New Whittling - EDC - little task knife

 I was being sick of cheap-as-chips-Moras being better than my own knives:-), so I made myself this whittler. Laminate steel, wrought iron / tank bearing steel, 1,8 mm spine thickness, copper ferrule and blackthorn handle.

 It made this wood spirit with a beard and locks in five minutes and came back begging for more! I love this knife.

 Made this scandi sheath for it.

The sheath oiled and coloured. Have to fit a butt cap (or a gemstone;-))to the handle, and it´s done...

The finished whittling knife for the magic troll;-)

This is the finished knife I presented to the magic troll;-). I hope she enjoys it, for she can do with some joy at the moment. Laminate steel blade, wrought iron and tank bearing steel. This laminate was made by Matthias Zwissler, my tutor and mentor, and I reforged it. That whittler was made from a leftover piece. The handle is carved blackthorn, and no, MOOSWUZL*g*, I would not be offended if you polish it up a bit, it was made in somewhat of a rush;-).

I etch-burned runes in it. This is *eiwaz (yew, sorcery, death, endurance, magic), traditionally (presumeably, of course) used as a reinforcement of  inscriptions.

The inscription reads: *Gibu Auja (I give happiness), for I sincerely want her to be happy.:-).










The bird´s head. I hope it serves her well, and I look forward to what she does to and with it. Since she is a greatgreatgreatgreat craftswoman, look here for what she does to it;-).

Another whittling knife...

This is a whittling blade I made only but recently for the magic troll from tank-bearing / wrought iron laminate steel. I am currently still about if I should actually mount that blade, for it is rather soft. I forged it out rather thin, and it seems the soft iron sides were overlapping the steel to an extent that impaired it taking a temper. I will try removing the iron from the edge part more than usual and see what happens. It will be too thin then to re-temper it, so, if in doubt, I´ll rather make a spring steel blade, for there´s no laminate left. Have to make some myself soon, but then there´s no harm in using spring steel. To be honest, I make better knives from spring steel than from some fancy 1.28whatsoever material, for I got the tempering wired I could do it in my sleep.

 I carved a handle out of blackthorn that will see a bird´s head carving at the end of the handle... I will keep you informed!;-)

Another day in the smithy-woodworking tools and progress on my rune knife / Sgian Dubh

Had some fun in the smithy yesterday... we had a nice chat, a cuppa coffee and a piece o´cake and talked about the oncoming season, and then we lit the forge.

And it was productive, too. From left to right:
Bigger whittler for the crane bag, two small ones for the magic troll;-), and a spooncarving knife. Except for the latter which is from spring steel, all are wrought iron / tank bearing laminate steel. Spine thicknesses from 0,8 - 2 mm. Got the warping blues when tempering but daresay I got it wired in the end...

And here´s a shot of some progress on my rune knife / sgian dhú knife. I fitted a piece of blackthorn into the handle.

 Like this, see;-)? Could be made more cleanly, I admit it, but I am not one for work that does not incorporate a BIG sledge hammer and a big amount of grunting...*ggg*

 Also started a damascus bush knife from a piece of scrap damascus Matthias Zwissler gave to me.

Carving tools galore;-) coarsely ground. To the right is  a gouge I made a long time ago from 100Cr6 steel and that will get a home in my crane suitcase;-).










Those tools were fun to make, and I look forward to completing them. Oi, there, halt, the two for the magic troll are part of an experiment*ggg*.

Forging at the Bethaus Smithy- and a new damascus neck knife / whittling knife

 I met Volker the other day at the Bethaus smithy to have a chat about the oncoming season and had the opportunity to do some quick forging, and that´s what came out (top to bottom): Leaf handle knife (spring steel), little teenie weenie whittling seven-bar damascus (tank bearing, tank cannon), and an integral En-Nep from silver steel.

 I also had quite a bit of good natured talk with Volker. Missed you, dude!

 The damascus blade cried: I want to be made! on top of its lungs, so I set to work immediately;-). Stag antler, and the coin shows how small the blade is.

 Made a sheath for it with some jewellry.

 The antler, tanned.

 The spine varies from 0,8 to 2,4 mm in thickness.

 I fitted a stone I found on the banks of the river Rhine for jewelry... like the colour.

 The other side of the blade.

 overall details...