Knives from way back then

We recently had a chat amongst us about progression and scrolls... and I thought about how I started. Sometimes it´s important to get back to do a reality check. These knives I forged in 1998 with a dirt forge, and an old sledge as anvil from crap steel. The knife below is, apart from the lousy scroll quite good. It´s made from file steel with a bainite temper (an ancient urine concoction recipe), with a very thin and slicey blade. Might be I´ll hacksaw the scroll away and fit another handle, but as is, it is a document of those days... The topmost knife is made from spring steel I found in the woods and simply pounded it into shape any which way ;-). The handle was made from stag antler and did crack, but I simply filled the cracks with glue. But it cuts and has seen quite some heavy use... not good, for sure, but still... it worked.

Progress is important. But to achieve a sensible progress, you have to at first realize where you are standing, and you have to admit where your flaws are. And there are times when "it works for me" simply is not enough.  I realized those scrolls were lousy, so I practiced and asked senior blacksmiths the how-dos. Before tempering, I did a lot of studying and experimenting. So I certainly did not do a perfect job in ´em days, but I learned to do it intuitively- and to get it right eventually. I cracked a lot of blades, but I did not give up.

I owe these times a lot, and I miss them. I could forge whenever I wanted to, and forging I did, with the flames soaring up to a winter starlit sky, or while having a beer with buddies in summer. Those times were certainly in one aspect more difficult, for I did not have the experience nor the equipment and messed up a lot... but on the other hand, they were more fun. And they have not only made me the smith I am, but also the person I am. Looking back, those times look like a fairy tale told to me about some mythical character... but it was me. We all are a story, and I am fully aware of this... but sometimes it gets more clear.

New Gallo-Roman strikers for Tina

Tina, a friend of the magic troll´s and a mutual acquaintance wanted a striker, so here they come... Two firesteels inspired by Roman finds. File steel, of course... and selectively tempered (no annealing) in water. Wait, was that water? ;-) Yap, it was. Don´t do this with a thin knife blade, of course, but with a thickness of about 6 mm you can do this  to achieve a sharper quenching. You don´t want to drop a striker (any striker) onto a concrete floor, so you need to be careful a bit with them, but then it is not a prybar in the first.

Those were the days... an old knife rediscovered

 There is an advantage to being a chaotical character... you can always rediscover things you thought were long lost.;-) I recently found this knife in my attic-turned home and it made me a bit melancholic. It is one of the knives I forged in the garden of my old home with a dirt forge, with charcoal and an old vacuum cleaner for a bellows in, wait, is that 2002?. Originally the blade was a lot longer. It was forged from file steel, and it was intended as a seax. There also was a swan´s neck lanyard loop at the end of the handle. It´s a full tang blade, but the handle goes around the tang. Now I have always been a funny chap, and yeah, I know you do not throw seaxes at hardwood logs. But as it turns out, I did, and the tip broke off, for I had my heat treating not that wired in ´em days. I always used very little tempering, misjudging the need for monstrous edge retention;-), meaning, many of the file steel blades I made in these days were so hard (and brittle) they could easily cut glass. I was that naïve I was even proud of it!:-D This took the beating relatively well, for it had been quenched in a Bainite concoction after the "curicus und offen hertzig wein artzt" from the 1700s and has a monstrous spine thickness.

So, the damage was done, but it was a great knife so far out of a great steel, so I simply heated the thing all in all, with a wrapping of wet rags around the handle and took the hardness down to 59 - 60 HRC and then redid the tip with careful grinding and even put a kind of hollow grind and a fuller on it. Since the proportions were so awkward after that I hacksawed off the swan´s neck and put a butt cap on. I also carved the burned-coloured stag antler handle with some spiral ornaments and made the somewhat weird leather sheath for it.

The steel, the heat treating and the grind now work in unison to make it a most able cutter in spite of the spine thickness.

 

Whenever I am a bit doubtful about my work I remember this knife and then I realize there´s always more than one way to do things, and you can save a lot by improvising.

On the bench these days... Wootz / Bulat-blades from steel I found in the woods

 I can tell you, I nearly fell on my south, when I learned the "crap steel" I found in the woods actually was refined Wootz! In the etch you can see the characteristical carbide distribution...Click here for a scientific article on Wootz / Bulat / Pulad steel.

 Even if it were not this kind of steel, there´s be no harm done, for it makes for a blade that wickedly sharp and holds an edge very well. Okay, so it got some dents, when I slammed it full bore into an iron rod, especially to the rear, where it did not hit the tempering concoction fast enough, but no harm done... when´s the last time you used a knife to chop through iron rods?;-)

 I fitted a stag antler handle that´s currently being tanned.

 The spine´s rather thick at 5mm, the blade´s 95 mm long. I love the Kopis design, for it makes for a smooth cutting motion!

 And my hadseax is there, finally, and talk of being snobbish, the damascus is of ancient file steel and Wootz steel... as I have learned now. It is wickedly sharp, flexible and boy, I simply love it.

 If you look closely you can see hints of the wootz structure in the layers.

 Okay, I have to remove that glue;-)!!!

The blade´s 105 mm long and 3,2 mm thick, has a high convex bevel with a very slight curve. The handle is bog oak from an old mine with a lovely burgundy colour. Fitting and bolster are brass, the white piece is reindeer antler that will see some carving. Watch this space, I am back...!(that a threat?);-)

News from the shop and the deep, deep woods...

 Long time, no post, and a load of things that have happened. Suffice to say, life´s not getting easier, but I refuse to give up;-). Something very great first, however: It was not a week after Willy and the magic troll learned my camera had gone the way of all earthly things that they both respectively gave me a camera they had to spare. No high-end pictures, but pictures you´ll get, first from projects going on. Topmost is the new Nessmuk I started some time ago, fitted with ramshorn scales. Spring steel, selective temper and scales I am a bit disappointed of, for they are looking a bit crappy still. Then a knife I am very fond of, a danascus from ancient file and crucible steel. Brass, reindeer antler, yew from the old garden of my old home, and a copper buttcap. You can see the quench line very distictively and the blade, even with a rather thick convex bevel, is hair-poppingly sharp.

 Then a fully integral compact bush knife proto with a tempered buttcap that can be used to hammer nails home (which I tested;-)) and a thick tang that even without scales can be used with no harm to your hands. The blade supports my weight;-). It´s made from spring steel with a selective temper. The tang is drilled out to achieve a better balance. Guess it will get some stag scales or something like that...

Next in line is an integral Kopis/En-Nep out of crucible steel I found in the woods. Not tempered yet, I am still about on the finish. By the way, I have, except for drilling, used no power tools.

 "Found in Myrk´s wood";-), another integral loosely modeled after a German hunting knife. I am really fond of it, crucible steel from the woods again, 90x4mm, burned stag antler, riveted against a brass buttcap. The handle will see a carving, maybe of an eagle owl, which is of some spiritual significance to me.

 Then I made a lanyard mojo for rún iarann, an EDC utility knife out of Zwissler damascus, tank cannon and tank bearing steel, and bog oak with a burgundy colour. Silver, agate, brass, and a merlin´s tail feather.

Talking of "Myrk´s wood", you asked for it, and here it comes: Another unlikely Fimbulmyrk tale:

Last week I was completely burned out from work, work and more hard work, deaths in my family, a distance relationship, no resources at all, and having no actual perspective in the so- called "real world", you know, the one that destroys nature for money, toodles and plays around with genetics, bionics and warfare and generally knows no god but the ego... coming to think of it, it in itself has no perspective, but you know what I mean.

So, what to do?

Off with me into the deepest woods I could find. Searching for counsil and comfort by the trees and the spirits. It wasn´t long into the hike that I realized buzzards were circling ahead, some five or so, crying madly as I have never heard before. Following them I ventuered ever deeper into the woods. There it was I found a buzzard´s skull, and paying my respect, I took it with me.

Now I am currently researching the local legends about the elven or dwarven king Goldemar / Volmar, the mythical builder of Volmarstein castle and counsellor of Neveling of Hardenberg, lord of Hardenstein castle, a trickster and a mythical figure presumeably dating back to an older local deity. At one point I had a strong vision, when I encountered a herd of roe deer, a HUGE one, in fact, with some twenty roe deer all in all, heading into my direction. I then imagined rather savagely looking dwarves with features more "trollish" than anything, led by one dwarf with an antlered crown of brambles, blackthorn, and ivy riding on their backs. Vivid imagination can do that to you, yap*ggg*, and it is a rather adventurous way to become a part of the myth yourself. Of course, it is difficult to keep your feet on the ground afterwards, but, to be honest, what would I win if I did so? Wading in the muck? So, I have decided long ago, I´d rather have an interesting and somewhat psychologically dangerous life than none at all wading through the swamp that others created for me to live in. When out now in the woods, where he might as well have been sighted, too, as a local legend of the "Hünenpforte" might hint to, I was in a pensive mood about all those stories and tales of old, and I thought about the wanderer, coming from Schwelm and meeting a dwarf (king?) there, providing him with a fox as a guide through the underground to the giant´s passageway in Hohenlimburg. This is another story which I have told here.But as I wandered in a mood of contemplation and fancy, there it lay, half submerged in the rotten leaves of an autumn gone by, autumn itself in its waning paleness: The skull of a fox. It was a shock, for the outside and the inside world melted into each other, and, I cannot tell it any other way, the otherworld opened for me. I therefore do not exactly know;-) if this was a vision, but the next shock was about to come: A giant boar, with bristles as hard and strong that "an apple might stay stuck upon them" passed along a ridge of the terrain, as real as it can be, but with something more about it. If I have to explain this, I will never succeed, if you understand this, I don´t have to explain anything. Okay, I said, laughing at myself, while I was staying where I was (you do not want to cross a boar in autumn, do you? Not with an at least adequate weapon at hand...;-)), and payed him my respect mentally. All the while the buzzards were still crying madly above. When Mr. boar had gone on his merry way, I went on mine, following the cries above. Even deeper in the woods I found another treasure; as I rounded a callused spruce tree and climbed over a fallen beech that had sprouted new trunks from the fallen stem, I came to a very peaceful place. There a spring rose from a meadow, and above there stood an ancient hazel tree. Into the trickling creek it threw its fruits, green and nourishing. And the water flowed on endlessly, for joy of being and for the fruits of the hazel of fine mast falling into it. It was a place of great peace and comfort. It felt like home, I cannot tell it any other way, and there I rested in meditation, and the hours just flowed, but I did not notice. I realized that I had somehow fallen out of time there, when I learned it was becoming quite late already. But I simply walked on afterwards, following the trail of deer and the trail of my myth within... the story that dwells and thrives in all of us, the dragon that we all could ride - if we dared. This dragon is wild and savage, too, it´s not all light, but sometimes very dark. It can bite our head off in a flash, but we are able still to make our peace with it. We the can thrive as a dragon, and the fire in our spines will carry us over the storm-ridden skies into a golden dawn, where we can find words to create ourselves, to invent our life. Thus was the path into the green, into the twilight wood, the realm, where the one with the antlered crown walks, hunter and prey at the same time, the goddess´ strong-horned consort... thinking this, I was actually not surprised to find a piece of a roe - deer´s skull with a piece of antler on it.

Oh yes, I returned to civilization. I took the bus, and bought a beer, and some junk food. But my imagination has run wild, and I´m aware and proud of it. It is hard to regain your composure afterwards. It is always an act of balance, and chance is, you can get mad by being as I am. Maybe I am mad, but I have not done harm to anyone, and won´t, if I do not have to at all.

But it´s better to be mad than a moron.;-)

On the bench: Damascus Hadseax blade

So, done with riding and philosophy, back to business;-): This is a new hadseax blade I have in the making. 90x3mm file / crucible shear steel damascus, selective temper with a scandi grind... I will keep you informed how it goes...;-)

...that a threat or a promise?;-)

Whatever became of that little damascus blade...;-)

 So here are two progress shots of one of my most recent damascus blades: 32 layers out of file steel and crucible shear/ saw steel I found in the woods. 85x4 mm. If you look closely, you can see that it shows the quench line.

I plan on fitting a scandi-style handle to it or maybe yew or maple burr... we´ll see, but in either case, I think I ´ll fit some reindeer antler to it, too.

Handforging speaks louder;-)-Hammer-In @Bethaus smithy

 Last Friday we just felt the urge to make some mischief with steel and fire, so we met at the smithy. Volker was there, of course, and Willi came by as well as Nick, and Kathrin, his lovely woman, and the mad basssstard;-), Kai. We lit up forge, and just got started. It was a great and friendly atmosphere, with different skill levels influencing each other in a positive way. Everyone followed his or her gusto and projects. Volker did a lot for the atmosphere again, for he provided us with a steady flow of hot, strong java and lard sandwiches, a local speciality. Thanks, mate, for that!!!

 Nick really got the bug bad....*ggg* and really wants to learn the trade. I often have to slow him down a bit, his projects are a bit ambitious most of the time!

 Kathrin just sat there calmly and, not wanting to forge, simply read a book and contributed to a friendly atmosphere. Kathrin and Nick both are people I am outright glad they stepped into my life. They are both people with an unusual approach to life, and that´s great!

 I prepared some wrought iron from an old barn door for forge - welding laminate. I will keep the beautiful scrollwork, though;-), but use the straight parts for knives.

 Kai, long time, no see! I was glad to meet you once again, and to make some noise with you!

 Willi thinking about his projects and showing off...;-)

 Nick talking a huge pile of rubbish;-).

 Willy forged a ring to keep the tongs shut and to ease the stress on his wrists, suffering some problems at the moment.

 I welded a piece of file steel into the wrought iron, but, having too little borax, had a welding flaw at the utmost end, but no harm done, I can weld that back.

 Kai working on a whittling knife. Blimey, that guy already takes commissions... even though he still does blacksmith´s yoga before the anvil*ggg*.

 I then set out to probe a small piece of ingot I found in the local woods. I take it to be crucible steel, and it has a carbon content not far from being not forgeable anymore. The temperature window was so small, you just had to pound two times and had to reheat. We discussed its properties, and as it broke, discussed the grain, we did a spark test and all that stuff. It was great to have some more opinions, and this is a great way to learn. I have a BIG supply of these ingots, and I daresay, some of them might even have some Wootz properties. Thinking of Wootz, that is a dream of ours, just to have made that;-), too.

 Kai was tutored by Willy how to forge mini hatchets, and this came out... RESPECT!

 Nick had an idea for a chainlink for our anti-racism project. This is his second project blacksmithing all in all which he made all by himself. Amazing in my book!

 Willi made this Nessmuk basher out of 100Cr6... what can I say;-), maybe not my style, but I look forward to seeing the knife, which will be great as usual!

 He also made one of his dwarves;-)... Willy might be the only lunatic out there making eight knives and calling them "snowwhite and the seven dwarves", snowhite having a blade length of about 85 mm or so, and the dwarves at about 50 mm. They look flimsy, with a two-finger handle, but they work surprisingly great! Have to try that myself sometime soon.

 He also sharpened his spoon knife, which is coming along nicely.

 My achievements for the day: Retempering my hadseax out of wire damascus, forging a ram-headed eating kopis knife, probing the ingot and forging a laminate seax blade...

 A detail of the ram´s head, which came along nicely.

 Another perspective of the ram´s head.

It was a great day with great people and good fun, with a lot of learning and silly jokes. We all went home quite content with our achievements. Nick made a huge progress, and, keeping in mind this only was his second project with next to no help, his achievement was amazing. Kai, however, is already taking commissions, and he has made a huge progress with his tribal knives. Willy, on the other hand, is a treasury of knowledge. Kathrin and Volker contributed to the whole thing, and them all give me the feeling of being part of something great. It is an atmosphere of friendship, respect, and learning, and it seems that we all profit from this thing.

I had a chat with Volker, then cleaned up, and off I was, riding calmly along the lane through the Ruhr marshes, with the song of water birds in my ear, and the wind in my helmet.

A perfect day.

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

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

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

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

 I tanned the carving with iron oxide.

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

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

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.