Dabbsterinn

well, I've been looking for many months now, the few ones that are for sale usually don't last long seeing how the national blacksmiths association seem to be attracted to them and buy them instantly, the problem is though, it's an hours drive away from here and seeing how i don't even have a driving licence, that might be a bit of an issue, but after a while of thinking, I've decided to try to purchase it, it all depends on the mood of my parents tomorrow wether i get it, unfortunately

well, i can't find a picture of the 200# anvil, but now that i think about it, it was not 200# but something less, and it was rather strange looking one, im not entirely sure how to describe it and i can't find any pics of it, im thinking about taking it for $950, seeing the slight dimples and deformed edges, thanks though for your input

So, I found an alright looking anvil for sale, I can't see a producer name, year or weight, i was hoping anyone could pitch in an idea for a price, the seller is asking for 1.000 dollars, i find it rather expensive seeing how i can get a new 200 pound high quality anvil for 730 dollars, can anyone tell me what's a reasonable price for this?

is there a problem with hitting cold anvils?, because im in iceland and my smithy is pretty much nothing, i´ve never had any problems with the anvil chipping, it´s an home made anvil though, made from some soft iron, im not completely sure about the carbon content, but im in the process of welding a high-carbon steel plate on the face of the anvil, it takes a really long time seeing how i only have a tiny blue einhell machine that can only weld at 80 amps for 2-3 mins, then it overheats, turns off and cools down for another 30 mins, and i have only used thread welding, or whatever it´s called, the thing with the automatic wire feed, so it´s going slow

i tried it on an old, dull kitchen knife that was to be thrown away, it came out fairly nice, all that i have left is to put a new handle on it and test the sharpness to see if the edge is affected, but that won't matter with the sword, mostly because it could never be sharper than a butterknife due to the steel i used for it, i think nearly all carbon has been burnt out of it, it's just going to hang on my wall as a decoration i'll add pictures of the sword when im done polishing the blade to nearly a mirror finish

I'll gladly share what i remember at the moment about blacksmithing in Iceland, there really isn't that much of it here, I think there are only two active smithies, one in my hometown, Akranes, that was just finished a few weeks ago and another one in Þingeyri. The Facebook group is only somewhat 200 members, but I think most of them are just hobbyist and Im sure there are more icelandic blacksmiths that aren't in that group, I only know of two professional blacksmiths here in Iceland, and one is a tourist actually but we're a growing community, I think i heard something about someone in Reykjavík asking about a hand-forged gate for their house, so if that goes through, we might see a rise in both blacksmiths and requests the championship was a three day event, there was a competition in three classes, beginners, advanced and masters i think, the objective was a freestyle chair, I don't remember who won the beginner and advanced, but the winner in the masters was Therese Engdahl from Sweden and that was the second time she won in a row i think there also was a 3 man team challenge, make a large nail out of what i estimate was a 4 inch thick round stock didn't see how long it was though, I think it ended up in around 20+ inches, if i see the nails somewhere, i'll take pictures of them there also were a few other blacksmiths just showing their skills, like locksmiths and a potsmith, if that is a legit term. the fascinating part about the locksmiths was that the forge they were using was just a tiny 6x6 inch circle of stones and two small bellows there were also a few lectures on viking age blacksmithing and things related to that, and of course the mini seminar that I mentioned in the post. i hope this information was what you were looking for and i wish you good luck on the hammer pendants.

thank you LeeRoy

i had something like that in mind, i was thinking about just passing it over my forge, seeing how i don't have a blowtorch, i'll do that after i polish the blade, it's currently a bit rusty, i was a careless fool and forgot it outside

so, last weekend i went to a blacksmithing mini seminar that was held during the nordic championship in blacksmithing, and there i made a few pieces of jewelry, the spike necklace was originally supposed to be an arrowhead but that didn't exactly work out, i think i may have forgotten some important part about making the socket, so i decided just to make a necklace out of it, the first thor's hammer i made at my first forge at home, had shitty coal, kinda lost it in the fire for a second, melted the surface, but i liked the rough texture of it, so i decided to call it finished, took it home, wrapped a piece of copper tubing around the tip and wore it for a few months, the smaller ring i made in my newer forge, it was orginally supposed to be a serpent necklace, but a few failures turned it into a ring that's too small for me, but it looks nice though, then i made the other necklace, the serpent one, im not sure if that's the correct name, or if it even has a name, but that's what i call it. the second hammer, i made that one in the local smithy, basically a place for blacksmiths to meet up, make some stuff and socialize, trade tips and yea, work together on projects, i blackened that one with tar, the other pieces have no treatment other than the spiral ring and the spike, i just took them to the wire wheel to get that shiny look, i think i'll keep the pieces like that, the colour of the firescale appeals to me, maybe i'll put some linseed oil on it though. The spiral ring is just a prototype, im going to remake it out of brass for a friend of mine and maybe put a red garnet in the spiral.

I'm looking for some information on how to get that multicoloured pattern on knives and swords, im thinking about attempting to get that pattern on a decorative sword i recently made and will post picture of it when im done can anyone tell me how this is done or direct me to some posts showing or explaining how it's done?

so, last weekend there was a nordic championship in blacksmithing, and they also had some mini-seminars with private instructors and seeing how im eager to learn more and more about this fascinating trade, i decided to take a look and maybe make something actually useful, and that i indeed did i made these tongs in i think around two hours or less, im not that good at estimating time i am very pleased with them, they work as i expected and even better, im concidering modifying them later on to suit better for arrowhead making, since i intend on making a whole bunch of them in the coming future (tips and links to posts with information on that are well appreciated and in what way it would be best to modify it, i was just thinking about narrowing the jaws down) i have no idea whether this type of tongs has a special name, it's just a very basic flat jawed tong

i intend on keeping the black firescale on them, i love the colour in that, but yea, i'll be making some silvery, shiny knives in the coming future, as soon as i get more coke, then i'll probably stay a few days at my forge and make knives, among other things that i should probably put up here

either just decorative or maybe i'll rivet the head onto it, but if im going to be doing that, i'll also put an edge in it as well, i've decided on making another axe for re-enactment, maybe something heavier and actually resembles an axe that the vikings used, i have some connections to the re-enactment group, and some relatives that are in blacksmithing, so i think i'll do just fine

i actually scrapped that idea of using this entire thing, i just took it in half and made a knife out of the tip and some freestyle short sword/ large dagger thing, it kinda resembles a gladius, out of the bottom one

allright, will do, my apologies for the misunderstanding, it is more of an fantasy axe when i think more about it, i'll choose my words with more carefulness in the future, like i mentioned earlier, i probably won't be using that one for long, i intend on making another axe in the future, that one will probably be a dane axe, i've heard those were the most effective one's im not sure if there are any arbitrary rules, i should check on that soon, it's still a good while until i can join, the group is in a different town and im joining as soon as i get my driving licence i'll look into this Stone's glossary you mentioned, thanks for the tip

i have, i find the Dane axe to be too heavy if i'm to use it in the group, i think the edge has to be at least 6mm to be safe to use there, that is too heavy for me to use one handed, they do have another design that i'm not entirely sure what is called, but it looks something like the Mammen axe, this is more like a bearded axe, i'm fairly sure they used them a lot, maybe the blade could be a bit wider, and the designs were as many as the blacksmiths, but i was going for speed and agility when i was making it, maybe i'll make another one when i get stronger, i'll definitely put more steel in that one

so, im not quite done with this one, but i'd still like to show you what i've done so this is my attempt at a broken-back seax, i fear it's a bit too long, about 2.5 feet , it's completely blunt because it's intended to be used in the fighting in the viking group with my> axe. im thinking about either just finishing driving the handle up on the handle, i haven't managed to do that yet because i took my vice up to my smithy last Monday because the new one my brother made for me wasn't working, so i didn't have one here at home to finish the handle, but im going there soon to take pictures of my smithy and clean up some knives i found lying around here, im also thinking about putting a pommel on it if the tang is long enough, i'd probably make it from one of our sea-fishing sinkers, im though unfamiliar with working with lead, but i doubt it will be much of a problem,

well, now i've made a larger version of the one i made on the seminar, i actually started on this one a few weeks back, i just never got the proper equipment and knowledge to finish it until now, i kinda messed up and forgot to flatten one edge of it, it's quite uneven, it was a cutoff from the shipyard, maybe i'll make another one later when im better at forge welding, then i could make the eye pretty good, and perhaps make the blade larger, but im happy with the design as it is, as with my (failed) >seax, it is not to be sharpened, it is for use in the viking group, if anyone has any tips on axe making, i'll gladly accept them and do my best in learning from them

so, i recently went on a forging seminar and there i learned how to make a knife which, atleast in iceland, is called elf-lady knife, i think it's because in the viking era, some men weren't exactly gentlemen, so some women carried these kind of knives for self-defense, i think a similar tradition was in sparta? anyways, the larger one is made from a car spring, pretty nice, first attempt at making this knife, i think it turned out OK, the second one, the one with the twist, im not entirely sure what kind of steel that is, but it's good i think, i managed to harden it fairly well, it works, that's what matters to me, i'll probably re-heat it, smoothen it out a bit and harden it better, i don't think i managed to harden all of the edge, if anyone knows whether this design has a different name or has one, please let me know

so, recently i went on a forging seminar and i had a few minutes to spare so i quickly made this small axe, it's not really made for use, i was just getting the feel for it, im gonna make another axe, same basic design, just larger the handle is birch, i know it's not the best wood, but i figured it would make a nice handle, seeing how light it is

So, I got an idea on how to make arrowheads really fast and easy, but I'm not sure if it will work, so I'm asking here. Would it work, to take a small pipe, let's say 10mm inner diameter, something around 1mm thick, and flatten out some part of it and then either hammer the point in or do it with a grinder or bolt cutters and then leaving something about 2-3 cm left for a seat, making the whole head around 6-7 cm long, then cutting a small slot into the shaft, then sanding about 5mm of it down a bit, to make a small cone, that way it will compress a bit when put into the seat, i'll take some pics if you ask me to so, please let me know if you have heard of this method, or even tried it yourself, i would really like to know if this works

so i have a pretty bad cough, could maybe be the flu, but i am probably going out to my forge today, are there any reasons for me not too go, because of my cough?

hello, i have been wondering whether the steel that i have been using is good for axes and such, all that i know is that it is the same kind that is used for repairing ships and that it's really hard,so if anyone has any information on this, please let me know :sidenote: i have no idea whether this is the correct place to put this topic, but this is my best guess

thank you patrick, i know a friend who has made a damascus blade, and i am sure he will teach me the basics sidenote, i did not expect a reply that fast