Pimp my blade;-) rebirth of an old knife

This knife on top is the old  knife on the picture below, the lowest in line. It always felt kinda awkward, so I hacksawed a big part of the handle off and made a copper butt cap to peen the tang against. And what can I say? It certainly was a difficult decision, but it was well worth the effort. The knife has far better balance, and now is a real EDC utility with a great feel to it I really like. I also reshaped the bevel, making it a bit more slicey. I like it! Zwissler "monster" damascus, 300 layers, integral, 80 mm blade, spine thickness 3,8 mm.

My new blacksmithing hammer

They say you can tell a smith by his hammer. So I made myself one;-). I modified a junk piece by upending it and redoing the tempering (with a little help by Willi). The handle is ash, but will be replaced by something with ... more... erm... class;-)(?). Just needed it for an event so I fitted what was at hand. I love it! It simply has a great balance and is easily a match for a hammer 500 g heavier. It weighs in at 1500 g (head). The handle is carved on one side with a Celtic knotwork triquetta, making it easier to distinguish which side´s up.

Children´s birthday party at the Bethaus

 On Monday we lit the forge at the smithy, for it was "Kindergeburtstag", a children´s birthday party scheduled at the Bethaus, Volker´s place.

 I was there early and had a nice chat with Volker.

 We set up the material. We always insist on the kids wearing proper safety gear. They work a lot closer to the anvil´s surface, and there´s a high risk involved, so safety glasses are a must, as are fire-resistant gloves and an apron.

 Anvils set up, and ready for mission!

 We forged a wide variety of projects, from mini horseshoes to little Celtic knives to snake pendants, hearts and letters.

 The kids waiting in row.

 ...and apparently enjoying themselves!

 A miniature knife we handed to the adults, made from mild steel with a work-hardened edge. They carve actually. I am not so enthusiastic about the steel choice, but you have to do it quick, so spring steel´s not an option.

 And the kids enjoy them nonetheless! Oh, and the plaster´s not our fault*ggg* in case you ask*ggg*, not this time!*ggg*

 A big hit with the kids were those snake pendants with a knot in the tail-a Druidic good luck charm amulet actually!

 Having a good-bye chat. The adults were quite enthused about our work and gave a healthy tip on top of the price. Thanks for that, you´re welcome!

Oh, and that´s my favourite necklace these days;-). A striker Thor´s hammer pendant, a Thor´s hammer pendant, and my personal snake knot pendant I made as a practice.

Forging session at the Industrial Museum Ennepetal

 On Sunday, it was time to come together at the industrial museum Ennepetal. The Krenzer family was there, too, and Rolf dropped by to forge, too. The Krenzer family is a family of blacksmiths from the Ennepetal who are doing a great job with kids and forging tools on historical machines at the Krenzer Hammer. They had a vernissage at the mueum of the exposition "MetallKunstWeltEN". I unfortunately had no time to visit the expo, but I will, and will inform my trusty and dedicated readers of it.;-)

 Rolf forging a Birka knife...seems he got the bug bad, too*ggg*... it´s a craze with us at the moment. Everybody seems to make Birka knives at the moment. And there are reasons: They take little energy to make, are dead simple, but offer a blacksmithing challenge.

 Talking of which, Willi doing it again: Making flimsy, teenie-weenie projects and doing his best to humble my efforts-great job, bro!*ggg*

 And he does one great job with the kids, too.

 Here he forges a knotwork key chain pendant. With kids. Respect!

I was all fluffy from two weeks of hard working and little to no sleep, so all I really got wired was this hammerhead. C 60 or something - or so Willi said;-).

I was taking it a bit easy, for I was very fatigued, had two to ten coffee, some cake and BRATWÜRST;-), and had a chat with Fritz and my mother, who dropped by, too. But a great day noenetheless. Work is going crazy at the moment, but that´s fine with me. It simply feels good.

Foraging bimble-´shrooms are ´shrooming!

 Last week I went on an after work foraging bimble. Above is St. John´s wort (Hypericum, in German: Johanniskraut). Good against depression, antiseptic and simply great to look at. I make St. John´s oil from it.

German camomile (Matriacaria chamomilla, in German: Kamille) for tea and baths. Antiseptic, against diarrhoea, flu, cramps, for wounds and rashes. You can make tea, baths, and body oils, balms and lotions from it.

You might be vaguely familiar with this place, but this time I thought I´d post a picture from another perspective for a change. The lake;-).

A bit of scenery;-)...

....and a red cap, yum.

Grazing through the underbrush;-) strawberries for dessert.

Simple, but a great afternoon I had and came back with a loot of herbs and ´shrooms.

Summer Fair for Zee Aylienz-Love, peace, happiness, rubber, chains and pain*ggg*

On Saturday, I was doin´my club a favor and was at the summer fair of zee aylienz (the aliens) as a blacksmith. Kinda fitting, for they have some flames as an emblem, and a mythology that fits (The death of my best friend and I created it, and it has a lot to do with me being a fan of Telesphoros. Watch this space...)

 Funny, though. One particularily witty*ggg* member of our club, who´s an aylien since some three years or so, addressed me in a very humourous manner and meant to strongly reprove me for not wearing any logo jersey or t-shirt. I had to laugh and informed him that I made the sketch for the logo in 1998 when I was drunk as shit on a handkerchief. It was Jandark who made a logo out of that scribbling, and that´s the reason people can now act the Gestapo with me in the first place. No problem really, but it made my day*ggg*.Other than that, the weather was fine, I had a load of coffee, wafers, BRATWÜRST!!!!, salad, and it was all delicious, and nice people came to gather around the forge. Funny, how people always linger around where the smoke is rising and find the reek of anthracite coal "delicious". There were many kids, and I forged my first heart with one of them:

 And it gave me ideas...;-) and more projects to make.

 Lukas came by to forge a "G" for his sweetheart, Gianna, who was busy selling cake and wafers and sausages, salad, coffee and the like that day. My respect goes to all those members who actually contributed to the event being a great one!

 Jandark and his lovely girlfriend, Julia, busy taking pics and falling severely in love;-). Bro, good to see you´re happy! See his pics for more impressions of the fair here.

 Lukas at the forge.

 ...and with a little help by the smith, this came out.

 Then he set out to forge an "L" all by himself. Good outcome, dude!;-)

 This, in turn, inspired Julia to forge "something pagan";-), a double spiral, all by herself. This was her first try at blacksmithing, and she did very, very well.

 Some big brutes;-) completely demolished the bouncing castle. But they seemed to have fun*ggg* kids will be kids, I daresay*ggg*:

Then the bands played, but I was still being busy. I had a lot to do, and it was good fun I had with the kids, the big ones as well as the small ones. Working for the club does not seem to be a waste of time always. And, folks, if you´re being nice I´d even consider linking you again*ggg*.

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Summer Fair in the Bethaus smithy-Crappy weather, but good fun!

On Saturday and Sunday we had organized the Summer Fair at the Bethaus smithy. We were privileged to have Craig Herbertson unplugged and live on Saturday. Craig is a Folk, Rock and Blues musician, and a very, very good one, if you ask me. Enjoy!

There was an abundance of delicious cakes, coffee and quality food as usual, provided by Jochen, our ex - submarine cook. You know what happens if you´re cooking bad food on a submarine? You have to scrub the deck*ggg*... So great food galore!;-)

 Craig played his fingers sore, but he had fun at that-or so he said;-).

 Willi dropped by also, and sat down at Craig´s table, and we had some singing and clapping and coffee and woodspirit-lookalike-contest*ggg*and enjoyed the music.

 Don´t you think we did not work that day!*ggg* I made this Sgian Dhú blade as  a gift for Craig. Spring steel, selective temper, and stands the test. 3mm spine thickness, 95 mm long, and it will get a plain stag antler handle, maybe with a clan crest, but we´re still designing. Guess Craig enjoyed it...

 Willi made some mini axes, too. Here he´s working with his Dremel mini power tool.

 Then Olaf dropped by to have me make a knife for and together with his little one. Olaf is head chairman of an archery club in Wuppertal and a real knife afficionado. I am not always agreed with his stance on knife collecting, but it simply feels good to have other people around that do not think knives are the essence of Evil!

 Mind you, for some brief moments, even the sun came out!

 This is Willy doing the finishing grind on... what...?!

This one-the knife I made for Olaf´s son. Spring steel, selective temper, spine thickness 3 mm, length roundabout 11 cm. I actually liked it a lot and would have kept it myself.... but as is, they got it at a bargain, nothing at al, to be precise *grml*.

 I also started a drinking horn stand for my sweetheart... This is the head.

 This is the tail...

 ...and the thing overall... has to get a bit longer still.

 Two mini axes / hatchets by Willi, a snake he made for his wife,

 And the "dwarf knife" he started at the industrial museum.

 I also made a dragon head knife. This is a detail of the work in progress, no blade yet.

 The handle is partly bush knife style.

 Willi at the forge.

 I then started an integral En - Nep from a railroad screw. Here the tang is being formed.

 ...and a hardy chisel out of the same material.

 The blade taking shape. The knife will see less than 1 % stock removal.

 The dragon head knife with blade formed.

 Topmost is a barbecue fork Willi made. I really like this a lot, cleanly made!

 Willi apparently does, too;-).

And my hardy chisel ready to rumble!;-) I like the stained and spotted surface, it was rusted deep, and the structure I find interesting.

So, to sum it all up, it was a very busy weekend, with a very wet Sunday. We made the best out of the lack of visitors, and had fun playing around and having good food. It was all less than ideal, but what could we do? Nothing but having fun as it was and planning for the next event. And fun we DID have, met a lot of nice people we hope to meet again.

And, if you look closely, the fair wasn´t even going so bad, for some visitors that actually mattered found the way into the smithy and will come again. We are now planning for the autumn fair which has yet to be scheduled. Watch this place!