TwistedCustoms

All good points Smoggy. I believe it was most likely a combination of more mundane factors that influenced the design. When an everyday object has such a long run and spread over such a large geographic area it makes me want to ponder the reasons behind its success no matter what they may be. The ease of sharpening the straight edge goes higher on the list than rivet popping in my estimation!

Sorry about SAKing up the works! On blade and bushcraft forums lots of acronyms evolve about cutlery just to save time or shorten posts. SAK = Swiss Army Knife, GEC = Great Eastern Cutlery, etc. Once you're in a cutlery state of mind you can cypher most of them out but I have been stumped by a few. Years ago a group at the Pentagon called TRADOC started a campaign to convince us lowly soldiers that acronyms were better than regular speak for day to day interpersonal conversation. And they LOVE applying acronyms to weapon systems! Why have a Multi Launch Rocket System when you can just tool around in an MLRS. PS TRADOC is Training and Doctrine Command

bone or antler could be used to roll/wrangle a hot bloom onto a stone anvil but if I had to do it once the first thing I would make with my newly wrought iron would be tongs! Thomas, one subject of interest turned up in my recent searches was the slag heaps in Iceland left by the early settlers. Based on the mounds of slag they left they were producing tonnage in the first hundred or so years of settlement.

I like this explanation. I've always suspected that the small anvil in addition to being an economical use of resources was also advantageous for its portability. A two pound hammer and a two to four pound anvil isn't out of line with what can be carried in a shoulder bag or sea chest. It has probably always been that way to some degree in rural areas. Every farmer wasn't a blacksmith in 19thc rural America but based on the numbers that survive it sure looks like most of them had an anvil and portable forge.

Thank You all for the replies. Frosty, I agree that the distal taper which produces the fine point would at least require further tempering if an edge quench were used. Because I love this simple geometric shape so much I want there to be some magical esoteric hidden meaning behind the design but it really may have been as simple as "that looks cool" or it was easy to make.

The broken back seax has always been one of my favorite blades. It is in my opinion both brutal and elegant, aesthetically pleasing and perfectly functional. I have always wondered about the evolution of the design. Why that shape? Was the design influenced by the raw materials, the tools, the armour it was intended to be used against or some more mundane cutting chore? My google fu is not legendary but I have worded my searches many different ways and haven't come across a definitive answer. I have read dozens of academic papers and some of the speculation has been, 1) it was such a simple design to forge that it required no great skill and therefore many people could make a seax even if they weren't fully proficient smiths. I reject this idea personally because the grave finds from the period I'm interested in range from crude to exquisite. Clearly at least some of them were made by very talented smiths. 2) The long, slender point was designed to pop the rivets in chain mail. This one has more merit but I see it as a possible side effect of the design more than a driving force because any slender point would do the same, even if the point wasn't dropped as in the broken back design. 3) It was purely aesthetic, what was visually pleasing in a particular region. I don't have anything empirical to dispute this but it seems pretty weak to me. Experimental Archeology has examined my question in depth and the above mentioned reasons are the only ones I can find relative to the specific design. So my question is this... Has anyone here ever read or heard that the reason for the design of the Seax was "edge quenching"? The shape certainly lends itself to edge quenching as the full length of the cutting edge including the point can be hardened while leaving the spine soft. Assuming a laminated construction quenching a wrought iron spine may not have been an issue as only the higher carbon bit welded to the cutting edge would harden anyway. My idea may be entirely influenced by modern materials but I still wonder if anyone has any knowledge of historical evidence for edge quenching in the Viking or Saxon timeline.

@ThomasPowers...Me too on the SAK! Also my 4lb rounding hammer. It's the ultimate multi tool. No moving parts, very low maintenance and makes everything from trivets to tray tables.

Very clean, I like it! Looks a little like the ESEE Izula, one of my favorite small knives.

Elvish steel welds at lower temp ;-)

Try doing a search on log splitters converted to forging press. Like anything that gets re engineered I have seen some done poorly and some done quite well. You might get some ideas there and log splitters both new and used abound in most areas where fireplaces are common.

Part of their design considerations are dictated by the German law that workers can't be kept from Natural light for more than four hours at a time. Lots of glass in todays German Architecture!

rockstar.esq, Sadly I agree. The romanticized ideal of the Architect walking a property with a pipe clenched and eyes squinted, "seeing" something the rest of us can't see yet....well, that's not reality. I hate it that the professions that used to be based on artistic expression have been reduced to number crunching drudgery that can be performed by minor functionaries totally devoid of vision. If you are correct, and I suspect you are, that the technology being labeled AI today can replace the Architects of today then we are in a sad state of affairs.

Wow, just wow.... There is hope! but not with that stuff. What is shown in the photos isn't going to work in any way shape or form. I'm not trying to discourage you but at some point you need to shift gears, cut your losses and move on. If you are willing to take the steps you can have your blades HT by tomorrow afternoon without spending over a few dollars. Go buy a bag of WOOD Charcoal and then come home and do a search for JABOD Forge. If you own a hammer and a shovel and you can scrounge some scrap wood, short pieces of pipe and a hair drier you can get forging heat no problem. You can throw one of these together in an hour, get your blades hardened, assuming they are HC steel, and when you're ready to go back to building a gas forge, when you have more time, come back here and read, read, read. Then read some more. Stay away from YT! Best wishes and good luck!

This!!! Yes!!! The "AI" we have seen so far isn't artificial at all, it's an extension of the intelligence of the person who programed it. At its core it's no more advanced than an automatic drill. If I set the limits on my drill press it can punch holes much faster than I can by hand but it's only performing a function that I "programed" it to do. If one night while I'm sleeping my drill comes up with a way to make drilling holes more efficient, designs and builds a new, novel device that does in fact do it better and that new device anticipates when and where I need holes drilled, and preempts the drilling of said tasks I will concede that AI has arrived. Till then "AI" is being used to describe machines that operate efficiently but in fact possess no intelligence.

It's an interesting question. The variables are infinite. Just because you find lots of Vulcans doesn't confirm that they are in fact most plentiful in your area, just that they are the ones you personally have encountered. I have had a similar experience over the last few years. I have bought one Wilkinson, and five Mouse Holes. I have passed on several other Mouse Holes. Every single Fisher I have gone to look at was damaged beyond my level of interest, like missing half the face or the whole horn or both. I would have to conclude my area is rich in Mouse Holes and damaged Fishers but that information would be more meaningful if I could confirm others in my area have had the same experience.

I would say Engineering would be on the chopping block before Architects. I don't believe AI can ever be developed to the point it takes on an artistic sensibility. You can create a program to spit out designs that stay within a set of parameters such as Greek inspired proportions or Gothic whimsy but how do you give the software the ability or incentive to have a preference for one or the other. I haven't seen anything yet to make me believe true AI will ever materialize. I think the use of the term AI today is at best a misuse or misunderstanding of the term.

If the Pritchel hole is original and not drilled later it was made after 1830. The weight is Imperial Hundred Weight. First number is multiples of 112#, second number is multiples of 28# and the third number is the remainder in lbs. 1- = 112lbs plus zero for the second number plus 12lbs for the third = 124lbs. She's a beauty! how's the rebound?

@Irondragon Forge & Clay That is Genius, too simple for me to have thought of and a perfect solution. Coal is no problem but my coke has about a five minute life without air. No shortage of hardwood chips though so I'll give it a go. Thanks!

There really are some burner experts here and I am not one of them! I started playing around with gas forges this year and the first thing I noticed was that with a neutral flame the work stays cleaner, like almost no scale. I built a couple of burners, bought k-wool, soft brick, hard brick etc. I ended up buying a Whisper Mamma and coting it with Metrikote. I like it a lot! Being able to kill the fire to go eat lunch or just to step out of the shop is nice. I used to do all my hot work for the day in one shot just so I didn't have to build a second coal fire in the afternoon. Now I have a lot more flexibility to be in and out of the shop. I love coal but I'm quickly becoming a fan of LP! You will enjoy having both.

I'm surprised to see that Al. issues California plates ;-) Welcome to the addiction! It's nice to see someone taking action and you're off to a good start. What is the inside of your little gas forge lined with? I'm mostly a solid fuel guy so I'll wait for the gassers to tell you what's what on the burners but the flame on the left looks good to me. Do you get scale with one or the other, both or neither? Keep it up and keep the pics coming!

I put a blade on the buffer without any compound once after bluing and it brought the highs to a lighter blue but not back to silver. I didn't try to go any further with it because I really like the light, "smokey" blue look. I am open to experimentation though!

I don't have any home brew to add to the food based ones already mentioned but I have made some pretty stuff using Brownells cold gun blue. If you've never used it its a one part product, no mixing. It colors fast and cleans up with water. You wont have any silver color when you're done, even the high nickel stuff will be a cool, light blue and the high carbon will be almost black but the whole piece has a "wet" look when it's dry. Most gun shops/pawn shops in my area have the kit for under $10.00.

Who has the time!

I keep a ton of coke in the big bin and a few hundred pounds of soft coal in bags. I have some anthracite in five gallon buckets and a bag of store bought hardwood charcoal. Mix and match as needed! Soft coal is great to keep coke lit with a hand crank set up. I mostly cook burgers with the wood charcoal but I have forged with it. My main solid fuel forge is set up for coke, deep pot, electric fan etc. With a portable rivet forge I will mix coal and coke. I set up a 55 gal drum wood stove this Fall to clean up some brush around the shop. One of those cast iron door/leg/stack kits you bolt onto a drum. If I ever set up a dedicated side blast forge I'll have a way to burn fire wood into something usable to forge with. I like propane too! Fire is awesome!