Tomahawk for fun ;-)

On the bench... with a lousy pic by my old camera... a tomahawk I made for fun throwing. The head is spring steel, haft is yew....

Remake of an old Puukko

 Now this knife had been on my shelf for quite some years now gathering dust, and if knives do so, I ask myself why they do so. In this case I tested the blade again (crucible steel / file steel Damascus, 40 layers) and found it well enough, but the handle (walnut with a copper ferrule) felt awkward, because it was oddly shaped and far too much out of proportion. So out comes the hacksaw and I shortened it and fitted a butt cap out of yew. Since this is no machete, no need for peening the tang over it, and the glue stands up to the same tensile force as construction steel, so I just epoxied it on.

Now I like it far better, and it´s waiting for a sheath... it´s a good whittler and will serve well for a bimble round the local woods, if not for a bigger outing.

Eikinnsleikr is ready!

I have taken itr really slow, but now it´s here... prét a porter, so to say;-) made a sheath for Eikinnsleikr. Oak, of course, and a scandi style upper. The stainless insult to the right;-) is a removeable chain link I use to carry it on my foraging belt. The lower part is made of two halves of oak wood from some leftover beam of my old home, the handle is yew which grew before that old house, the blade is made from 1.2842 and wrought iron, which was given to me by one of my best friends, Elmo, that is, the bolster is Mokume Gane which does not show. It is in itself a rune, and the runes of the oak went into it.

My personal carry...;-)

On the bench....;-) er the stump, that is.

 The sgian achlais for George is finally finished, now I simply have to make a sheath for it. It cost me quite some nerves again. I don´t know what it is, everytime I work for Scotsmen, everything imagineable goes awry;-). Wrecked my belt grinder, my air heater and my drilling machine, two sawblades and a file on it, so this is as tribal as they come, for I had no shop also, so I did a lot of work out in the woods, with no vice, a rasp, a knife, a hammer and sanding paper.

 I also had some progress on my damascus folder blade. The integral bolsters on the liners give me quite a headache, and I am currently thinking of just doing something in brass. The damascus is 300 layers of 1.2842 steel and 15N20 (C75Ni8) by Matthias Zwissler. Below is an EDC damascus blade for myself, 240 layers (Or was it 480, I lost track) 85mmx3,5-2,0 mm mild steel, file steel and spring steel. I am also thinking of making a virobloc folder from it...

 And, being inspired by Petr Florianek, I carved the antler on Eikinnsleikr with a mythic snake that bites its own tail, symbolizing the regenerating forces of nature, life and death and the mythological antagonist of Thor, the snake of Midgard.

 I tanned the carving with iron oxide.

 Still quite some room for improvement, but as is, I am content with the outcome. And yes, the snake IS upside down, to be seen when you handle the knife. I am growing ever so much fonder of that knife, and will do a sheath to go with it, and am currently thinking what material to take. I think of oak, naturally;-)...

We´ll see... I hope to get into the smithy soon and to forge myself another seax... can´t have too many  seaxes...;-)

On the bench these days-Sgian Achlais, spoon and seax

 Those are some of many projects currently going on: A handforged spoon out of mild steel with a handle out of reindeer antler, a BIG sgian achlais , spring steel with a yew handle and copper ferrules for a friend of Craig´s, and a hadseax out of wire damascus with a reindeer antler handle.

The sgian achlais with a finished handle, not yet glued nor with the tang peened over the buttcap, for I have to do some grinding still. Wrecked half of my tools, so everything extremely tribal... but rugged to boot. Maybe I´ll do a video test on that knife soon, it certainly can take a beating! As is it chops through antler, oak and ash, carves mild steel rods and still cuts paper. I will take this to test and try harder still!

A damascus knife for the magic troll;-)

 Originally this should have been a Chrismas present, but I messed up, so I gave it to her this weekend.

A short (85mm x 3mm ca.) damascus blade from Zwissler damascus, 15N20 and 1.2842, selectively tempered. Titanium bolster and a yew handle. Better photos will follow soon! And I am looking forward as to what sheath she will make for it...;-)

Pimp my staff- Orgonite Orgone module and some encrustation work on my wood spirit hiking staff

 I had this staff out of yew that served me well for years standing about and I figured it could do with some change. ;-)
So I fitted these ingredients into a hole I drilled into the end. A copper tube filled with felted raw wool / steel wool atop a bit of steel wool, fixed with resin. Atop the module I fitted a crystal I had lying around. The ferrule will go on top, and I will fit copper wire spiral inlays into the handle as well as Haematite "super" magnets, as soon as I come across some that fit and that I can afford, plus some amber. As is, there is a mild effect (it warms in the hand but does not affect water trickles).

I fitted a tiger´s eye agate into the brow of the wood spirit, and some moonstone shards in a light milky green colour for eyes. There will be some blood agates fitted at the sides and the backside, too.

Bling!*ggg*

No, not a foraging ride at all.... NOT AT ALL, I SAID!!!!:-)

 On Tuesday I was not going out foraging at all. I needed a break from all those ´shrooms and herbs and fruit and especially those mad apples, so I just rode a swimming pool till my arms fell off and then rode some more. Now street and stunt riding certainly is good fun, but I need some scenery or else I go mad like a hamster in a tripwheel, so I simply thought, hey, it´s the Felsengarten, and there´s salvia, so, come on, take some salvia with you, where´s the harm. Then I made for the hills, and loved it. This is a spoil of Annwfn*g, a fly agaric. No, I DID NOT eat it*ggg*, I just loved the colour.

 Fireroad to the hilltops, arduous climbing, but it simply felt good to get good and a sweaty mess with hurting legs and all... did I say hurting legs? Maybe not so ideal*ggg* or great.*ggg* or not? Depends on who you ask, if you ask me*g. Note the artful use of virtual emotional icons, I have finally mastered*ggg*.
Where was I? Oh, there, on that fireroad, and maybe I am still, moving and cranking up that steep slope with the birds singing all along and getting in a state of mind I can rant on intelligently for ages, but you would not be able to feel it any. I was just being. It simply feels great, it is just a feeling of onenness, even transcendence. One reason for me riding since 26 years.

 Then everything went awry, for I met this little fellow and had to take him home...

 I cut him with this knife, which is my EDC kopis. Liekki, this is the world, the world, this is Liekki*ggg*. Zwissler "monster" damascus, leather handle, 95 mm of trustworthy steel. I simply love it. I use it hard for three years now, and have never sharpened it aside from redoing the bevel once, but that was to achieve another geometry, not out of pure necessity. I whittled and carved with it, batoned it through hard knotted wood, peeled apples (there they are again AGAIN!!!!!), even pryed and digged out roots with it, and it always comes back begging for more. It drives away my malevolent spirits and soothed my sleep. Thank you, thing.*ggg*.

 Detail on the pattern.

 Then it was this one.

 And I wasn´t going to forage today. No, really, I wasn´t.

 Passed by the lake...

Yew berries. I love the fact that they taste sweet, but if you make but one mistake you are nicked big style: They are TOXIC, so do not eat them. In ancient times, the yew was a symbol of sorcery, of magic, and of the otherworld. Of winter, of endurance, and of death, and of life. There are theories as to why many European divinational systems (runes) were carved on Yew. I am fascinated by the tree, and by the wood. It has always been a metaphor for poetry for me, too, and a guardian spirit. Near the house in which I grew up there grew a yew, and it did do (okay, I could not resist the rhyme, myne is the pity*ggg)*) a lot for the atmosphere of my old home. Of protection, endurance, and coziness.

But my life was long done with protection or coziness. I came home pensive, but deeply contented. It simply was a good day, and I can enjoy this life ever so much more again. Life is good.