News from Viktor

Some days ago I stopped by to visit Volker and Viktor again and to discuss my work for the Bethaus... and I now have a job there! Plus, I got a chance to shoot some photos of Viktor´s tools. Some of you had asked for a detail of the sickle Viktor made while still in Kazakhstan, and here they are;-). Below is a machete he made but only recently for clearing underbrush. Handle is oak, the blade is C75 sawblade steel riveted to a thick spine of common low-carbon steel. Would not be my choice, actually, but I have to appreciate the craftsmanship, which is a sight to behold in my book. Plus, I find the idea quite creative, even though I find it a bit of an overkill. But then who am I to question a master?

This is the sickle´s handle that has impressed me quite a lot. Note the bolster ears that wrap around the handle... sort of.

 That´s the quart / reverse side of the handle.

 Up close. No filing whatsoever, just forgework. Inside there´s a rattail tang reaching even into the handle and ending about halfway through.

 That´s a detail of the sickle´s blade. spring steel riveted to mild steel.

 That´s the machete´s blade, too shiny to see the riveting. I made about ten photos and gave up.

The tang and the handle of that beast. The wood is ancient oak that lay submerged in waterfor about 200 years in an abandoned tunnel ofthe mines around these parts. Viktor gave me a piece of that, too, and I look forward to mount a knife with it!

Nessie´s nearly there...

 Soo, Nessie´s nearly finished. The bone handle (filled with epoxy, thanks, Joel) fitted and peened over a piece of brass tube. This one has to see some finishing, though. Saw it on some Moras and figured it would take the stress off the rivet area of the handle. Didn´t want to flatten the end of the bone, to leave it at a ... uuummm... bone appearance?;-) so some problems here. Will peen it down some, as soon I have made a tubular tool for that and do some peening on the tang or maybe I´ll just grind it down with a dremel.

 That´s a feat I like about the design. It makes cutting very controllable. as you can see, there are also some dents left I still have to remove... for they are plain ugly. The blade has some 58 HRC (tested that at a friend´s) at the edge and 42 HRC at the back.


  





I tend to forge ever shorter blades the more I use them. Now I am no stranger to some big brute of a chopper either, and I actually like Khukuris and seaxes a lot. But, as is, I also like to actually use my blades, and there´s some stinking law allowing criminals automatic weapons (by not pursuing thoses cases thoroughly enough) and forbide law abiding citizens the socially adequate use of knives, rant over and out.

But there´s also another reason. It´s quite difficult to make a long knife a compromise between nimble handling and chopping ability. That´s quite a tricky feat, and I am no swordsmith (yet). Also, for heavy chopping tasks an axe or hatchet gets the job done much better than a medium-sized knife (Khukuris and seaxes being exceptions). I am working on that, just for the challenge;-) and to learn swordsmithing. But as an EDC, a shorter blade can do a big job. By batoning it through a piece of wood you could even equal a hatchet, if you look for stright grain.

I tried it out, and I am quite sold on the Nessmuk design. It makes a great knife for snacking, for skinning and producing thin shavings of wood. Carving, a seax or recurve design or one with less of a curve to the edge, does better, because the material to be cut off is gathered up by the straight or recurve edge. Less of a curve would be a good compromise. I am thinking about that.