First try recreating the Trollstein archaeological find

(Photo courtesy of Secrets Of The Ice,  Norway)

This is an awesome story. Says I. 

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! 
 

Proof of concept for a Nåalhus

I have been meaning to carve myself a Nåalhus for ages now. Now for those who never heard of it,  it is exactly what it sounds like. Originally deriving from Sáami culture,  it is,  plain and simply put,  a "house" for your needles,  a needle case to be worn on the belt alongside your knife and firesteel equipment. Typically,  it stowes away the needles,  stuck into a cloth and sometimes secured by additional leather flaps,  which rests in a case typically made from reindeer antler or bone,  but also sometimes wood,  being secured by a rather intelligent combination of gravity and friction. I personally think it is genius. Now I wanted to set myself a challenge to make it entirely with a Victorinox SAK,  and only from stuff that was lying in the woods not doing anything,  also because I also want to do a fancy-schmancy version in antler soon. I drilled two holes from either side of the piece with the awl, and made a long hole by sawing out the middle. Needs a bit of patience,  but it is perfectly doable. You can also remove the middle part by using the blade. 

That said,  I actually left it on a bigger piece in order to better being able to handle it. When I had done the drilling,  I carved the outline of the body of the case. 

After that,  I sawed it off. 

A bit of cleaning going on,  and I actually put an angle into the bottom to create a bit more of a friction fit. 

Splitting and carving the bottom. Now to carve a ring for the top.

 Also I am currently contemplating what to use as a cloth. Originally I had planned to make it from Amadou,  also the flaps,  but it,  while being an awesome material in its own right,  has its shortcomings,  at least mine has still,  because it is not very homogenous. So maybe I will use leather and cloth from an old couch I found in the junk... we will see. I hope to show you some progress soon! 

Review of a Casström Woodsman

Last summer I had ordered a Casström Woodsman bushcraft knife. It being a design by Roger Harrington I had been sneaking around that knife for ages now. I had handled the old version,  which was made from O2 steel, almost a decade ago. Fact is,  I loved it then,  but also did not quite understand the concept. 

When Casström announced that they had launched a new version in Uddeholm Sleipner steel,  I decided to give it another try.  Now Sleipner is quite an interesting steel. http://localhost/en/products/uddeholm-sleipner/ is the spec sheet. More than 50% better resistance to abrasive wear than D2(1.2379), not that I would be too fond of D2,  but still. Also a finer edge possible,  and a lot more positive aspects. The steel is an allen of Iron, Manganese,  Molybdenum,  Silicium,  a wee bit of Chromium and so forth. Technically it is relatively stain resistant,  albeit no stainless steel. 

The blade is 88mm long and offers a rather thick spine at 3,9 mm, with a low slightly convex Scandi bevel. It is therefore possible to do food prep or slicey tasks,  but it is of course not optimal. The edge had a really microscopic microbevel and was able to split a fine hair out of the box. It was possible to shave your beard with it out of the box. The blade also offers a  90° really sharp spine. It is possible to use it for debarking branches or create fine resinwood shavings for fire starting. After almost a year of really hard work all it has needed was a leather strop. 

Rather thick spine,  you see... but it actually does the job of food prepping,  too,  if you cut at an angle. Batoning is obviously a cinch with it. 

The long handle also allows for more leverage when using it for mild chopping tasks. It is made from stabilized birch burr and really beautiful. It comes with a small,  but sturdy lanyard included. 

The sheath is absolutely stunning. When new,  retention was so high it was neigh on impossible to draw the knife,  which is a good thing. The seams are made with sturdy yellow twine,  the welt is good and thick. Even after half a year of wearing,  it still has some crisp to it. 

The belt loop accomodates standard common jeans belts,  but also military issue belts and is stitched and riveted in place. 

 All in all,  the knife does do most tasks exceedingly well. Edge retention is almost otherworldly,  and it gets really frightening sharp.  It really excels at most woodworking tasks involved in bushcraft,  and is also suitable for delicate carving in the woods. 

A classic bushcraft design with mythical edge retention and sharpness. As of today,  it is not exactly cheap. You pay up to 199,00 € , if you want a Firesteel. In my opinion, and you know I do not say that lightly,  I could have saved a lot of money had I bought it earlier. 

Btw,  also available in British bog oak... 😜If you can afford it,  buy one.  

But wait until you read my review on the SFK 10 Forester,  which is coming up soon...😜