Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
On Sunday the tides were turning again towards the DAY. THAT day. In every year I - and more and more of my friends- visit the Solingen knife expo. Nick and Kathrin were meeting me in the train, and Torben had joined us. Torben is currently contemplating becoming a full - time - swordsmith. I had advised him he´d rather not become a swordsmith as only profession, but rather get as complete an education as possible, meaning, doing an apprenticeship as a blacksmith and bladesmith and get those swordsmithing skills by personal studies in archaeology, metallurgy, mythology, philosophy, psychology, law and first and foremostly, bladesmithing. I also suggested he´d have a chat with the best on the expo, and there he was. As is customary with me on the expo, I was still in the entrance hall of the museum when I had my first chat. Nick and Kathrin, who are accustomed to that endeavour, were off on their own, and Torben joined in.
It was a really cool experience, for it was at the checkroom where there was a young lady going like "Hey, nice cap you have, Naalbindning, is it?" I looked at her and was like "yeah, it´s my luck charm cap...Viking reenactress, are you?". It all ended in a half of an hour of chatting, discussion and sharing a laugh or two. I gave her my Email, and there might be some cooperation in the future. We´ll see...
Then I ventured into the room where I usually tardy a lot of time in a most agreeable manner. This year would be no different.
As always, it was a pleasure to meet with the Steigerwald couple. Stefan is a full - time knifemaker and sells knifemaking supplies. He had this really cool display made for a top - quality watch. I am always amazed at the technically advanced and lovingly made display systems and art concept knives he makes, for they show an abnormal attention to detail. Maybe not my piece of cake most of the time, but my respect goes to the craftsmanship, which is meticulous.
Next to Stefan was another nice guy I always like to meet, Peter Abel of Lindenschmiede smithy.
I really love his style of blades that combine eloquence with an interesting and rugged atmosphere.
For the quality offered, the blades present a right bargain.
For a smaller budget, he got some Solingen kitchen knives on display.
Here Mel Gibson ...errr... Peter shows off his latest somewhat psychotic--- erm--- kitchen knife???:-D This was a huge beast with a proper spine thickness.
After having a chat with peter about this and that, I immediately made to the second floor of the museum. There Anssi Ruusuvuori held a lecture on the Finnish Puukko. It certainly inspired me to do a feature on that myself, and I have learned a lot. It also was a right privilege to meet with Mrs. Ph. D. (Dr.) Grotkamp - Schepers who managed her last expo as head of the museum, for she will enjoy her retirement from now on. I would very much like to thank her for all the great times I had at the museum. She was a very competent manager, with a vast knowledge and a heart for blades. Even more so, she also had a vision, and the museum would not exist in this form had it not been for her motivation. I, for one, in turn would not know what I know had it not been for this museum. The bladesmithing community worldwide owes a lot to this person. From my heart, I wish her all the best!
Then I was off to meet up with Peter. I am not quite sure if he is my master. What I can safely say, though, is, that he is a guy I personally feel obliged to thank for years of enlightening moments, and I mean it in a spiritual way. Peter is a very professional person, and hides his real personality well, but the ideas and the spirit that drives him are so violently strong that it simply shines through his very existence. I can´t put it another way than this: He once stated that he felt himself as a warrior of the mind (and spirit, I might add), and the light of wisdom and knowledge. This light shines through him in a very concrete manner.
I feel a bit helpless, and I am not convinced that my gibberish makes any sense to you. Peter is on the one hand a normal guy. He is like you and me. He is a human beings and he has his shortcomings and you could make fun of them. I do not even know how he drinks his coffee, and chance is, he sometimes gets a bit annoyed by this his faithful swordsmith´s groupie, for swordsmithing groupies tend to be a bit on the ugly side of pretty;-D. But there is something about Peter that has nothing to do with all that stuff. He is driven, and you can feel it radiating off him. As Rick Furrer once put it, he does not "make swords, because he can´t make anything else, but because he CAN´T make anything else." I know full well the picture of the xiphos he made for the exposition and which he presents here, does not do it 10 % justice. Nothing can at all. The mere first sight of this sword has kept my mind racing for months, when I first saw it last year. It is not because it is so beautiful and that I would want something like this, or want to make something like this, but because the object itself has an energy that speaks for itself. Whether you can feel it or whether you cannot feel it - words and even pictures cannot do it justice. It is poetry come to life. It is the very essence of the poetic light, penetrating and piercing and even violent, rising up from the dark cauldron of a lake in the forest. Stars are reflected on its surface, and slowly, deliberately the sword rises. Male and female, god and goddess, and yet it is neither. The reflection of enlightenment shimmers around its edges, and the stars are reflected deep in its surface. It is like the moon on the water; The waves do not affect it, but ripples run through it to cast another quality into its violent light. For violent it is. It incorporates a fury against the injustice and the ravaging of the dream; a primeval anger against the ruin of knowledge and the downfall of morality. The blade is fierce; to handle it without risk for the hand that holds it, for the heart to which it is an elongation, there has to be a hilt that is not to be corroded.
A hilt of gold.
Five fingers are the hand upon the handle of the sword: Birth, life, love and death-the question where the thumb is- is the answer.
Peter has made this sword. But, as I suspect, this sword has made Peter, too. It has consumed a lot of his energy, or so I feel it, and it is a bit possessive... and I should say that it might be expected that his swordsmithing, at least for himself, might not be the same as before.
I must admit I was really taken by our conversation. Whenever I meet with Peter, I leave with a lot of very intense feelings and thoughts. This time it was far worse than usual, for this sword is the very essence of my path, the path I have been on for the last 24 years. It is a symbol that is searingly energetic, laden with meaning, and it sank deep into my heart and mind and soul. So I roamed somewhat engaged in thought through the aisles, and for a good measure of time I was unable to see anything. It did not quite help meeting Meinhard, who was doing a scythe demo in the atrium of the museum and who tried to exchange some superfluous jokes with me. I am meaning no offence by saying so, but after a genuine spiritual experience I was not quite in a mood of telling jokes.
On the other hand, it made me mad that so many people strive so much to remain ignorant (excluding Meinhard). I am not saying that everyone should fall into a frenzy just by looking at Peter Johnsson´s swords and talk a lot of philosophical gibberish. Many of you, my faithful readers, cannot relate to all that metaphysical talk. But most of you actually think for yourselves and come to your own conclusions. I see it in the comments you post and read it on your blogs. But in everyday society, there currently is a movement to become ever so much more ignorant of the real world, where you do not have two extra lives and you can´t swish a situation or a problem away by a flick of your fingers. Meinhard´s desperate joking fetched me back into that world, and it helped me root myself back into the position I am in. Peter´s sword is a part of an ideal world, in an idiomatic sense of the world. It is true, and it is the other side made steel. It is a piece of real magic. Magic is not permitted anymore. You shall circumscribe it by prosaic words. Everything has to be focused upon the psychotic personality of Mammon-Pluto. I call him a name. I call him by his real name. I name him by the name he bore in an ideal world: I name him the ursurper. I name him the grey maggot. I name him the spider that kills dreams. I name him venom and doom of the world.
Before the cauldron, the sword has risen - He of the Long Hand was permitted to it.
And slowly, "I came to my senses" again, but knew not which senses...if that makes any sense to you...:-)
Bummer:
I had another visit to do, and this was one of my favourite human beings on the expo, namely JT Pallikkö. He is a guy I really value, for I should think he is one of the mentally healthiest persons I have ever met, even if he often looks like a lunatic;-). JT ´s always good for exchanging some mad jokes, but his work and the little talk we had on more grave subjects shows he is a very complete and complex personality. He does not make much out of it. He just makes excellent knives and swords and lets his work speak for itself, and he is very down-to-earth.
But then he showed me this hunting sword. Not his fault that my metaphysical antennas were still chafed raw by the encounter with the piercing light. And hey, as he put it, just a rustic piece. Now I obviously have a liking for rustic,
...and I obviously love owls...
...especially when they are carved that nicely....
...and that big knife all in all was very inspiring...
...but what I saw was something different.
I saw a hunter, stealthy as the flight of the owl in a time that was not a time, in a place that was not a place, wearing this hunting sword on his belt. Lightly he was shod, and slightly he trod, and his face was hooded, as he stalked his prey with the fierce elegance of a fox.
Back to reality-I was simply amazed at the balance of the piece. It had a short tang not reaching all the way through the handle, and a broad and unfullered blade... and yet it was that dexterous you could handle it with three fingers, with a COG just some two or three centimetres from the hilt. When I addressed JT upon that, he just shrugged and smiled and said "Maybe it´s the massive guard... and there´s a pin through the tang...". That´s JT for you.;-) To put it quite plaintive, this achievement is an astonishing feature even for a true master. It is one thing to make a blade that´s hard and flexible enough. Another is a geometry that cuts well. Yet another is aesthetics. To achieve balance and percussion with some dirty tricks like fullers and regrinding or tapering or drilling or whatnot is good. But to achieve balance and percussion like this with a blade that has no fullers and where everything speaks against its favours needs a first try effort. So to say, you have one chance to get it right, and that´s the first and last of it.
I liked the other pieces as well, of course. I might want to steal one or the other idea from him, but will never be able to get up to this standard.
I liked this detail of the hunting sword´s scabbard. All the mountings are handforged, of course.
Then he showed me another highlight of his. Finland, as the rest of the world, is not the safest place to be these days.
So he showed me...
..with a flick of a hand...
drawing his very special take on a Kerambit design. This incorporates a quick-draw-sheath made from specially hardened leather with a snap almost like Kydex, but far more silent.
We then discussed on end how fierce a Kerambit actually is. And we both agreed that most Kerambits only have an option for lethal techniques, and this was not sitting quite that well with JT. For this I respect him most of all. His take offers two options for non-lethal techniques, and the blade option is but tertiary. The ring has a blunt point to inflict pain on sensitive body parts as the back of a hand. The blade´s spine offers another spike for the same purpose. Only in the most desperate scenario of all one actually has to use the blade. This shows true insight in the real nature of a defence situation. We also agreed that it is always better to give your opponent a quick blow and run away, or run away in the first. Remember: A knife fight is NOT AT ALL romantic. It is the worst kind of fight anyone could ever get into, and there is a high possibility that none of the opponents will live to tell the tale afterwards.
Better go and pick some mushrooms;-).
This is another take on the Kerambit theme JT interpreted. I understood it was the predecessor of the one above. He is currently doing negotiations upon a production or semi-production run on the Kerambit. I asked him if he gave me permission to make one for myself, but I do not think I will. I don´t like fighting knives much, and I don´t think I will want to make myself one.
This absolutely handsome gentleman;-) was next to JT´s booth, Pekka Tuominen did not have that much on display,
but his excellent work as he had on his booth spoke for itself and his opus more clearly than many other knifemaker´s portfolio. His knives are always made with meticulous craftsmanship that spell excellence.
Unfortunately I was being late, so I missed out on the work of Anssi Ruusuvuori. He was the one who held the lecture on the Finnish Puukko in historical times and gave valuable insight along the lines of his new book that only but recently has been translated into German. Having browsed through it I can say, it´s a good buy, if you can afford it, and is on my wish list right now.
Off to - whose? booth now:
Yap, you are right, Maihkel Eklund, famed Swedish knifemaking master, had a load of goodies on display, from his trademark highly decorated mini hand axes...
...to his wonderfully engraved belt knives...
...meticulously crafted weekend project blades at an outright bargain price for the quality...
folders and watches...
...and his own personality;-) Maihkel is another great guy I always like to meet, even if I am constantly short of time when I meet him. To my liking, the expo should last a week or so, then I would be able to get in all the talk I would normally need!
Turning to the other aisle, I met Andreas Hendrichs again. Andreas is a most accomplished swordsmith...
...as one can easily see in these blades...
....
I especially loved that seax.
...blade blanks...
I feel I have seen this knife on the booth of the laid Robert Sederl last year, I´d nearly swear an oath upon it in fact, but Andreas said it was originally his, so so be it.... it´s a cool design anyways...:-)
I was craving some coffee and I was being a bit over the top, so I had to settle down. In the garden of the museum there was this Kyudo demo waiting... and a someone (you know who you are :-)) who stated this was a "disgusting discipline cult" and that he was put off by it. To emphasize it, he repeated it several times, just to make sure I was getting the point. I was too deeply submerged in my own thoughts to properly react... and I know he reads my blog. So I should say I am not agreed. Of course, any military discipline and drill is. But it misses the mark by far. It is a ritualistic art, and in that empowers the individual to safely access the darker aspects of one´s self to overcome and integrate them into one´s personality. It has its roots in military discipline, but aggression and warfare and armed conflict is a part of us as human species. A part that is not pretty, but a part no less. In order to learn self control, one naturally has to put oneself under scrutiny. Rituals always help in the integration of psychological contents and conflicts. Kyudo in my opinion, is a ritual that helps overcome inner conflicts. Of course, it is a Zen discipline, and even Zen has a sorry history of fascistic tendencies, but that´s also true with the runes. While those were instrumentalized in the Third Reich, this is but a span of some 17 years in a history that´s presumeably more than1400 years old or older.
I was a bit relieved to meet with Achim and Norbert. Achim Wirtz and Norbert Bahls are friends of my old tutor, Matthias Zwissler, and it´s always a pleasure to meet. They are craftsmen through and through and offer legendary quality.
..and also the famed monster Damascus material, a Damascus that is ideal for beginners, because it forges very unproblematically.
Knives by Norbert. I like the clean lines and no-nonsense aesthetics...
..in fact his style shares a lot of similarities to that of Achim.
I still love that Seax Achim made last year... I have to make one myself soon.
I was outright relieved to be able to settle down a bit, and I had a cuppa coffee and a piece of cake and a delicious sausage. Then Nick, Kathrin and Torben and I met again. We walked out of the museum, said our goodbyes, and were off to Gräfrath village to have some delicious food at Gräfrather Klosterbräu.
On our way home we came by this advertisement. It reads "You live. Do you remember?". To me, this slogan summed up the essence of a day that was not exactly easy for me.
I took home a lot of inspiration and a new sense of purpose.
Okay, you have watched this video already...;-), and it´s just for starters. This project is more and more fascinating me.
In Myles Mulkeys poem about the sword forged by Petr Florianek for the exhibition "The sword-form and thought", taking place at Klingenmuseum Solingen, there is a strong emphasis on the civilizational aspect of defending the mead hall, and thusly the hearth fire. In an unfathomed world of wild woods and mountains, wild animals and creatures that are less than man but more than beast, of Evil and savage beings lurking at the forest´s edge, respite is only found in the "comfort of home and kin/ the house of music/ song of lyre / the gleaming joy of bright hearth fire".
In Beowulf this respite is assaulted by exactly this representant of the savage forces of the wild, Grendel, a being that is more and less than human, belonging to the wild. In classical Arthurian romance from Chretien de Troyes to Wolfram von Eschenbach, there is always a kind of double - loop - structure with the Arthurian court serving as an anchor point; the hero comes from the civilized world to the court to venture (aventiure: what comes to the hero) out into the wild. The wild is a place where giants, hermits, fairies and trolls live. Grendel belongs to that sphere. He is a troll, so to say, even if he is not called that name in Beowulf, for it is a Northern Scandinavian word. There is a strong etymological connection of the relatively modern word "troll" to the ancient word "þræll", thrall. A Thrall was a member of society which had not the same rights as Jarl or Karl. In some cases, the þræll slaves captured on raids, but it is almost safe to say that even more so the þræll were formerly free men who were sentenced to thraldom due to debts or other transgressions against the laws of society. þræll had next to no human rights whatsoever, and they were very much subject to the capriciousness of their masters. Some few of them might even have led a life with not as many hardships and could become free again by working hard, but more often than not they were just like slaves. They had no right of bearing arms, severe restrictions towards housing, food, and even sexuality and could be killed without further ado. It is safe to say that some of them preferred to hide in the woods to become outlaws. They were "skóggángr" not because of a sentence, but to remove themselves from the hardships of thraldom. This trade is of very much questionable bargain, for they had to flee the company of their fellow humans and had no part in human society anymore. This made them very dangerous to human society; deprived of their humanity, they were no longer obliged to follow the laws of man. Their life must have been even harder than that of þræll in society, and despair must have been their constant companion.
Lacking weapons to succeed in survival in the wilderness, they either had to develop skills and prowess or steal from the society they had to abandon, or both. This is one aspect of the "troll" that endangers society. Even in modern internet language, a troll is someone who defies the cultural consent, e.g. in internet forum platforms. But there is more to the troll than just the sociological and historical aspect. Trolls were associated with sorcery (gáldr) and witchcraft (seidhr), so much in fact, that some curses worked in an indirect way; to curse someone you had to insult the trolls in his name to inflict their revenge upon that person.
Given that some þræll in fact were "imported" from Sápmi, and enslaved from the indigenous Sáami peoples with a strong background in shamanism (which in fact, is the very essence of galdr and seidhr, as in divination, the lore of potions and rituals to reach the other world), it can be argued that this might give further evidence to this theory. Also, the Sáami people are genetically distinct in the whole of the North and thusly look different, too. So there is another aspect: A xenophobic impulse to demonize an obviously different kind.
This historical ground might have paved the road for the mythological spice. In Norse mythology, there was the antagonist race of the Gods, the more primeval giants, powerful, but demonic forces. The Gods were the ones civilizing the wilderness by building Asgard, Midgard and Utgard and the nine worlds, but they were not responsible for the world tree, Yggdrasil, nor what lay beneath. The worlds of man and Gods were constantly threatened from outside: In the Iarnwíd (iron wood) around Asgard (and Midgard), out (út) side the circle or orchard (gárdr) there lived the jótunar (jótunn) or thursar, the giants and trolls of old. Given that mythological grammar always takes place in "illo tempore" (THAT time) in contrast to the "haec tempore", the actual time and in "illo loce" (THAT place), myth always mirrors reality and the other way round. What now becomes a most intriguing aspect of this process is that this is not a one-way street, and follows fractal logic. So what happens in "illo tempore" sees a manifestation in actual time. Along these lines it was possible to build the actual Babylon by driving an iron pole into the soil to fix the would-be, potential Babylon to the earth of every day life by "nailing the Tiamat (snake of Chaos)" (Mircea Eliade). So Asgard is a symbol coinciding the act of building Asgard in the wild by tricking the frost giants out of it with the act of building a home in a hostile environment. Now comes into play what I would like to call a dualistic coincidentia oppositorum; for troll and god are two aspects of the same process or state of being; one, representing the untamed, hostile wilderness and the other the order of human society. I personally believe that troll and god are psychological aspects united in one.
Now let us conclude: The troll represents the untamed wilderness. In a world where wilderness reigns supreme, this is a threat to mankind. By myth and by magic, by cunning and craft, man strives to preserve "the gleaming joy of bright hearth fire". The troll, who stands outside of human society, threatens the delicate balance and therefore has to be extinguished.
I recently read a most excellent article on the martial arts and zazen concept of Satsujinken-Katsujinken. Roughly translated from Japanese this means "a sword of life-a sword of death" or "the sword that kills, gives life". This is somewhat difficult to understand. In short, it is exactly what Myles says in his poem:
"(...)the one respite Found by men Is the comfort of home and kin; The wooden walls Of carven hall Of roof and rafters raised up tall, The house of music, Song of lyre, The gleaming joy of bright hearth fire. (...) Bold heroes must Make safe that place Holding monsters in grim embrace. With bare hands And their wills alone, They could not hope To return home. And so the smiths Did labour long To craft the lute Of raven song; They forged a sword And clad it in Moonlit silver and ember gems.(...)" (Myles Mulkey, Béado-Léoma, 2015)
The ritualized centre of the "gárdr" was the hall, the "house of music", but this was not all about this building. In the hall there was spoken justice, tales of lore were told, tradition was kept, alliances were forged. It was the very centre of civilization, and civilization was crucial for the survival of the kin and families. It was crucial for life. In Beowulf, Grendel kills every guest of Hrothgar, the prince of the Danes. So he threatens life, as the trolls and the creatures of the night in Myles´poem and in the concept of Petr´s sword. Satsujinken is the sword that kills. In order to preserve life, the opponent, the creatures of the night, the demons of the wild, have to be killed off, fended off, so that life can be defended. Thusly, the sword that kills, preserves civilization, and thusly, gives life.
But a sword that kills to preserve life, still kills. The question in Zazen now is, is it legitimate to kill 100 bad guys (which would be legitimate in that line of thought) in order to preserve the lives of 10 innocent people? Or, is it legitimate to sacrifice 10 innocents to preserve the lives of 100? And, what is Good and what is Evil?
Let me now look at it differently. Nowadays, the story just goes the other way round. We have one of the most complex civilizations in history. Crops are genetically manipulated, there is little wilderness left. Many wild animals died out because we "fended them off", "defended ourselves", killed them. Wolf and bear and birds of prey have been routed because they endangered our civilizational asset. But the scale is turning; by doing so we completely messed up the ecological balance. Even the sword, which was replaced first by the gun and then industrial killing machines, machine guns, tanks, rockets, now is belonging to a subconscious part, to the wilderness we strove to rout. But killing this off only leads to more killing, and we killed the stories and tales of lore and the mead hall together with wolf and bear and troll.
Wolf and bear and troll were feared in ancient times, but also respected in the early period of civilization, when the mead hall was an actual respite. Later on, killing them became a sport. Christianity gave many princes and champions the legitimation to rout what did not fit into civilization; head prizes were paid for the killing of wolf, bear, man and "troll". Everyone and everything that or who did not fit into the gárdr, had either to bend to fit the scheme or was killed. This is not necessarily due to the actual gospel, but more often than not might have its roots in the fact that most people were illiterate and just sought a legitimation to live out their violent mindset or even their fear, as it is still the case. The "go forth and multiply" and the assumption of power over the Earth in my book was never meant to be THIS way. But the wine is spilled, the deed is done, the wench is pregnant, so to say. The sword, that much is safe to say, no longer is the symbol of our time. It is tank, and whip, and credit card. The sword has been discarded into the wilderness in the back of our minds, together with cross and Bible, tale of lore, wolf and bear and troll and fiend, God and Giant, magic, even science. Mammon reigns supreme and the end justifies the means. Grey Gods rule from the top story of temples of glass, gold and concrete, grey gods of their own devices decide the ins and outs of life and death, with scarce mercy and with jaundiced eyes they survey this world for bargain. They calculate loss and bargain, and nothing more. They are not evil, but they stand opposed to the concept of good and evil. They are not black nor white but strive to bring an eternal grey. They do not mean any harm. They destroy life in itself.
The bad news is-they are us.
What we have done is irreversible. We have destroyed an entire world of life while we thought to preserve life. The question is not who is the bad guy anymore, but when or where we were going amiss.
I personally would say that we have to accept that there are two worlds, and both are absolutely necessary for our survival. To wield the sword that gives life we have to accept there has to be a balance. We have to be troll and warrior, fiend and defender at the same time. We have to be balanced ourselves. We have to be coincidentia oppositorum, sic et non, yin and yang.
It is hard to understand, but it´s time to lay down the sword. It´s time to take up the sword and fight to the death. It´s time to kill and hate and love and give life. It´s time to inflict wounds and heal wounds-but it is also time to inflict only those wounds we can heal, to take life only if we can give or have given life. The hands of a king are the hands of a healer...
Phrases at first glance, well, and contradictory ones. To understand this we have to realize exactly what we have done; and I personally have the impression that our mistake was to kill off ALL of the wilderness. With no wilderness there can be no respite, without darkness there can be no light. At least humans cannot tell the difference. Without being able to tell the difference, there is indifference. Indifference is a grey void. So, by killing off all the wilderness around us and in ourselves, we also killed the gleaming joy of the hearth fire, and we extinguished even the roaring dragon fire of the forge, and the sometimes violent flame of poetry and knowledge gained thereof. Without all of this, there can be no hero, no sword, no song, no smith, no birth, no life.
So we can assume that this our cherished civilization threatens the very centre of life. Paradoxically, it should not be called "uncivilization", for it is civilization that threatens itself. We need Satsujinken-Katsujinken in order to restore it. Civilization is not an enemy. The parody we have made of it is one, but there is no one to blame but ourselves.
My personal line of thought along the lines of trying to solve the problem is what I like to call "Skóggángr" (hey, I have a midlife crisis, so I must be allowed to found a sect of my own, don´t I ? *ggg*). What I mean by this is, that ancient knowledge learned by tale of lore is not dead. It is alive in fairy tales and sagas and manuscripts from the medieval age, in children and old people, in love and lust and joy, in the forest and the green, in traditional bushcraft and housekeeping and homesteading and martial arts, in crafts and arts. We just have to learn to live anew. This goes as far as learning to walk naturally again, to eat food we are made to eat, to wear clothing that does exactly what it should, namely clothe one and not tie one down like a webbing load restraint assembly, to speak, and dream, and sing.
Béado-Leoma not only is made for trolls. It´s made for ourselves. It is a chance. Xiphos is the "piercing light", the motto of the exposition. Four swords have been forged. Four swords were born from fire and the dark soil. Four piercing lights shine in the darkness. But five fingers hold the handle of the sword-birth, life, love and death. Where is the thumb?
Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
for his beautiful sword he made for the expo. To me, it hits the nail on the head.
Only in silence the word means to me, that while we have access to myriads of therabits (and pieces, pun intended), and there´s always someone talking, we cannot hear the word anymore. We need silence in order to hear what matters, in the world, but more so in ourselves. We have to listen closely to the wilderness within and the bright hearth fire, to troll as well as god.
Only in dark the light: Anyone seen the stars in a big city recently? In order to see the stars, we need a dark sky without light pollution. Working for a city marketing I am well acquainted with the term "territories and spaces of fear", meaning dark places where Mr. Boogeyman MIGHT lurk. In order to prevent Mr.Boogeyman from doing us harm, we light everything with glaring lights, to an extent that we destroy the ecosystem with it, shortly said and vastly abbreviated. But the dark still remains, and if the lunatic Mr. Boogeyman can´t shoot you in the dark, he will just as well do so in the light. We are weak, and instead of getting stronger, we bend the world to our desires. But we pay dearly for that, for we can´t see the stars anymore.
Only in dying life: Oh, we play at being immortal. Our medical science is vastly superior for those who can afford it. We pay for it, and our doctors are bought and paid for; but they market their products, and we pay with fear. Will that virus kill me? Will that flu be my end? Better take some antibiotics... blimey, doesn´t work anymore, virus has adapted to it. Of course, that´s not all there is, and if I am sick, I visit a doctor, if I cannot help myself anymore. But fear is our constant companion. Death walks with us every day of our lives. It gives valuable council, but fear makes us constanly gibber on endlessly like "bibbybabbabubbu" in order to silence death. The bad news is, it won´t shut up just because we want to. And so we fear even more. And our betters tell us in order to be deprived of all fear we just have to abandon our dreams and beliefs and passions and affections, for they are dangerous, and we confuse sedation with peace.
Freedom is not being without laws. Freedom never is free. It is lonesome, and there is an empty sky to be crossed. But only then we can live our truest light. Only then we can forge our inner sword, our dragon´s spine, our pillar of fire, our tree of life. Only then can we fly.
Only then are we legitimate to take up the sword. Yeah, we WILL fall. We will do worse than we intended. We will make mistakes, we ultimately WILL die. We will be sad. We will be lonesome, and bitter, and hurt. We will be faced with our dark side.
But the hero walks into the darkness wielding the flame. He wields the flame of life even when he deals death. There is nothing simple anymore, and in order to find your appropriate master these days, you have to be a master yourself. But walking the way has no alternative. And things will find themselves, and everything will fall into its place. Oh, no, it will not necessarily be all good. But there will be stories-if we tell them. There will be drawings and paintings-if we paint them. There will be wild love-if we live it. There will be stars-if we dare to walk out alone into the night.
And, maybe a long time from now, we will find a tiny spark of the hearth fire beneath the ashes of grey, and maybe with our flesh and bone we can kindle it anew.
I wished it should not have been in my time, but it is idle to wish. What I wish is without relevance.
We are currently working on a very, very fascinating project. Petr had come visiting recently, and we had good fun together feasting and drinking and talking bullshit ;-) (Thanks for totally screwing our minds, Petr!:-) We´ll never get that song out of our heads, and we see mushrooms everywhere...*ggg*) as well as some great in-depth discussions. But what was most intriguing to us that we had the chance to see one of his most recent works of art.
This is the sword beado - léoma (Anglo-Saxon for Battle - Light), a sword in the line of the most intriguing epic poem Beowulf, and a very eloquent incarnation of many Kenningar for the hero himself. For instance, the animal on the pommel, is a bear that stands for the name of the warrior, for "Beowulf" means "bee-wolf", hence a bear. The bees on guard and pommel stand for honey and mead which is served in the hall Héorot, the mead hall of king Hrothgar, where the drama takes place. The sliding piece for the belt on the sheath is carved in the shape of a mead hall with shingles. Those shingles stand for civilization, a roof, that provides warmth and protection from the wild things. The garnets stand for the glow and warmth of the hearth fire.
Now it all becomes wonderfully fascinating, for Myles Mulkey, bladesmith, swordsmith, author and poet had written a beautiful poem that in my opinion reflects the atmosphere best. It will be featured in the catalogue of the exhibition, together with a translation. You can get it here as soon as it´s printed.
The magic troll and myself guided Petr to Solingen and helped him deliver the sword for the oncoming exposition "The Sword - Form and Thought", which will take place at Klingenmuseum Solingen from the 26th of September to 28th of February 2016.
And while he was not so sure the museum would like the fact he had a poem to go along with the sword, it turned out very well. Dr. Grotkamp - Schepers, head director of the museum, was quite enthusiastic about the sword and poem. In fact, it was great to see all of the staff being extremely motivated around the exhibition, so much in fact that some of them even cancelled their holiday to be able to see the first sword arriving and having a chat with Petr. The only problem was the translation of the poem...
So we offered our help;-).
For free.
Bummer, I hear you say, you are a bunch of punks, what, for free? Nothing´s free, and you could use the money!
Let me explain this, for this is not how this thing works. It is not about earning money in this case. It is about being part of a modern hero´s tale. It is about being swordsmith and wordsmith. It is the gathering of the hosts, a muster of wizards and scholars, and it is a very unique thing taking place, something that is far more than "just" an exhibition. Mrs. Grotkamp - Schepers is a dyed-in-the-wool scientist, but I daresay she feels it herself, as does everyone at the museum, as does any smith and poet involved.
And for us two it is an opportunity to give the grey god a right kicking up the spine. He takes reign over the souls and lives of men in our society, befouling our everyday life. But this sword and the poem - and the other swords in the exhibition are a whisper from the dawn of time. It is maybe a bit bold to say it is something sacred happening here, but to me it feels exactly like it. But it is nothing like a fancy or a dream. The exhibition is centered around the topic of the xiphos, an iron age secondary Greek weapon. All of the swords in the exhibition are made around this topic. The name means "piercing, penetrating light".
In Myles´ poem civilization is represented by simple but crucial things. The roof of the mead hall, family and kin, the hearth fire, mead and food. The sword is a representant of these things, and, more so, defends them.
The sword that Petr has created is a brutal weapon. Its balance is willingly nothing like eloquent. It is straightforward and front-heavy, made to chop off the limbs of an unarmed adversary, such as an evil spirit referred to as "trolls" or "thurses" threatening those simple things of civilization, not for eloquent fencing, but for fighting with brute force.
But the culprit is, it´s made to defend, not attack. It represents the hearth fire. In its glow the new life is born, tales are told, and it gives light through the darkness of winter. The hero himself has to wield it. In order to overcome the threat he has to become the threat himself, a brute force (Eliade). He gains supernatural power, but in every hero tale there is a point where he is confronted with his own mistakes, and Germanic lore is full of tragic heroes. But the threat is to be overcome, and the individual does not count.
It is the simple things the hero fights for. It is not 300% increase of gain p.a., not the fourth TV and the third laptop. In a world of darkness the hearth fire becomes crucial for survival. Literally speaking, we live in a world that is - in a metaphorical way, of course - not so different from the world of Beowulf. It is threatened by dark things lurking in the twilight, just outside our perception. What remains is the metaphorical hearth fire to be protected, the mead hall and the birthing place as simple things that make our world. It has not changed, but has been obscured by darkness and too much light, by mist and nonsense notions. And it is a sad metaphor becoming true that the bees are dying out.
To us piercing light is shod unto the mead hall. To us the tale and the warmth and the company, bees, honey, mead and fire have a place. And the sword should defend it with brutal force.
Piercing light is secondary in that it is a secondary weapon, and in that it is the last-ditch resort of the warrior, it requires an all-or-nothing effort, speaking within the confines of the metaphor. And also speaking in the confines of the symbol, piercing light is what we need in order to analyse the threat that befouls our society.
We have to give it all or nothing to defend the mead-hall and its hearth fire.
Ask again why we do it for free.;-)
Cheers to Petr and Myles, lift your swords up high and shake them like wild boars!
It was that time of year again, and Unrest, Nick, Olaf and all the others kept calling what to do next;-). So we hitched car and train and whatnot to meet at the Klingenmuseum Solingen for the annual highlight of the year: The knifemaker´s exhibition.
Unrest fetched me with his ticket at Hagen railway station, and we took the train to Wuppertal Vohwinkel, where we had the privilege to see a lovely and well preserved art nouveau entrance and waiting hall at Vohwinkel railway station.
A bit off - topic, but maybe not, as we will see further down the post;-).
I loved those tiles, partly presumeably Venetian tileware. Beautiful!
Steampunk anyone?:-D
The station from outside. Why was this important? It was just a great start into a stress, but for the most part, very inspiring day.
We hitched the bus then to go over the hill and arrived just a short while later:
In the historic quarter of Gräfrath.
Up the hill, overlooking the beautiful village scenery, there is the old monastery of Gräfrath, which is now home to the world - famous Klingenmuseum (blade museum Solingen).
Now it´s a commonplace that the city of Solingen is home of some of the world´s finest cutlery since the medieval age, when "Cöllnische Schwerter" (Blades from Cologne) where a trading good dealt as far as Estnia and Russia by Hanse merchants.
The museum hosts exhibitions of blades and cutlery from the stone age to today, but again we were not coming for the exhibition.
At the first booth we had our first chat. Stefan of Steigerwald knives had a load of goodies on display:
Leatherworking tools and provisions...
as well as blade blanks, handle materials and blades, diamond hones and files, in short, everything one could wish for to get started in knifemaking.
Keeping our limited supply of time in the back of our heads, we went to the next booth...
...and completely messed up what time management we had mustered in meeting with Peter. Now what I can safely say is that I would not have been able to forge my first sword had it not been for my two favourite Peters, the Abel and the Johnsson one;-). This is the former, and we had a chat and a beer and many a discussion and some healthy laughs, too, for he is a nice guy to boot. He again gave valuable input, and I daresay he deserves another drink next time:-D.
Even if his works speak for themselves, I simply have to comment that I love his personal style that somehow bridges eloquence with character. He is someone I can learn a lot from by just talking to him, wait, was that an hour?
I certainly like the character pf the somewhat "tribal" look with those elegant handles and clean lines.
...
He is fond of the knife he points out here, somewhat of a modified Santoku design. Those are kitchen knives.
He had a lot of custom blades ranging from 39-open end €
...
He also does bargain: Those are knife project blades from Pakistan. I will discuss this topic further down, no worries...;-).
Nick bought some C105 steel from him and I daresay Peter shocked him when he bombarded him with words like cementitic grain conglomerate and bainite grain structure tempering;-), but as soon Peter realized this fact, he put it plain and simple. He is a most excellent teacher.
He gave him quite the insight into how to temper the steel in order to achieve a superior blade. I really look forward to the results!
Onwards with a bit of a frenzy, I met with Markus Schwiedergoll. Now Markus is an old acquaintance of mine. He runs "Die Klinge", a small, but excellent knife shop in Dortmund city. To say he is a nice guy does not exactly meet the point;-), for he has a kind of humour that can only be compared to the subtlety of a chainsaw massacre, but that´s alright with me :-D as you all know full well. If you come into a knife shop and are greeted by a action figure of Mama Bates and Chucky it must be a place worth visiting after all:-). Markus currently has a new project going on with staged seminars and asked me if I´d care to join in with a workshop or two. We´ll see what happens;-).
Off into the garden of the museum, we met with Olaf and Peter, and Olaf showed us his EDC. He had repaired the sheath for this seax and modified the grind. Of course I actually do like it a lot, but I also have somewhat of a controversial stand towards it, because he carried it openly on his belt, together with a "Gnadgott" dagger he recently made. While both are well made and certainly beautiful to boot and would never pose any problems on this expo, I suspect he carries them in public, too. We as knife users are faced with many problems, and the only chance we have is to illustrate that we are not maniacs, but sensible human beings. Now imagine Olaf would be caught in public with those two absolutely maniac knives. On a re-enactment fair or the expo, all would be fine. But we have but one option to retain the permission to actually be allowed to carry knives in general, and this is working with the legislative and not stupidly counteracting and provocating. I have had good success and even sold one or two legal bushcraft knives just by TALKING to policemen. If you do not have open access to a seax, it will be okay, provided you do not play the lunatic when the police asks you and politely answer questions. That way even a missing locking mechanism or other device to render it unaccessible will not be knife crime, but that depends strongly on whom you are confronted with. I do not know how often he carries that beast in public, but IF he does, I suspect he won´t be that diplomatic. Advice: Do not mess with the authorities. At least not that openly;-).
But of course we had a chat and a great time together as always.
Olaf also showed me his most recent creation, this beautiful bushcraft knife with a MOra blade and an oryx handle. I certainly love it!
The filework on the blade is most excellent and I am a bit envious!:-D
Off to the booth of Norbert. Achim and Matthias only were there on Saturday, but we had a chat with Norbert no less.
Now might be you know this kind of video, and you might even recognize the knives from last year. I find it most interesting that the Pakistani Damascus blade now has little in common in appearance with a knife while his kitchen knife is still like new. However, Norbert made a steel analysis, and found out it had 0,6% carbon content, which would not make for THAT bad a knife. Turns out, the Pakistani knife simply was not tempered. We then had a discussion why the heck this could be since in Pakistani culture there is a thousand-year old tradition of steel and most of the most eloquent metallurgical technologies we now have date back in one kind or the other to Oriental traditions. We discussed matters and came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with intercultural reception. I personally would suggest that those knives are made fast with next to no provisions, and while in a former Persian culture a blacksmith had a very high social status, even if he were not deemed a "free" man, nowadays it is a crappy job for the lowest of the low. Actually the craftsmen often take little to no pride in what they do, with a few exceptions, and that shows. I had the privilege to meet some Pakistani knifemakers who actually take pride into their products, and that shows in their products as well. I guess this is somewhat of a vicious circle: To gain higher social esteem, they need money, to get more money, they´d have to offer higher quality, even higher quality than a comparable European smith would have to offer in order to overcome the prejudice. It is good to have the opportunity to talk to actual people on the expo in order to actually gain insight in complex processes like these!
In fact, the expo was a hotspot of scientific research and learning. Herbert Schmidt was doing a very great lecture on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), while the students of his school did a great job demoing the cutting capabilities and principles of guard and attack in many demoes. Talking of which, often it was not the success, but also the failure that was very impressive, for it made well clear that the skills involved in European swordfighting were highly complex. I was listening intently, for it was not easy to understand all the aspects. It did not quite help that Olaf stood by my side the whole time ranting about how he would smash up the swordfighters with his billhook and that they were all sissies. I can tell you, I was a bit stressed out, for I tried to be respectful and polite, but at the same time simply wanted to get the meaning of the lecture given. I am normally not one for ranting about something like that on the web, too, and I do not mean any disrespect or offence to Olaf, but it makes something very clear: That there´s a difference between fantasy re-enactment and historical research. Not that I want to belittle fantasy re-enactment, everyone should do what he´d like as long as he does not voluntarily harm anyone. And wanting to learn is not for everyone, either. But when I look back along my life, the happiest and most rewarding moments I had, apart from the ones I spent on my mountainbike riding along impossible ridges at lake Garda or in the Alps or through silent and solitary woods, were those at the university, when after a long day in the library you finally came across that one word or sentence in a dusty book that simply fell into place. When you got a tiny glimpse of the truth.
The students involved had of course interest in the martial aspects of swordplay, but also did a very sound demo of the research involved. It´s not about smashing your opponent to pieces (even if I trust each and every one of them to be more than capable to do that), but a responsible line of learning with a most deadly offensive weapon that at the same time stands for a psychological archetype. A sword is a very essential piece not only of our culture, but also of our psychological landscape. In the same way that the use of axe and knife has shaped our very hands and motoric and sensoric interaction, the sword has shaped our archetypical psychological landscape. And, as I would like to put it, by studying it, you might get a tiny glimpse of that hidden truth. It is not an aspect of an academic guy being better than one who is not, but an aspect of self-respect and pride in the humility of being a student of life. For I find I deserve to know more than I know now, and deserve to be a better human being next year than I am now. Everyone deserves to. But since I cannot care for everyone, I simply decided it was about time I´d do what I want, and that is getting a glimpse of the truth. And the sword conveys that meaning.
Unrest and myself then made for the booths we had yet missed and came across the booth of Andreas Henrichs. He had a lot of goodies on display, including this Viking sword (Wheeler type III). I loved it!
It was also great to see the Damascus blades, which were absolutely bargain for that quality!
We had a great chat with Andreas. He is a very accomplished craftsman with a very laidback and down-to-earth attitude. It was a right pleasure to meet! We bought some scrap Damascus for next to nothing, and traded emails.
I daresay Unrest got the bug bad, and I guess there´d be one or the other forging session coming up soon...;-).
A detail of the lovely Viking sword hilt with gold and silver inlay.
Another detail...
Then it was a right-hand turn to face... one of my favourite human beings of the expo: JT Palikkö not only is an extremely accomplished master of swordsmithing and knifemaking, but also a great and funny chap to boot. In fact, it was mainly some weird jokes we traded:-D.
He got a visit by someone who might as well be the next shooting star of German swordsmithing. Lucas, a young gun, had brought this lovely late medieval long sword for evaluation by JT, and it turns out he was certainly quite impressed and seemed a bit reluctant to hand it back over;-). He gave valuable input as usual. I love that most when meeting with those swordsmiths: They are a great community with an abnormal degree of politeness and respect for each other. Those who really want to learn, can prosper in this community. I sincerely hope to make an article about Lucas soon, since we traded email addresses and will hopefully stay in contact! As for the swordsmithing scene I strongly suspect that most of them are very responsible characters well aware about the fact that what they create is a deadly weapon of assault and an artefact of grave importance. Of course, there´s also a lot of weird humour, but most of them are very unique and sympathetic characters. I daresay we will see further on why this might be;-).
And of course JT had more to offer than "just" some advice, for he had some of his lovely swords on display, too. This one is a Hungarian saber which he interpreted as closely as possible. While he extrapolated the hilt in his reconstruction, the whole concept of the saber is a s close to the real thing as possible, including the nodes of percussion and the distribution of the weight. I had the privilege to handle it (no swinging and flailing about wildly of course:-)), and it was that light and well-balanced you could handle it with three fingers. Nothing could be more wrong than thinking a medieval sword were a clumsy thing used like an oversized cold chisel to peel the opponent out of his plate armour! Fighting with such a weapon requires an abnormal amount of body control, precision and practice, and a swordfight certainly was nothing less than a romantic affair. It is unrealistic to think that a swordfight would last a day, as is often stated in romantic poems and stories. Closer to reality is the situation that lasts some mere seconds-then one would be dead. In Japanese philosophy there are the terms "one sword of Death, one sword of Life" referring to the fact that if a sword is kept in the sheath and used to develop one´s character, it can actually be life - giving. It is all about constantly keeping in mind the consequences of one´s behaviour and acting accordingly. I daresay this would be a great asset in today´s world if more people would relate to this line of thought.
On we went to the booth of Maihkel. Now Maihkel is another artist and great human being, always smiling and with a calm and steady air about him. He had many lovely art knives on display. Certainly not my piece of cake, for I tend to abuse my knives a lot, but that´s all my fault really:-).
I admired the craftsmanship on this axehead. Maihkel got the axehead, presumeably out of Wootz / Pulad steel on a flea market in France and did this lovely engraving on it.
More to my personal liking was this daneaxe, also an old one he engraved with a beautiful interpretation of an Urnes style Viking knotwork.
Maihkel seems to have an obsession to date with engraving;-). he transformed this roebuck skull into this work of art... almost makes you want to die so that he could engrave your bones...*ggg*.
Time was on short supply, so we just traded some friendly talk and one more smile, and off we were to my absolute highlight of the show. Having met Peter Johnsson, one of the premier scholars and craftsmen in swordsmithing, last year, and having written to and fro one or the other email, I can safely state that he has inspired my life. Unfortunately time´s ALWAYS on short supply when we meet, and a thorough discussion would take us way too far for the limited time. I have thoroughly studied his theories on sword physics, and to say I am inspired would not do it half justice.
Let´s put it that way: In a way we might as well be kindred spirits. I asked him if he´d call himself a warrior, and he said that he would say so, but not one of the sword, but one of the mind. It is quite obvious that he teaches with a fierce passion, and I got his meaning well.
But what is less than obvious maybe is that there´s a dimension of his theory that is a reproduceable metaphysical effect. In a post concerning last year´s expo, I had reported that there was this "little girl" who, when taking up the sword, was like a lamp unblended. Now look at the picture of this lady. She was a well-educated intellectual with presumeably an academical career, speaking English with an "Oxford" accent, and in her 70s.
When she took the late medieval sword to hand that Peter offered her, the same happened as it did last year with that "little girl". Suddenly she became far more present, radiant almost. She had a twinkle in her eye but you could also tell she became careful around the weapon.
We discussed this matter, and Peter again explained his theory that medieval sword physics, following the same principles as masonry and architecture, were designed to do exactly that. Following a kind of sacred and symbolic geometry, the sword was not only becoming a most deadly offensive weapon, but also a means of enlightenment, deeply embedded in a ritualistic canon.
What we talk about here is a philosophy dating back to philosophers like Thomas von Aquin, and, keeping in mind the other scriptures of that time, a philosophy that was called the "Solomonic master key" or "master´s sigil" in Christian natural philosophy. Musical harmony, astronomy, theology, art, medicine, law and alchemy as natural philosophy all followed these principles in order to gain "precision, subtlety, higher understanding and deeper reckoning" (Hanns Schmuttermayer, Fialenbuchlein, ca 1480, quoted after www.peterjohnsson.com).
It can be supposed that the theory is based on Pythagorean principles and philosophy, and at once something fell into place while we talked. Can it be that, just as well as the sword connects to the body when taken to hand, something happens on a deeper, more psychological level?
I have done a lot of research on the AZOTH, the Paracelsian principles of diagnostic and treatment in medicine and magic, and had tried to evaluate the facts and speculations concerning the obscure manuscript "The Cauldron of poesy", a manuscript by an anonymous scribe (featured in Eriu XXVI, in case you ask;-)) and embedded in "Imacallam in Dá Thúarad (colloquy of the two sages)" . When talking to Peter, something fell into place concerning these researchs and his theory. For just like the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci not only symbolizes a proportion in arts, but a relation to the Cosmos, thus does this theory not only represent a proportional geometry, but a relation to the whole. And as I want to state that the psyche or soul, if you like that word better, has an effect on the body, it is quite obvious that the geometry and physics of the sword has an effect on its "metaphysis" (please take note that I mean this in the sense of the word, not the connotation, meaning "Above / behind the physical"), metaphysis in this case meaning the faculties of balance, handling, "feel" directly influenced by the layout. And as the soul or psyche reacts on the physics of a sword, it must be possible to draw a line of agnition between the way the psyche reacts to the layout of an "inspired" sword as I´d like to call it. For in my book there are well - made swords, badly made ones, and "inspired" ones. The latter give the owner or the person who handles them the impression of having a "spirit" or "soul". The observations I have made, while still lacking empiric relevance, hint that this effect is not only subjective, but objective and subject to geometrical layout of the sword. This would in turn indicate that the medieval theory- that geometry is more than just a method of construction -actually bears scientific relevance. In turn, this might imply that the metaphysical aspects of those theories deserve to be considered in a modern way. I have long since suspected that the observations I have made in meditation after a medieval diagram have more significance than being but a fancy of one half-mad outcast:-P. Suffice to say that a crucial ingredient of that diagram is the Vesica, which in turn is crucial to the construction of medieval swords also. And in a symbolic meaning as well in a biological, in a physical as well in a metaphysical way the Vesica has something to do with portraying a correlation between two node points or topological fields. I smell it here, and it has my mind racing in a most positive manner.
I have now neither room or space to spread this topic out, and it will have to wait for a different post. Suffice to say, as intellectual and prosaic one might be, the effect can even be witnessed by a sceptic like Unrest, who´s now moving to and fro the possibility of writing a mathematical program to analyse the theory, be it even to prove it´s wrong;-).
So what we have here is a massive amount of inspiration, and I daresay Peter would like that a lot.
I will go back to the drawing board, so to say. And I very much look forward to the exhibition "The sword - form and thought" , a most revolutionary approach to medieval and modern swordmaking which will take place in the Klingenmuseum Solingen from September 25th. I really, really look forward to meeting the likes of Petr,Peter,Jake,Owen,JT, and all the others in autumn on the selling exposition of swords and related deviant art.
I heard it told (by wanderers:-D) that the motto of the event which is more or less an Arctic Fire event gone "sober";-), will be the forging of Xiphos, "penetrating light", originally the name of an iron age type of sword, but now the concept of a combined effort of the best swordsmiths in the Western world.
So the event will offer enough interesting input for all aficionados, swordsmen and philosophers. In October, it will be followed up by a HEMA martial arts workshop and an exhibition.
After a good hour´s intense talk we went on our merry way. Please do not take me wrong: There was still a lot to see, and of very high quality, but there was little capacity left in my brain. But the other booths I just passed in a hurry and a frenzy.
What I did, however, is visit two booths that always stand out:
Gerhard Wieland had his really eloquent knives on display, meticulously handcrafted the "tribal" way.
This one I liked a lot!
And there was Andreas Schweikert, whom I owe a lot of valuable input and inspiration. He also forges with little machinery and also does Wootz and Damascus blades. He had these machetes, Kopis and Parang and En-Nep on display. They are made from C 60 steel and well documented:
What can I say?
Phew!
What an emotional rollercoaster ride. What a hotspot of extremely high quality craftsmanship and quality people. What a frenzy, but also how much inspiration.
Readers of my blog know how reluctant I was to forge my first sword. And even as I did it, I did not like the experience. But I realized one thing that I cannot deny. I am a swordsmith, and cannot help it. I did not call for it. But there are many things now pointing me into this direction. There are many, many thoughts racing through my mind now, and I can´t spill them right now.
But when visiting this expo, many things just fell into place. I cannot thank Peter enough. For offering the gear that clicked into my drivetrain of thought.
