Three more knives, one old and two new ones...;-)

 This is another example of my lack of patience. Fitted the scales raw to file down to tang size when mounted. Hacksawed the remaining scale off and cut deep into the tang. I was close to a fit of hysteria! So, okay, I thought, it´s a sign, why not try something new. So I filed the whole mess down to a kind of rattail tang at the end and fitted a kind of bolster from reindeer antler. The blade is leaf spring steel with a razor convex grind. It bites like your little sister, but I have to warm up to it, what with all the mess going on.

This once was a Puma skinmaster blade from 1.4116 steel (Cold Steel uses this steel on some of their blades also). The blade was a bit off temper when I found it in the garage of Rudolph Broch at Solingen. On this guy I have to do a little feature sometime soon. He is the former owner of the last smithy in Solingen still working, and it has been producing knives, spears and hatchets for Hirschkrone, Hubertus knives, Puma, Anton Wingen, even Martiini puukkos were made there, and I even found some Iisakki Järvenpää blades there! Rudolph Broch himselfhelped me with tempering the stainless steel. The handle is birchwood burl with a red dragon carving Celtic style. The red dragon of fury swims through the golden light of poetry. This refers to the "dragon´s tale" I wrote some years ago. The carving was inspired by the animal on a Celtic chalice find at Dürrnberg, Hallein.

This one is the one where I messed up the drilling, so the hollow copper

pins are a bit off center. No harm done, really.It´s one of my faves these days. It´s made from leaf spring steel, 83 mm long in the blade, edge quenched, and there must have  gone something right with the heat treatment, for  I have used it very hard for some time now. It can carve a Roselli hunter blade and stood up to the bending test. And, there´s the culprit, it´s tempered in chicken soup. Had no oil at the smithy, so Jochen, the cook, provided us with an excellent chicken soup (had a bowl beforehand to reduce the water content). Lots of fat on top, and smelled great when tempering. I know you propably think I am horsing around, or am now completely gone off my rocker, but it really was!;-)