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! 
 

Great Hammer-In with my weirdo friends;-)

 Some good week ago we met at the smithy again for a hammer-In. Olaf had called, Burkhard, Tim and Peter, Kai and Nick came to the smithy to do some smithing and BBQing afterwards. Nick did his first knifemaking tutorial with a Scandinavian iron-age loop-handle design he had never forged himself... very ambitious and a bit over the top, if you ask me, but he did very well. And since Tim thoroughly enjoyed himself, no harm done really. I tutored a bit besides, but only homoeopathically, and we all left with smiles...

 Olaf, Kai and Burkhardt having a chat. I forged a warhammer together with Olaf, and he really seemed to like it. And, bro, you brought too much! For Olaf brought a right truckload of good ol´steel, including some damascus and would not hear me decline it... So, lot of thanks to you. Olaf is one of the nicest guy I have met in the last years, in spite of his somewhat rustic appearance and a lot of "Huscarl" talk.. just a friend you like to have around. It was a right pleasure to work together, have some nice chats and sip a coffee.

 Kai wasn´t too lazy, either. He forged this leaf - handle knife. Spring steel. He is absolutely into leaves to date and makes huge progress in the moment.

 Those are his most recent works, three tongs he forged... blimey!;-)

This was Nick´s and Tim´s achievement, and I really like the fact that it was a genuine team effort.

 We lit the fire for the BBQ quite soon.

 This, by the way, is Marie, Burkhardts doggie, real cute, if you ask me, in spite of her complete ignorance of sharp and hot metal. She even caught some sparks without so much of further notice....

"Marie, dein Liebster ist ein Tier...";-)

Some of the stuff Olaf brought... I love those ancient hatchets, the smaller one presumeably out of three layer laminate!

Then, all of a sudden, it was dark, and we were hungry. I had prepared my trademark champigNOMMs;-) with a guacamole / Obazda sour cream stuffing, two good beef entrecotes, four pork chops, Nick had four pork chops, bread, salad, and the others contributed their part until we had way too much food. But we were hungry, did I mention?

 We sat and ate and chatted the night away.

 At 12 pm we added the next layer, and ate and talked some more.

Then, well into the night, we packed up, and I rode home on the deserted bike lane all stuffed and with the warm feeling of a great day in great company. Life can be great.