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.
I was looking for an alternative to e.g. fixing knife handles, and it is a bit of a recurring question over the years: How would people have set handles to their knives? As for the iron age, and even in early 20th century Finland still, knife handles might have been set into fresh wood, with as good a fitting as would possibly go, and let the wood shrink around the tang and sometimes peen or bend the protruding tang over. But handles had been fixed with glue since the Palaeolitic age. One method for sure is using birch tar glue with a bit of animal fat and something fibrous, such as plant fibres, or fur fibres from animal hide. This here is a recipe inspired by a mentioning by T. Sirelius: Ethnographia Laponia. I used some fur I found in the woods and cut them short.
I added 1 pt beeswax for 9 pts spruce resin and about two spoonfuls of wood ashes.
Boiling the pitch is something you take good care of. Use a small tuna can and a small amount. Most probably your concoction will catch fire. That is not desireable, but don't panic, and for chrissakes don't try to extinguish the flames with water, for it would explode. Best do it outside, keep some sort of lid handy (a small dish will work). Most of the time, you can simply blow out the flames. It is crucial that you actually do boil the resin.
The glue will cool to a really hard surface. You will need to heat it in order to use it.
I hope that was helpful 😉.
Take good care, thanks for dropping in, and until next time!
After shelter, it is one of the most essential human comforts. Warmth is crucial for survival, but there is more to it. Maybe the fact that we love to mindlessly scroll on Tok or elsewhere could be traced back to a primeval yearning- to stare into a fire, without a thought or a worry at all, warm and safe. I cannot know. That those platforms rot one's brain and hack your mind is a neurological and psychological commonplace, and it is also a commonplace that this is intentional.
A fire, however, is proven to have a rather wholesome effect on the human mind.
Now do not get me wrong. In my EDC, there are matches, a lighter, a ferro rod and a tinderbox. And flint and steel, although I am getting better at it, would be pretty much my last resort in a emergency situation.
But just as a fire is more than just a survival necessity, starting a fire always had sort of a ritual character for me. And of course, you should know how to have the capability to start a fire at the tip of your fingers, with as many different methods and techniques as possible. But that is not all there is. Starting a fire with flint and steel has a certain beauty to it that is hard to fathom.
To me, it is a form of reconnecting. That is a pretty big word, but I do not apologize.
For flint and steel success, you need to know where to find means to catch a spark. You need to know how to (sustainably) harvest tinder conk and process Amadou and/or make charcloth. You need to not only know where the mushroom grows, you need to know the local ecosystem, you need to know how to process the material. In order to do that, you need to know why it works. If you know why that might work, you are also capable of learning about the medicinal properties of the mushroom. You will also realize that the mechanical properties of the Amadou lend themselves for the material to be used for a leather substitute. And first and foremostly, you learn how to respect and value your resources, for they are rare and precious.
Then you light a fire with it. It is not exactly easy, and there certainly was a learning curve involved for me, and still is. I want to be honest to you: I am not always sure whether or not I will succeed. I do succeed most of the time, and I still do practice a lot. It is good fun, even though there is still a certain element of doubt involved.
Getting a fire going that way feels empowering.
Please keep in mind that I am a certified fire brigade assistant and that I have permission by the local authorities. Because a rather essential part of firecraft that few people show you in those cool 15 second Videos on the interwebs, is how to watch a fire, control it, and put it out, and when not to start a fire at all. How to be able not to set the whole forest on fire.
And here is the culprit. I guess some of you got a bit infuriated because of what I said, but it actually wasn't meant as an offence. Quite the opposite.
Most people cannot know. Because we are not just disconnected, we are being actively separated from nature. Our primeval yearnings are abused in order to profit. And do not get me wrong, I am not a stranger to mindless scrolling myself.
Lighting a fire with flint and steel, with a fire drill or other friction fire techniques, is not exactly efficient. If you are in a survival situation, and you got other means of lighting a fire, use them. But it is great to have a Plan B, C and D. And the most important thing is that it is a really valueable means of reconnection- and empowerment.
Because there is a war going on, not only on culture, but on humanistic values, and the human species per se. A war for profit. Don't fall for the fearmongering, though. Just switch off your phone from time to time and maybe get a campfire going, brew yourself a cuppa trailcoffee or tea and breathe a bit deeper. Take care of your fire, of course, but I trust you do anyway.
Never forget: To date we still do have a choice to choose a more wholesome activity over mindless brain rotting.
This is a fun little project I started in the magic troll 's living room. Actually there are few things that I love more-we were sitting there, after having some lovely, simple food, with our snacks and cozies and a hot beverage. I mounted a knife blade from Helle Knives, she made her beautiful Naalbindning needles, while there was some sort of documentary on the TV. To me, this is not only the perfect wintertime pastime, but it conveys a lot of meaning to me. I do think that this, or something very similar, was what our forebears did when the weather was grim, way back to the paleolithic. Well, without the telly, obviously. 😉 If you want to see her work, drop by Koboldkerker.blogspot.de, well worth the visit.
Anyway, I really do love Helle Knives. The blades always come in razor sharp, and most of them get the task done admireably. We had those Skóg/Fjellmann blades lying around for ages. It is made from H3LS, a three layer laminate steel with a carbon steel as a cutting layer and arming steel sides from 18/8 stainless steel, which offers rust resistance from hell, but cannot be hardened. It offers a bit of spring resistance, though, when forged. Blades like that are made by Helle since time immemorial and have been proven to be really resilient.
I mounted that little blade (80x2,7 mm) with a handle from reindeer antler and birchwood burl. At the first glance, it doesn't look any special, but it is
This is the original find. The pictures are copyright by @vegardvike and museum of culturalhistory, Norway. On the pictures you can see that the knife has a rather interesting handle shape, with sort of some diamond cross section and sort of a bevel towards the edge line of the handle. And testing my sample pieces, I found this to be a real game-changer for a lot of applications, from food prepping, to skinning, and it really excels at wood carving.
On the picture below, you can see what I mean.
I wanted to incorporate this idea in a more modern handle design. Because, while the handle on the Trollstein knife is actually really efficient, it also makes the sheath design a bstd to get right. Also, I do like a little more contour and purchase in the handle. So I put those facets on a more modern design. It is obviously not a replica, but really works awesome. It is about the principle of signalling your brain and body which way you hold the blade. And what I want to say is, that I would not have known had I not tried to make a replica of the find.
Archaeology gives us insight into the knowledge of the past. The principles that people applied historically still are relevant.
In Germany, there is something going on that can only be called a culture war against all things of cultural heritage, science and craft. I do know it is even worse in the US. At the Uni, there is currently a move of the administration, and behind that, possibly altright political forces, to close down entire ethically relevant faculties like Archaeology, literature and philosophy, but also actively defunding medicine, mathematics and physics.
Think about the relevance for your actual life situations. For Archaeology, it might not seem obvious, but the relevance actually is pretty commonplace. Call it "the knowledge of the ancestors" if you want.
I am not actually asking "cui bono" yet, because I do not need to. Suffice to say that this handle design is really a rather enlightening experience.
And it was first designed in the iron age.
If you possibly can, try it out to get my meaning.
Made a simple sheath for the new Trollstein knife trial piece. Just quick and dirty is all, but I already found out something.
These are the first trial pieces. The one on the right is closer to the original shape. It is made from 80CrV2 steel with a selective temper (see previous post). As you can see, it follows a leaf shape, making it quite wide at the blade, wider than the blade.
The handle, however, gets significally thinner towards the blade.
Period sheaths were a bit like the one I made (the ones that did survive, that is), but, for the most part, even more simple, lacking a welt and not following the contour as much.
They also lacked any kind of securing device, of course. With a sheath like that, both the broad blade and thin handle will make it quite tricky to achieve a good retention in the sheath.
I will achieve this with the use of spirit alcohol and secret processes and hot-waxing making it almost as snappy as a kydex sheath. Maybe even a clip made from copper or bronze or bone, but most of the period pieces lacked that.
So I want to propose that maybe the properties of the sheath, which are quite certain, might have contributed to the owner losing it. As I said, mine will stay in, but it is a really tricky thing to make a sheath for the blade shape.
Anyway, really looking forward to using this knife.
Because it was once upon a time, in the sixth century, to be quite exact, that a hunter ventured far out to stalk reindeer on a glacier near Trollsteinen in Norway.
A lot of you guys know how it is. Got your game, stalked it most of the day, get to skin and butcher it, while the light is getting dim. Cannot let it go to waste, too.
Where the actual what now did I just put that knife now?
Sliding down that slope into that crevice, that is where I put it, for whosesakeever.
That was in the sixth century AD.
Zoom in to March 2023, climate change killing us all, but also melting the ice of that glacier. A team of Norwegian archaologists discovered a knife that melted out of said ice and, no irony intended, lovingly and caringly secured that site. Shout out to Secrets Of The Ice archaeology team for literally doing that. Those guys are awesome. They deserve a whole lot of more support than they get, and that is a fact.
Enter uncle Fimbulmyrk, leisurely browsing the devil's own webs and getting sent arse over teacup into the next rabbit hole.
Fire lit, forge roaring.
Like that, see?
Smitey, smitey, little filey, no more work, become a knifey.
Fact is, I messed up, but actually I did not expect to succeed in the first. Because I really want to make this a real archaeological experiment, so making this knife will be just a test for the real one.
On the other hand, I already got an impression of the capabilities of the concept, and that knife will be a biter.
Actually the differences are not toooo bad, and the mistakes I made also have a lot to offer in terms of understanding the knife.
Blade is file steel, with a selective temper and a high convex bevel to almost zero, as on the original (as far as I can tell without having handled it.
I, for one, think I earned that cuppa tree.
The picture above is an X-ray of the original, courtesy of the Musem of Culture Norway, Vegard Vike (Copyright).
The Museum studio photo shows the original and why I have ways to go still. This knife is stunning. It is dated to the 6th century AD. It bears some striking similarities to the finds from Illerup Ådal, too, which is really fascinating.
I really do need to do more research on the topic and really look forward to putting this knife to use.
So, stay tuned and thanks for your patience and loyalty!
Now this is the blade I featured some time ago, a not-so-authentic version of the Daco-/Gallo-/ Roman sica knife. Arguably not so authentic is the semi-integral bolster, but I simply love it. But then there are sicae and other knife shapes found from the Roman empire or from Celtic and Iberian finds, e.g. a Sica from Botorrita, with a short socket where the handle was fitted into, just like with some modern-day gouges, so the look might be excuseable even for reenactors;-). The reason why there are no semi-integrals found (at least not with these relatively simple knives) and even full-tang knives are relatively scarce (abundant only in Roman and Celtic countries, with the exception of iron age seaxes in Germanic culture, that presumeably had an Eastern provenience, another interesting topic), is that iron, and even more so, steel, was costly and was obtained at great pains. It tells a big story that in ancient Rome full-tang knives were quite common.
This one, however, does not at all claim to be a detailed reconstruction. It is made from an ancient chisel I found in the woods and shows a very weird spark analysis, might be Tungsten-alloyed steel such as HSS. The Sicae (or Kopis) knives I have made so far were not having that much an offset in the blade, and I thought to give it a try to test out the extreme. I have, for now, put a piece of antler on it to check out the balance while I contemplate what buttcap to fit. Balance point should be on the index finger.
Having played with it I must say that for everyday tasks such as cutting meat and slicing onions you have to think along a different train of thought. The blade gives you fierce cutting ability with a good purchase when you use it in a drawing motion, as you do with a sickle, so to say. The forward orientation of the tip gives you the possibility for a more pushing motion in a pressure cut. The shape of the blade really shines in two aspects: Woodcarving and slashing. The blade is ideal for delicate woodcarving in my book. I also tested the chopping prowess and again had to apply a different mindset. It will not work when you use the same motion as with a straight, say, drop-point knife. Is it less capable then? Not in the least, because when you use a straighter knife shape, you always have to adapt to the natural arcing motion of your wrist. With a Sica you have to keep in mind that this is not necessary. You can chop softer wood with a slashing motion by keeping your hand where it is and your wrist tight. Of course, it is no Khukhuri, but I was amazed.
The Sica in ancient Rome had a somewhat sinister reputation as the preferred weapon of back-alley cut-throats, and, having handled it, I can relate to that. It would also make a very effective fighting knife, if you knew how to handle it. The tip is always forward, and the sickle shape makes for amazing slashing capability. What fascinates me with this, is that the blade´s shape is most ancient and dates back to the earliest bronze age. And it actually follows a whiplash line, and I can´t tell it any other way, also feels "whippy". The "sweet spot" or "purchase spot" lies along the line of a Golden Ratio spiral, and, while there are always some liberties taken if you apply static geometry to a dynamic process, I strongly suspect that this has something to do with the "springy" feeling when slashing. By the way, if you analyse the ideal curve of the application of force in some martial arts, you also get the impression of a similar dynamic (whiplash line e.g. in Qi-Gong). Of course, yeah, I admit it, I am a bit obsessed with that whiplash line thing, and might be I see spectres everywhere, but I can´t think of a better model for explaining it, and it works for me in martial arts and even mountainbiking, so, hey, I don´t get paid for this;-), so I can cook up any theory I´d like.
The culprit is, it was a great experience again to actually be able to do some work with a most ancient blade form. You can talk about endlessly about who has written what about it and when, but only if you rebuild it and use it will you be able to understand, and the enlightening effect feels that good I think I am getting addicted to it.;-)
When the knife is ready, I guess it deserves a "name" and a story, and I will see how it fares in the woods... watch this space!
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