Eikinnsleikr is ready!

I have taken itr really slow, but now it´s here... prét a porter, so to say;-) made a sheath for Eikinnsleikr. Oak, of course, and a scandi style upper. The stainless insult to the right;-) is a removeable chain link I use to carry it on my foraging belt. The lower part is made of two halves of oak wood from some leftover beam of my old home, the handle is yew which grew before that old house, the blade is made from 1.2842 and wrought iron, which was given to me by one of my best friends, Elmo, that is, the bolster is Mokume Gane which does not show. It is in itself a rune, and the runes of the oak went into it.

My personal carry...;-)

On the bench....;-) er the stump, that is.

 The sgian achlais for George is finally finished, now I simply have to make a sheath for it. It cost me quite some nerves again. I don´t know what it is, everytime I work for Scotsmen, everything imagineable goes awry;-). Wrecked my belt grinder, my air heater and my drilling machine, two sawblades and a file on it, so this is as tribal as they come, for I had no shop also, so I did a lot of work out in the woods, with no vice, a rasp, a knife, a hammer and sanding paper.

 I also had some progress on my damascus folder blade. The integral bolsters on the liners give me quite a headache, and I am currently thinking of just doing something in brass. The damascus is 300 layers of 1.2842 steel and 15N20 (C75Ni8) by Matthias Zwissler. Below is an EDC damascus blade for myself, 240 layers (Or was it 480, I lost track) 85mmx3,5-2,0 mm mild steel, file steel and spring steel. I am also thinking of making a virobloc folder from it...

 And, being inspired by Petr Florianek, I carved the antler on Eikinnsleikr with a mythic snake that bites its own tail, symbolizing the regenerating forces of nature, life and death and the mythological antagonist of Thor, the snake of Midgard.

 I tanned the carving with iron oxide.

 Still quite some room for improvement, but as is, I am content with the outcome. And yes, the snake IS upside down, to be seen when you handle the knife. I am growing ever so much fonder of that knife, and will do a sheath to go with it, and am currently thinking what material to take. I think of oak, naturally;-)...

We´ll see... I hope to get into the smithy soon and to forge myself another seax... can´t have too many  seaxes...;-)