the branch

Like a collar around the screw then?

Thank you. I didn´t see that. As I´m not knowledgable about vices I couldn´t see if there was anything wrong with it. You mean the hole in the front?

Hello there fellow vicestonians (see what I did there?) I came to stumble over this beauty yesterday. Its my first vice! The person I bought it from said it was a vice his father took with him when his section of the factory closed. This factory was "Christiania spigerfabrikk" A factory with roots to 1880-ish. This vice is in SUPER condition. Its allmost not even scratched . I think it has never been used to work on. Now. Im not just showing off. I do wonder if someone knows a bit about this kind of vice. After browsing a while here and on other parts of the nett I think its a german vice. Any thought? Ether way, I am SIKED! Its a great feeling getting your first vice. =) Thanks for watching! -Jens

happy birthday! Only got a coffemug to lift so Ill do that =)

Thank you for the nice comments guys! Really appreciate it! =) I´ll probably use blackwood and cherry or just blackwood with maybe some thin silver bolster or similar. Sadly I wont be able to get back to this project before july, so yea. Probably going to post the final blade on a new thread. =) Have a nice day! -Jens

Sorry for the delay guys! Been very busy lately but now the assignment is finished and its beeing judged as we speak. I feel very satisfied with the result. Sadly the pictures are a bit bad tough. I´ll get a friend whos a wizz with photografy to take better detail pictures later. But I hope you get alteast something out of it. =) Thank you again for your time and have fun! -Jens

Hello there! Thought I should show you a knife I made last year. It´s made of 3 bars of patternwelded rods. Back is a bar of almost invisible layers of iron (again, shipwreck). The middle is a pretty high layered twisted bar, which I dont remember the numer on, but hey, its how it looks that counts? :P And the cutting edge bar is just a straight laminate with again, shipwreck iron for the sides. Hope you like it and feel free to critique or come with suggestions for handle etc. -Jens

I appreciate that you are thinking out loud! =D I havent thought much more about further work on the sculpture, but maybe I should, to see what comes out of it. As for sculptural work... Well, actually not. I came into this craft via bladesmithing (patternwelding <3) etc. But I am enjoying this kind of work too. Only been doing this craft for the last 5 years spread over the summer vacations ++ (about 1 - 1/2 month of work a year) So have had enough of work trying to become good at bladesmithing and all the dodads which comes with it. After my studies though (arts and crafts teacher) I thought of going to artschool for metalsmithing and jewelry so Im probably starting on the path to more sculptural work soon. =)

Update! woop! First off I thought some of you might be interested in the first tryouts before the two. I actually started with a bit more intricate work of a jumping horse in mid air. It was interesting, but a bit too much fiddlework and not the dynamic look I needed. So, what to do when it doesn´t work? Simplify! This was a not too sucsessfull prancing horsey! Tried a bit of coloring with temper (so I have something to show in the assignment) So now you know what happened before. Well... here is afterwards! As said above Simplify!...-ish. Now they are different thats for sure, but this prototype fits better for their purpose. It´s not quite there yet, but the general idea is in place. I say they because I´ve made four of them now, but only got picture of this one, will post the others soon. Oh and here is how the blanks look like wacked out of reebar and then cut and bend :P Very similar to how foals learn to walk, forming this figure. Here is a horse trying to get the hang of its hind legs ^^ I hope you are hoofing a good time and wrinsk you later! -Jens

Keeping it at that scale yea :P (only got my arms for the work anyways :F) I was surprised myself when I saw how well the still horse came out. The only problem with this figure is that its a bit to 2d for what I was after. Have been going a totally different direction now with more enfaces on organic movement. Thank you Frosty! Sadly Im not sure if im going to do more in this style tough. Got two earlier tryouts tough which I can post. And ofc. the further experimentation in a totally new direction. Stay tuned! Shaman... I like that! Think I´ll just rename it "the dancing shaman" from now on ^^

Im pretty happy about having my own little permanent shed yes. :P ay for masculin things, der Kenguru. But alas a smithy is feminin (our mistress ;)) :P hahaha! You win frosty! Wasn´t the right answer, but we can always change that :P You win the lunch if you come pic it up... achwell, thanks for the laugh :P

Cause they are made out of steel? :P -carrying on

Oh, I agree, just need a powerhammer :P

ay, they are a bit angular. I am working on more... organic, and with more movement (hopefully:P) Thank you for the compliment =)

Hya there! I have been working on a Uni projekt for a few weeks now. The topic is movement and stagnation(no movement?) Along the way I have been making a few studies of stylized horsefigures to try out methods of showing movement etc. And well, I wanted to share them with you. =) Hopeyalikeit I will probably post the finished product/s when Im done. But It may take a while. There are only 24 hours in a day and 48 horse of work to be cramed in to them every day :P Cheers! - Jens

It´s actually just someone elses cat who has been hanging around the last week or so. Does your cat have a private plain? :P Oh, and thank you! Btw. Couldn´t help but notice you use "Der Vulcanschmiede". Is there a reason for it being written like that? Cause normally it´s written "Der Vulcanschmied" - "The vulcanosmith" or "Die Vulcanschmiede" - "The vulcanosmithy". Cause Der Schmiede is used more in sentences like. "Die Wärme komt von der Vulcanschmiede" - "The heat comes from the vulcanosmithy". Just wanted to let you know :F

Good -insert time of day- to you all! I thought I would share with you how my shop is developing. I have been home for a few weeks now working with a Uni projekt of mine (sculptural experiment of movement and directions, with the horse as the object) which requires me to have a proper working area where I can fiddle about all day long in practical comfort. As you can see on the picture below this is not a very nice working environment for fiddeling. What I was in need of was a shop where I had relative warmt and comfort with a proper workbench and shelter from the wind which very prevalent. .... So thats what I did! I started with putting inn doors. Pretty simple construction, all material laying around in the garage. The view into the dungeon :F Workbench area. Also made pretty much of recycled material, the colourful shelfsystem on the right is something I´ve hade laying around from when I was 10 :P Next to this the forgingstation. With a gasburner and a normal solid fuel forge. With a metal sheet on eather side for protecting the workbench and gasser. I have had a bit of a problem getting good storing solutions, but after scrounging on the attic I found an old shelf and a solid woodboard which resultet I a storage table with storingpossibilities underneath (Its where I have my rough stock, not visible because of the shadows). Oh, and allso a pin board! :P Rotating 180 we come to the main view of the shop. My anvil "Gertrud". As you can see My hammer system Is not optimal (Will make a little rack for it soon along the wall. Behind the anvil I got my coat hangers etc.Also made of findings from the attic. :F And a fire extinguisher (because its stupid not to). And a pic of the floor. Not too pretty, but It keeps my feet warm. Its sand with plywood boards etc on top. Works great and is a saver on the feet! Well, thats it! This is how I made my little ca. 3x3 shop into a three room workshop :P I hope you find this interesting. If not, try to find out see if you can see the cat and where I store my lunch. xD Thank you for your attention and have a wonderful day! -Jens

A achso! Rogaland here. Remember you from the Stabburlås thread. Did you find out how it was done? :P

Have had similar problems myself. The tang ended up more of a twisted braid than a solid piece. For me it worked to just use a higher temp (welding) and take it slow. Maybe use 5 more heats than what you normally do, It may cost you more coal and time, but in the end its worth it. Where in Norway are you from btw?

hehe, may be, may be. Tell you what. For the spirit of it all, its eather Tirpitz or an old steampunk iron skyship :F

Doing a lot of lurking in my down time :P I don´t know if he is still attending (since he isn´t smithing prof. anymore afaik.) But could be. seems like a chap who can´t stop beeing involved with dyrsku´n. :F

Du kan jo ringe Håvard Bergland og spør. Han liker at folk er nyskjerrige =)

I know its an old post but just wanted to clarify. Hes finnish, not norwegian :F Still a fun guy tough ^^

Hello there! Well... All are. Files generaly tend to be better suited for "cutting knives" like whittling, skinning, cooking etc. and the spring steel more for "chopping knives" campers, bowies, samiknives, and other choppers. (Since filesteel has higher carbon) So it kinda depends on what kind of knife you wish to make/how you want to use it. =) Then again, I´ve made small fine knives with springsteel that worked very well. It has alot to do with the hardening aswell. good luck!

I love theese forums, Allways the interrest in the Seaxes =P The wood for the seax cracked this spring so Im going to the beach to hunt down some more this evening. But soon =)