s width. I hacksawed the holes in the bolster side to make a slot and filed it to fit. Then I made the head plate from brass. Here you can see the assembly with the old headplate still fitted. I checked the tolerances between the handle and the bolster plate thoroughly. If you use a leather or birchbark washer between bolster and handle you can be a bit less precise;-). I, for one, can do with some filing practice, and welcomed the opportunity;-). Then I covered the blade with one centimetre of cardboard and gaffa tape for protection.

 I glued the tang in and riveted it with a ball peen hammer against the headplate, which I glued in place first, while the epoxy was still halfway through drying. Then I removed the gaffa and the cardboard and the glue that squeezed through the bolster slot. If you grease that part lightly beforehand, that´s quite a lot easier to do...;-). Then I polished the handle and filed some finger grooves in. Have to rework it some, though.
Tested the blade against mild steel rods and Karesuando blades. I would estimate it to be in the high 50´s HRC, 57-59 approximately.

 This is a detail of the head plate. I just did it and only after riveting I realized two things:

-the tang is bent off center by riveting*grml
-it has kind of a floral appearance;-)

This knife appeals to me, and I gave it a name in Proto-Celtic, since it is loosely modelled after a Dürrnberg and a Cologne knife design I coveted for years. I call it Lugra-Moros for the white handle(that will have to get a knotwork or spiral carving soon;-))

 Then I put a razor edge on it. I scratched the handle by doing so (clamped it in a vice but forgot the leather protection). I then went a bit off my rocker... weird? Me? For I realized the scratches all went of an imaginative centreline and could therefore be read as Ogham signs;-). I am currently writing a poem from the kennings and am quite sure a carving will come out, too.

 Inspiration goes weird ways sometimes, but this is the craftsmanship of a poet, and I haven´t done it for eleven years. Only but recently I came across a reason to be inspired again. Something to do with a harp in the woods and some nymphs involved;-) a BIG thanks for that ;-). It took me ver so far, and it went as it used to go years ago, when I created the "wheel of the Vaivari". Somehow myth has some dynamics to it that cannot but take its own way. I first wrote down the Ogham signs as I saw them. Drew a centreline, and read them from bottom to top, as a tree would grow, towards the blade, and away from it. Ogham letters traditionally had several meanings: First, the simple phonetic value, and then there were connotations to each letter, the so-called Kenningar (borrowed from Old Norse runeology). The Letter B for instance had the name "Beith" or "beth" (The Ogham "alphabet" is no alphabet, for it´s called Beith-Luis-Nion /Nuin), and among others the poetic connotation "highest brow and fine hair". That makes it a cinch to use for inspiration. I know this is not a scientific approach, mind you!;-) I am more than half-mad, a mental outcast and using it for writing poems or carving reindeer antler, so it´s your fault alone if you listen to my jibberings;-). Plus, I use Rober v.Ranke-Graves "The White Goddess" as a guide.Tutututut...;-)
All the Kenningar of this sheet make for a plot of a story. I have yet to find out where it may lead.... and I am fascinated.

Or better said:

Veit ek, at ek hekk
vindga meiði á
nætr allar níu,
geiri undaðr
ok gefinn Óðni,
sjalfr sjalfum mér,
á þeim meiði,
er manngi veit
hvers af rótum renn.

Við hleifi mik sældu
né við hornigi;
nýsta ek niðr,
nam ek upp rúnar,
æpandi nam,
fell ek aftr þaðan.

(Hávamál, Snorra Edda, quoted after: Wikipedia)


One word leads to another, one work leads to another work, and so the runes of life are learnt, from root to root, from stem to branch to leaf to tree to wood to sky. It´s the power of life that runs through all this, and I am fascinated again and full of joy at how everything is linked to each other.

All this will find its way into the creation process of this knife.

Some more impressions from the smithy, and a children´s birthday party

 Recently I went to the "Bethaus" again to help Volker out a bit with the kids, this time doing some forging myself. The kids were not so amuing this time, a bit hyperactive and lacking motivation and not being able to concentrate any longer than a minute. It was quite some arduous work preventing them from hurting themselves. I learned they are all very fit concerning computer issues. Ah yes, it´s about high time they thought about starting a career, they are already six!! High time they started an application for a decent job, too! It was great to observe, however, that steel and fire did what they always do: Fascinate them, and when the parents got bored of all that work, they warmed up to smithing and were far easier to handle... Makes one think, that!;-)

 That´s a knife by Volker, made from .... tadaaa ST-37. I was getting a bit mad at him for that, for he can do quite a lot better than making blades from crap. It does not cut, but I like the idea nonetheless. Those little nails and the mini horseshoes are by Viktor.

 As are those little works of art. The basketwork is forgewelded! The little drill borer is made by Volker out of spring steel.

 That javelin point and the arrow point are made by Viktor again. I love that delicate and clean work and the mastery it expresses again!

 Nails by Viktor, without words. Look at the surfaces!

 I started another Celtic (Celtoid;-)) blade design for a friend of mine. Blade is leaf spring steel.

 The blade all grinded. I tried a more radical handle design. The guy it´s meant for lacks the tips of his fingers up to the second joint on his cutting hand. So I let him clasp a piece of clay and took the contours. This actually came out.

 And an ancient sledge we have lying around;-).

This one´s for you, Gorges;-). It´s made from refined steel, wrought steel, yet retains a high enough carbon content to be actually hardenend, even though the temper is off due to the constant warming and bashing it has seen. You can see the layers coming apart.