Nick

Chinobi, thanks, they are indeed. It was a fun project, some of these are styles I've been wanting to try but hadn't gotten around to until now. Holding isn't a problem once you get used to them not being C-type, they are pinched with the fingers and thumb instead of looped around the fingers. Ausfire, flint and steel is one of my favorite ways to start a fire. We used to have competitions at Scout camp to see who could light a fire the fastest. These are all functional, I have a piece of flint in the forge just for testing. They are oil quenched without tempering, but I've found that the harrow steel hardens well without becoming too brittle from the quench.

Just what it says ;) One dozen fire strikers, all different. Forged from a harrow tine, wire brushed and wax finished.

I also prefer shorter reins than average, most of my main tongs have them around a foot though I have a couple pair even shorter (and several longer, too). Leaving them thick like that, though, seems like it would put too much stress right behind the joint since that's where almost all the spring will be. If you flatten them more like pliers then they will have spring through their length but still have the width for grip. You could even swage them to give them a bit of roundness.

Went to an estate sale over the weekend, prices were very high but I got a few bits. The biggest was this table, a slab of I-beam with a hardy and pritchel cut in, a clamp, leg vise mount, and pipes for stock. The top and bottom are 1 5/8" thick, the whole things weighs 500 lbs. That plus some bags of misc. tools (including a very nice bick) for $30. The cone mandrel is from the sale, too, along with a floor cone that starts at the bottom diameter of the cone mandrel and finishes about 20" dia. Also got a piece of 3/4" plate that may get set into a bench as a work plate or stake plate, haven't decided.

I wondered about this. The original is coated in a hot wax dip, which can obscure detail, but if a strip of steel was welded to the inside face of the blade it might not be visible in the photo anyway. I thought about doing a mild/HC with welded on handles or a wrought/HC with the cutting edge welded in, but decided I needed to figure out setting the blades first. I found my copy of Knives and Scabbards, it has been in a box since I moved back from England and just happened to be in one of the boxes already in my new place. One pair is case hardened and another is all steel (320 and 325), which would also account for the lack of any weld line on the originals above. One has a single piece of steel welded to the blade, the others two pieces of steel around a wrought core.

Thanks, Thomas, I will look into those. I remember there were similar ones from Novgorod, and possibly York. I don't have access to the huge collection of archaeological reports in the library at Leeds anymore, which is frustrating. Ideally the next pair will have a more certain date.

Thanks! I'm afraid they don't have an entirely reliable provenance, they were from Ukraine, probably dug up by a metal detectorist. They were sold on eBay, which is where my customer found them and got the photo from (I ended up finding them while doing research online). Something I need to look more into. Thomas, do you know any titles off-hand that have anything on medieval scissors? Frosty, I would like to do work for museums some day, perhaps making educational reproductions. Regarding the angle, I think it's between the usual bevel and a true knife edge. Something to experiment with in future sets. Eddie, the steel was heavy coil spring from my scrap pile, but I have used it before so I knew it was suitable. Not sure of the alloy. Doing it again I would probably get some high carbon flat stock instead of forging down 1/2" round, just to make production a little faster and less time in the fire.

I got a commission to make a pair of scissors based on an excavated Viking-era pair. I've never made scissors before, but have been thinking about it for a while. I couldn't find much on blade geometry so I copied a pair of old all-metal scissors (the ones with the black painted handles) for the set of the blades. I forged them from 1/2" round coil spring, finished length about 5.5". The original piece: Mine: Not an exact match, the handles on mine are a little smaller and the transition from handle to blade is rounder. I'll work on making them more even the next time, but the important thing is they cut for the whole length of the blade. I had tested them with a bolt before heat treating, and they cut fine. Then I hardened, tempered, and riveted them, but they refused to cut. I think a blade warped when I quenched, so I popped out the rivet, reset the blades, re-heat treated, and riveted again. Second time worked!

This is a great film of axe making in Sweden at the Wira factory. This guy knows his way around the anvil. Check out the jump weld around the 4:10 mark, instead of the inserted wedge method of welding the bit. Also the use of locked tongs and the horn and a fork to hold the head steady while filing near the end. http://www.euscreen.eu/play.jsp?id=EUS_11F056F290054E4E859759AAC04EA24B

My Tool Shop 14" saw cut dead square, believe it or not. It died, so I got a DeWalt to replace it and it cuts a little off square.

Frosty, the tin doesn't have any ingredients, but carnuba sounds right. It also smells strongly of turpentine, but that dissipates very quickly, leaving a hard, glossy finish. Carnuba is used to finish briar pipes for the same reason. Basher, thanks! I sell them on Etsy, under Iron Bay Forge. I don't have a dragon striker listed right now but could forge one if you're interested: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IronBayForge Jim, I uses to have a big beard, but I shaved it in favor of the moustache a few years ago. It took my wife months to get used to it (she had never seen my chin before). The beard comes and goes, but the 'tache stays. e:

Thanks, gents. Ausfire, they're finished with Johnson Paste Wax, usually used as a wood and floor finish. The tin is old, nearly 30 years I'd say, but it gives a very nice, clear, clean finish. I use it as a final coat when I use the beeswax and linseed oil, too. I originally tried Minwax floor polish, but I got the satin finish and didn't care for it.

I've made several small pieces inspired by Viking artifacts recently. I'm still making a lot of fire steels, and have been getting several custom orders for them, too. I've made several of these little dragon ones. I also have been wanting to make one with a little loop on the tail. Most of the strikers I make are R-type, but I made these ones last week, with the more familiar two curled arms. I took the zoomorphic form from the fire steel and added it to a little penannular brooch. I've made a few of these now. Finally, a ring pin with a leather cord to wrap around the pin when it place to keep it from shifting (the same job the ring of the penannular does). I usually use a beeswax and linseed oil finish, which gives a black finish, but recently I've been cleaning pieces on the wire wheel and finishing with paste wax, which gives a brighter finish.

I tried screening it, didn't help at all.

Now that I use charcoal the airgate on the tuyere is almost shut and I use a very light hand on the blower. It really only needs a breeze.

I've read that soaking cuts down on the sparks, but I haven't tried it and don't know if it's true. Never heard it makes it last longer.

The film maker's for Olivier's Henry V were specifically told not to do that by the curator and staff of the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London when they were researching for the film. They did it anyway, for the French (Henry himself jumps into the saddle wearing armour).

I would probably do it in two, one to draw the taper and one to round.

When I put a new belt on my portable I used a 1/4" copper rivet and washers. I cut it from a half hide I had bought for other uses. Not a proper splice but I didn't know any better then. That was seven or eight years ago and the belt still works.

Nice, Timothy! Do you have any other progress shots? I've been thinking about making something similar, and my brother can strike for me.

My little anvil bick. Forged from a piece of 1.5" round scrap.

I expect it would be used for specific jobs, or possibly as part of a traveling setup, where a full size ollie would be too cumbersome. The actual patent mentions sharpening plowshares. In any case, I'm guessing it never saw use outside a prototype, but I'd be interested to see one built and in use, just for curiosity's sake.

Can't wait to see the completed tool!

There are a couple patents I've seen that I'm pretty sure (or at least hope) were never built. This one seems more likely to have been, but it's very small compared to your average Hawkeye, Bradley, Little Giant, etc. I like the spring arrangement, but I would be concerned about the stock hitting the pitman. That's less of a conern with a longer helve, but with a little one you'd have to split it like Mofokaye's above.

The cops driving by a few times may scare them off. It's also good for the cops to know that burglars are operating in your area.