Mike Ameling Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Here's what I was tinkering on today and yesterday. Clockwise from top left: a pair of 1st to 3rd century Roman flint strikers, a 1700's English striker, a classic early 1800's C striker, two mid 1600's French strikers, and an early to mid 1800's teardrop style striker called an HBC Voyageur striker. The two folding knives are based on originals from a 1685 French shipwreck off the coast of Corpus Christi Texas. They were made as cheap folding knives to trade to the Indians. The handles are cold bent out of 14 gauge sheet. The originals had handles about half as thick - like coffee can material! I made up a handle that thin, but just couldn't bring myself to put a blade in it. These with the 14 gauge handles have a nice "feel" to them. Just three pieces - blade, U-shaped handle, and rivet pin. Just some of the historical ... trinkets ... I've been tinkering around with the last two days. Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Thanks for posting those. I think I often have an exagerated notion of the level of skill invested in earlier iron work. I realize that they are replicas and that you could make them appear more sophisticated if you wanted too. As examples they remind me that, I tend to forget that the examples that I see in books are representative of the better if not the best examples available. I wish I had a scanner! There is one crucifix in a collection book that is so perfect and would qualify as modern art that I have to stare at it for several minutes everytime I turn the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill in Oregon Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Mike: Wonderful work as usual. You must have more research material on historic striker patterns than anyone I know of! If you ever want to do a tutorial for a poor tenderfoot pilgrim, I would be all eyes ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnr Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Mike! One of these fine days I have to make the trip out your way. I have distant kinfolk in North East Iowa around Strawberry Point Finnr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Another batch of excellent pieces. I have a growing library of Mike's Strike Alights. Thank you very much. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispy Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Excellent effort for a couple of days tinkering mike. Do the people who purchase your strikers actually use them or are they collector items? Also is flint readily available in stores or do you find it out in the bush? I take it that it's a kind of stone. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ameling Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 Thanks for the kind words. They are appreciated. Yes, doing replicas of originals can be kind of limiting. But it has its own level of satisfaction. And if you see enough originals, you then start to see the little ... flaws (if you want to call them that) ... in them that you see in most any other forged items. Those little elements that aren't quite ... perfect. Things like kinks on curves/bends, uneven tapering, uneven twisting, too tight of curls, wavy thicknesses, etc. Yes, most books/museums have examples in them of the VERY GOOD items - sort of the Cream of the Crop! I make my flint strikers to be used. And most do get used. But there are a number of people that have created their own "collections" of them. Some want them just to look at. And some want to use them as examples and inspiration in their own work. Now, some of the pieces I've made for a few museums are just for them to display. But I made them so that they could actually use them. And then there are several museums and parks that wanted replicas for their staff to use in their demonstrations. So I replicated ones they documented to their sites, and made them to work as well as I could for those demonstrations. Plus, there's lots to be said for showing up at a Roman Legion or English Civil War event and using a documented style of flint striker to start your camp/cooking fire with. Instead of that regular classic C shaped striker that most everybody else has and uses. I make around 500 to 600 strikers a year - in several dozen different styles/shapes based on originals from very early Roman times B.C. on up to the present. I now have examples in places like the National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the West, Grand Portage National Monument, Fort Mandan, Fort Buford, the Jamestown/Yorktown Volunteers Association, and at least a dozen State and local parks. Even some in the Museum of Welsh Life over in Wales. It's a ... niche ... market, but I like it. And it keeps me from having to ask you if "... you want fries with that?" Strawberry Point? It's a bit south of me - about 40 to 50 miles. I'm 3 miles south of the Minnesota border, and about 30 miles west of the Mississippi River --- as the crow flies! By road miles, it's a whole lot further to anywhere from here! Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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