Graham Fredeen

Welcome Jeff. Good to have you. What part of Colorado are you in? I am in Colorado Springs. I do mostly bladesmithing myself. Look forward to talking to you more. TarAlderion

Andy, the guard and pommel on the third dagger are not one piece at all. I took some thick mild stock, cut off a piece for the pommel and one for the guard, forged them up a bit closer to shape, then ground them into the final shape, punched/drilled holes for the tang to pass through, and fit them to the blade. Once ground to shape, I gave them a polish and heat blued them. The grip itself is an oak core which has been split, then carved to fit the tang, put back together and glued. This is then shaped and fit to the guard and pommel. The riser in the middle is a piece of leather cord glued around the grip. Some leather is then stitched and fitted over the wood core, wetted and wrapped tightly with cord to ensure proper shrinkage and a tight fit. Then the entire hilt assembly is slipped on the tang and I peen and weld the end of the tang (peen first, then give a quick zap with the arc welder to build up a bit more metal to grind down and shape to the rest of the pommel). Anyways, that is how that hilt was done. The same goes for the first dagger. Anyways, thanks for the compliments. Tar Alderion

Well, since everyone else here is showing their work, I figured I might as well also. I don't consider my work to be too good yet, I am still trying to perfect some basic things here and there. I have also been trying to play a bit with damascus and pattern welding, but I havent finished anything yet. Anyways, just thought I would share and get some feedback. I have done many more blades besides these, but these are the ones I have pictures of. The first is a is a long dagger with a leaf styled blade, and also the first forged blade I did. The second stock removal knife I did a long while back. Thirdly is my most recently finished piece, a small dagger which has a laminated blade (one steel composition, 4 layer billit, folded once, just for practice). And lastly is a pattern welded dagger which I have in the works (the pictures did not turn out well and the weld details dont show up too great), the blade is done, but I haven't gotten around to the hilt yet. Anyways, let me know what you think. Tar Alderion

Greetings everyone. I saw this section of the forum and thought I might as well make myself known. I am from Colorado Springs, CO (if there are any other folks from Colorado, don't fail to let me know). I have been making stock-removal knives, swords, and other blades for about 5 years or so, and more recently in the past 2 years I built myself a gas forge and started smithing blades. In the past year I have started playing with pattern welding and damascus. I mostly only do blades, but I make tools ocasionally when I need them, and have played around a little with some other blacksmithing. Aside from my weapon production, I also make some armour, I do a lot of combat, medieval, hand-to-hand, and knife combat. I also "try" to make bows (havent quite gotten things down yet, wood just isnt as nice to work with as some good old iron or steel). I also play around with some archery, and throwing knives and axes. Anyways, great site, filled with my favorite sort of people. Nice to be here and meet all of you. ~The Lord Tar Alderion~

Hey Claypipe, good to see you again. Oh, and just wondering, did you mess with making those burners anymore yet?