New knives by Kai...

Kai mailed the other day to announce the forthcoming of some new knives. He tests them severely (all the like smashing ém with a sledge, testing on mild steel rods, letting ém drop on concrete and all that "void-mywarranty" stuff;-). This one´s a demi-integral from spring steel, length 20cm, blade: 9cm, spine thickness 2mm, tested 60HRC. Handle is made from fungus-infested stabilized beechwood.

And one he made for an archer. Spring steel, as above, from railroad screw clips. blade 11,5cm overall 22,5cm
  spine thickness 2mm flat grind, edge angle 25°
Handle is fungus-infested beechwood again.
Overall tested hardness 61 degrees HRC.















Boy, IS that guy making progress. You can literally watch him get better! Check out his imageshack here.

Fun day working at the Bethaus smithy again

 On Sunday it was spring fair in the Muttental, near Witten, and I worked for Volker. I forged with children, and they came at me like mad;-). Lot to do that day, which was a good thing. I had little time to actually take pictures, so apologies for that. This here is a little witch who wanted a dragon., so I made her one.

 Like this, see;-)...It was quite the ordeal, for it was little time, the little one wanted to help out more than usual;-), and I realized too late I took the wrong steel bar... advice: Don´t forge dragons from spring steel;-). So I did my best to hide that I was actually helping a bit more than usual, for it really is one hell of a project I´d take a day for if I could choose. As is, we made it in half an hour, and my deep respect to the little witch;-) who really lended a great helping hand in the process. I sincerely hope that dragon brings joy to her and furthers her luck!

 Had some knives on display, too. It is funny somehow. There seem to be two kinds of people. Some look at me in terror, as if I had weapons of mass destruction on display. Those generally were the ones with the fashionable plastic trousers and the "Gee, I stepped into a birthday tart" slippers on. The others, those with the outdoor clothing or the alternative clothing style, were quick to have a chat and I made some valuable contacts that day, not bad either;-)... I guess it will be a busy year.

When the visitors slowly went home, there was some time for my own project. A bush En-Nep from damascus steel. All forged, no grinding yet. I think about fitting a removeable  orgonite orgone (after Willhelm Reich and Joseph Beuys) unit into the handle just to test it out, but I am not quite sure how it affects the corrosion on the blade... as is, I am quite pleased with the outcome.

After all that forging, we cleaned up the mess and had a delicious dinner provided by Jochen, our submarine star toque;-) master cook, pig chops, green beans with bacon wrap and rosemary potatoes, yummy!!!

I rode home by bike, had  a shower and realized I was falling asleep in the bathroom! I went to bed quick and slept like a deadman. But it was a great day working with good-natured kids, giving and getting joy and pleasure out of it. Perfect.

Bone knife with no tools whatoever

 I was on a stroll the other day and found a roe deer bone in the underbrush, so I wanted to try out some survival toolmaking techniques. Two sandstones and a bone were all that was at hand. I set the bone diagonally on edge on an "anvil" stone and split it with two whacks. The split smaller part I saved to make an awl later.

 This is what the bone looked like after the whacking. I then ground it on the stone.

 Dug for some fir root to make for a handle wrapping, did a quick wrapping et voilá, the finished knife, which took about half an hour to make. It actually cuts soft wood quite well, even if it´s not comparable to a steel or bronze or stone blade. I will use it as an awl and a bodkin for basketmaking.

 The knife and the awl.

I actually learned a lot in the process and hope to practice more skills like that in the future.