Introduction to a traditional Turkish knife-Serik Biçaği

Those are some knives I got for next to nothing on a local flea market from a really nice Turkish gentleman. They are native to Serik in the Antalya region of Turkey and they are a really traditional and old design, maybe dating back to the early medieval ages. https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/antalya/nealinir/serik-bicagi Formerly a pure friction folder design, they share some chatacteristics with knives like the Corse "goat knife ". Originally the knife consisted of a piece of ram's, goat's or sheep's Horn, rarely cow Horn. They are often called Serik biçaği. The knives I own have a very simple backlock mechanism. The really thin blade is held in the handle by friction but locks when open. One has a walnut handle, one Micarta and one traditional ram's horn. The one with the goat horn handle has a blade handforged from saw blade steel, the one with Micarta is made from HSS, the one with the walnut handle is supposedly made from Böhler steel. The blades are 11,2, 11,4, and 11,8 cm long, but just 1,2 -1,4 mm thick. They have a convex bevel to zero, which results in frightening sharpness, although they came rather blunt originally. Some time and effort fixed that and BOY,DO they cut. The locking mechanism on the one with the ram's horn handle is quite good, the others have a bit of radial play. Given that they are friction folder designs originally that is totally okay with me, but you cannot expect a modern knife. The blades are obviously not a prybar. As a folding kitchen knife for foraging and food prepping you are hard pressed to find anything slicier. And edge holding capacity on mine is actually really great. They also cost less than 40€ if you can get one, mine actually cost less than 15€ each. That puts them head to head to Opinel, Pallares Solsona and other folding knives. If you are looking for functionality alone, I have to say that the Opinel is a tad more reliable and the quality is a bit more consistent. But they are actually even slicier than the Opinel and culturally interesting. So you might want to give one a try.

A viking age friction folder for the magic troll

Here´s a friction folder I made for the magic troll, my lovely UMMIBÄR;-) (Hey, it´s spring, what do you expect...?*ggg*).

The blade (some 60mmx 2,5mmm) is Damascus out of 1.2842 and crucible steel I found in the woods, the handle´s a stag antler tip with a brass pivot. Peening went not too well, and there´s a tiny hairline crack. With this type of one- piece design it´s crucial to have a straight surface in the pivot area before peening the pivot over the handle. Due to the lack of offset in the scroll I had to file the handle down a bit too much. Having no time left, I peened it over very carefully, but still, the crack developed. It´s tiny, and the magic troll can easily fill it with epoxy, and the knife will still work.

I am still learning the how-do´s on this type of knife, but generally it´s slowly growing on me and I start to like those very much.

What I did while Nick was busy;-) and the long way home

 The other day Nick had called if I´d come to go smithing with him;-). Turns out there was a birthday party scheduled that Volker forgot to mention, so surprise, surprise for him... but he put up to the task, for I was being late. He has an altogether different style of working with the kids, but that´s the point of it all- we all have. But in all those years we are working for the smithy, I have just received one negative feedback. Some four thousand customers, however, came and come back for more. The one negative feedback was quickly mended even so, and that customer now is one of our sincerest and oldest friends now. This feels very good, and Nick, working for us for, wait, is that two years now? puts up to the task in a very hearty and friendly way. Of course, there´s always room for improvement when the smithing is concerned, but that is so for anyone of us.

 He addressed the parents politely, but also with a firm stand, and treated the kids with friendliness and respect, but also a strong position. Great!

 I tend to criticize Volker a lot, I must admit, but I must say, he´s  had a hard life and has one still. At 67 years old, he works up to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, no weekend, for a ridiculous salary. Some of it is all his fault, but even then you have to admire him for his endurance and the friendly manner he has for everyone. He simply loves the kids. He may be absolutely crap for a blacksmith, but he does a great job with the kids. I have rarely seen a kid that did not leave with a sparkle in his or her eyes. I have rarely seen a kid not returning to the smithy. Not necessarily because of the blacksmithing, but because of Volker. He is subject to the city marketing of Witten, and recently opened his mouth and spoke his word that he was not to be treated little better than a slave. Of course, there´s now a right riot going on, with intrigues and a frenzy to modernising the Bethaus smithy and putting a scheme onto it that will not fit. I am currently searching for an alternative location just in case, for I learned this lesson far too well. And of course I will want to provide for my friends also, and this includes Volker.

 Was it a lazy day for me, then? I did four projects with the kids and the parents alike and some tutoring on making Damascus, and that was all of it. Then I retired myself to the murky boundaries of the shop;-) and did some filing and fitting and filing and fitting some more... and this is what came out:

 Viking age friction folder. Stag, brass rivet, and Zwissler seven-bar Damascus steel from tank cannon and tank bearing steel.

 Crude, of course, but that´s how it goes when you try to forge as much in shape as you can...

 I am a bit proud of the swan´s neck. The lever is a bit longer resulting in a very secure hold when opened, and I offset the slot a tiny bit to aid in keeping it in when closed.

 The blade´s spine is going from 3 - 1 mm resulting in a slicer. The blade is selectively tempered with the quench line including the rivet hole to add durability. It has a convex bevel, and the blade is 80 mm long.

 I admit I just forsake my principles with this Kopis knife after the Novgorod find. The handle is reindeer antler like the original. But, rummaging in my attic, I had come across this meander design bronze bolster. Now those meandrous design features are not authentical, neither to the Novgorod, Kiev or Birka finds. The culprit is, I am making this just for myself, and I just liked it. So I put it on.

 The file steel and crucible steel show a beautifully rustic pattern and, having done a superficial test already, I can say they can take a beating. I guess I will do a video test about it soon.

 The spine´s 4 mm thick, the bevels a mild convex one. The blade is exactly 120mm long, making it a legal carry.

 I did five projects that day...

Top to bottom: A mysterious little something for the lovely magic troll, may her beard grow ever longer;-D, the aforementioned Kopis knife, a blade from ancient spring steel with a stag antler handle, the aforementioned friction folder, and another Rus replica with deliciously smelling Corse juniper wood (smells like exotic pepper!) and reindeer antler (not so deliciously smelling...) for a handle, Damascus blade from 1.2842 and crucible steel I found in the woods, 100x4mm.

It was simply great to have some time for projects like these... and I need this from time to time.

After work we had some delicious meatballs and potato salad and a sip of beer with Volker, Sylvia and Uwe. All too soon time had passed chatting and I was on my way home.

My heart was filled with warmth and content, as I rode home through the night. But as it turns out, the story is not yet at an end:

When I passed the Nachtigall mine, my rear tire went flat. As I opened my rucksack, I realized I must have had lost my spare tube and repair kit. And my rucksack, loaded with some 50 kg of tools and steel and knifemaking projects, tore. So, out in the cold, I took out my sewing kit and fixed the bloody thing, muttering curses and insults to myself until I realized this was not taking me anywhere. So, I took the pack, strapped my helmet to it, and started to walk. It was a journey of 13 km through the dark, pushing a bike with a flat tire and a pack that weighed me down with every step. My working shoes chafed me raw, until I got enough of that and walked the last 5 km barefooted. Even so, I had developed some blisters soon that made a funny popping sound, exploding from time to time;-), weird;-). Knowing that to cry would not get me anywhere, I took out the Balistol from my pack to disinfect them and went on my not-so-merry way.

And guess what? I would not have thought this during the toiling along, but I arrived home two hours later. I was still breathing. The blisters subsided in one day. I opened a bottle of black beer, called my love, had a chat and a good night´s sleep. Message: Nothing is as bad as it seems.

How do you spell catastrophe? First Hammer - In of the season @Industriemuseum Ennepetal

 On Sunday there came a day I had looked forward to for a long time: The first Hammer - In of the museum season. Traditionally, it´s always a great time to be had with a lot of knifemakers, in part from all over Germany, and the folks are always good-tempered. There are minor questions to be asked, but all in all, we never had any problems amongst ourselves. We enjoyed ourselves doing the best we could for the museum. For free, if you don´t count the cake and coffee and one or the other sausage...

The times they are a-changing, or so it seemed that Sunday. When we arrived at the smithy, way before the event SHOULD start we were greeted with a sneer and a "MORNING! Slept well, did you?". The Thursday before the week before, Willy made a contact at the session of the museum staff´s board just to make sure everything was fine and we did not miss out on anything. Our Email-addresses and phone numbers are well known (or so they should after giving them out at least ten times). When we arrived at the smithy on Sunday, we did not know what to say. We were pleased to see a HUGE anvil, and a new coal forge and a paraphernalia of tools to use and expo material to show. What we were not pleased at all with was that it was literally strewn all over the place hindering our interaction with the public, making it almost impossible. Ok, we made it work as best as we could. Then, it was the traditional fire alarm bleating along after just one hour of forging, and noone competent to turn it off. The fire brigade came by, was not amused and went away, and still the alarm was blaring on. Ok, we made it work, as we always do.

 Then one of the staff members came by to announce that we were trespassing the museum rules by not being a member (I am not, three clubs and institutions are way enough, but Willy is) and therefore hindering insurance. From my job I know that it´s often a matter of goodwill to make that work. Ok, I think that guy had a hard day anyway, so no harm done, for he´s normally a friendly guy to boot. But all along we heard some ranting about this or that. The icing on the cake, however, was still to come, when the head of the museum came by leading a group of visitors through the museum. I had worked four weeks in a row on a referate about iron culture and -history in the region, including the history of the "Brackersfelder knopmetz" (readers of my blog know that topic), and I started right away with the things I prepared. I was being interrupted rudely. He then started to talk about a vice that´s ion use in the smithy and that one of his ancestors used to make them, and then started on how casting was superior to smithing (which is frankly absurd, for those two are entirely different processes). Ok, then, I took a deep breath, it´s okay with me, less work for me in the future. To calm down, I wanted to get me a sausage and a coffee. When at the barbecue stand, I was being told that they couldn´t be free anymore for I was not a member. Okay, I said, took another deep breath, turned around to the bakery, and got me a delicious sausage-in-a-bread.

I don´t exactly know what´s going on, and that´s my problem in the first. We work there for some four years now. We did a good job, or so we were told. Many tools and three forges and several of the anvils in the smithy are our own. All of the hammers, tongs, most of the steel, and even some gold, silver and mokume gane left over from out time with Mathhias Zwissler. Turns out those materials last mentioned are all gone. I wish the new proprietor good luck with them, okay. We can´t help it anyway, but it sucks, and it was a learning process taking everything of value home with us, meaning, always riding with 40kg worth of smithy on my back 30 km all in all. Which sucks also.

And another thing is extremely strange to see. The staff´s always running around with a deep frown, while in the smithy, for the most part, there´s always some mischief going on, laughter and even some queer singing;-). We do what we like, we are free, and we love to tutor kids and adults. Why can´t they just leave us be? Okay, that´s naive, for they are Mammonists, and we are deviant from the norm. We make knives and tools, and that´s a factor, too.

 Our piece of cake, however, was that this was the case that day in spite of all the mayhem going on. The circumstances were as bad as could possibly be, and I guess, the photo below shows the mess the smithy was in. But we shrugged, took the hammer to hand and just pounded on. Marcel and Volker came along, and we had some fun playing with fire and steel. Marcel is a hobby knifemaker I got to know at the Bethaus smithy, and Volker, a friend of his, is a learned artisan blacksmith, a chastity belt smith in fact, which we had a good laugh about him always making a spare key just to keep himself busy;-).

 He did extremely well at knifemaking, though, forging a belt knife (chastity belt knife?;-) HUH*ggg*) out of file steel. We just showed him the turn on tempering, but it worked out well enough!

 Marcel had some extremely difficult projects for a first - time smith, requiring a lot of sledge work and quite some welding.

 In spite of all the havoc, I still had some time left for my own little projects, including the folder I forged recently. I had to quench, quench and quench some more the elven damascus knife I made recently which turned out to be no damascus at all.DOH!;-) Okay, next one will be better and out of real steel.

 Daniel was there, too, and he has made some HUGE progress. Here he is preparing some spring steel for a Birka knife he started and where I tutored him a bit with tempering and grinding.

 There also was a historical automobile show as usual, and I took a rest taking photos. There also was a musical performance by a friend of mine, Dr. Mufumba, but I missed it for the problems with the fire alarm.

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By the way, sorry for the lousy pics! My camera had a hard day, too;-).

Daniel forged a knife and some artwork that day. Then Nick came by with his lovely wife.

All the while we had a chat, the guys kept on pounding. These are the projects Marcel made. A big kitchen knife and a piece of damascus steel by Peter John Stienen we drove out for him.

I modified my favourite hammer with a bigger punch to make for a sturdier handle fitting base, the elven knife that did not become hard enough, a leaf handled Kopis out of spring steel....aaaand a striker inlay for my folder.

For Nick and his wife I made some pouch mounting rings out of mild steel, and Nick and myself forged a blade out of cold-rolled file steel together. Turns out he was quite inspired by the En -Nep I made a long time ago and wanted one, too. While we were working together (good job, mate!), I learned that he was acquainted to Willy´s daughter... strange ways life goes, really!;-)

The one thing they cannot take from us: The roaring forge. The dragon´s breath in our spine. The hammer in our hand. Our pride. And our skill. The deity could, but what for?

They have cut the sinews of blacksmiths, they have enslaved them and stripped them from their privileges. But those smiths of legend have always learned to forge themselves wings. We strive to learn the name of iron, and iron does answer in the fire.

Like this, see? Those are the works of Daniel. The knife is spring steel, 1,2 mm or anything like that x85 mm blade with a selective temper.

They have mobbed him, tried to keep him low, have made fun out of him. But he´s right now making his way, and he succeeds at it. The roaring forge will be in his heart, and iron listens to his hammer now. They will never succeed in breaking him.

This is the En - Nep we made for Nick, and a spare ring that went not so well.

Then we went over to the café to have a mug, and we even DID get it still. Cake was all gone (Why don´t you take a break a bit  earlier? - ´Cause we were busy, ma´am). We chatted a bit, and Walter came by. Now Walter certainly is a good guy, and he got horsed around with as badly or even more bad than we, and he said he wanted to talk about it in the managing committee. We do not believe it will do anything good, but if he inists, we thought, we might as well let him do it. We just don´t believe in the managing comittee anymore. It was a bit strange. We talked about things that really mattered, and they kept on ranting their bureaucratic rants and uttering their personal complaints. Okay, so what, you might say, that guy´s also ranting about in this post, but I guess there´s a difference. I do not stop there. We just made it work and had fun nonetheless. We worked hard, but we love what we do. We do not care a runny shit about who has what position or not, and who has what permission or not. We work for others as well as for ourselves, and we will not let them bring us down. Not an iota of an inch. We simply have that responsibility for others, as well as for ourselves. And that is their problem, not ours. We will do our best, as we always do. And our work is appreciated by other institutions. So, when in doubt, they will have ten smiths and half a smithy less.  

Then, suddenly, the mayhem was over, and I rode out into the woods to have some rest and a bit of contemplation.

...and a lovely, lonely cuppa tea, of course. It felt like taking a deep breath after being sick a long time, and I simply took in the silence, only broken by the tweeting of birds and the wind in the leaves still left from last autumn in the oak tree above.

Oh, and here´s a better inkling of how the folder´s intended to be. I plan to fit a striker as a spacer in the back that will also serve as a lanyard hole.

I also found some more spring steel by the roadside. Perfect.

I did some stumpsitting, and fortified my resolve.

They will never break us.

A day in the smithy-folder and elven hunting knife blade

 On Saturday I saddled my steed;-) and rode out to the smithy. Noone seemed quite motivated to do some spring fire partying, so I resolved to take refuge:-) at the hottest fire I can imagine, and the one that has never failed me... the roaring, spitting, violent forge. The weather was shitty at best, but no harm done, I am not made out of stuff that will melt in rain and snow. On my way I met practically noone, and I paused to listen to the water birds. In the smithy, it was Volker greeting me and quite some filing work on my elven hunting knife I forged some time ago to do, for I decided to do some more fileworking than I normally do. Volker, that good chap, provided me with good, hot, strong coffee as usual, which was quite appreciated, given that the smithy has no roof worth mentioning and no walls at all;-), and blimey, the wind was coo-o-o--oold.*ggg*

 Then Daniel showed up with his lovely girlfriend, Marie. And he did what he always does, taking the sledge to do some intricate and delicate scrollwork just to show he´s capable of it. I really wished he would gain some self - confidence. He does some good work, but could easily be better if he concentrated on the work and not the proving himself. But I understand he is in desperate need of it, so I leave him be, swallow my tongue, although I keep making fun of him;-). He ´s getting on many people´s nerves, and certainly sometimes on mine, too, but it´s not easy growing up in this shitty mess we have made from this society. And blacksmithing gives him something to cling to (and doesn´t it to all of us?) and makes him something special. And I daresay he´s a good guy and on a good way. His lady was looking on and rightfully proud of her man.

 

 She even did some smithing herself, and fared well at it.

 I did little forging, for the elven hunter did require quite a bit of filing, but finally it got there. Then I forged the bolsters on the integral liners for a friction folder and filed the bevel on the folder blade from Zwissler damascus I made a while ago.

 Björn dropped by. He had found an old forge in a garden of a buddy of his, and decided he wanted to have a go. He had his head humming with projects, and boy, do I know this feeling! We gave him some coal to get the fire started, and some advice how to keep it low at first. I also offered him some free tutoring if he wanted, which he gladly accepted-we keep the flame burning!

Then suddenly they all were gone, I quenched the blade, had a chat with Volker, Jochen and Renate, and before you could say "degasing" I was on my bike and riding home through the silent twilight of dusk. In the distance I saw the spring fires burning down. But another fire will never cease to kindle.

It is the fire in my heart.