Dave Budd Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Whilst at the Belgium knife show last year I sat looking at some replica Saxon blades that Basher (Owen Bush) had on his table and thinking that I should really have a go at some of this multibar stuff, particularly like the serpent and the wolfs tooth parts of the patterns. So last week I lit the welding forge and had a go at a few firstsfor me First multi bar blades (I've done wrought with a steel edge butted on before, but never more than that), first serpent, first wolfs tooth. Today I had some time to kill between blades that I was meant to be working on (they were tempering), so I got the blades ground up. Here they are so far. Still some meat to come off after HT, but they were forged a bit too close to finished dimensions so I don't know if my 7 layer (odd thicknesses, left over from some laminated blades) stars will show properly Other than a little cheesing in the edge steel (now ground away) due to the wrought contiuously splitting during thinning, everything went absolutely fine I know these are far from perfect in terms of pattern control, but they were a first attempt and I was having issues with the wrought! The larger blade is a shade under 11" Let's hope they survive the heat treat when I get to it later in the week! Quote
joshua.M Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 wow i reeally like the pattern of the big one Quote
ThomasPowers Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 You'll be giving my apprentice ideas with blades like that! Thom----just keep your eyes closed and move on to another thread! Quote
Thom Noblitt y Gonzalez Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Thomas, I have already been here and have been preparing questions for you after seeing these. I had been wondering about the surrpent that runns in the blade, as referd to not only here but also in the book about anglo saxon swords. At first I had thought it would be some foem of pattern welding but I see a formed buillets below but the seurpens seems clean and clear in the small of the blades. I have also been looking at the wolfs tooth pattern and trying to figure out how it is done. I could see how to macine it, form one side into a wave, form the next layer to match that wave and then have the top layer match the wave again, then level the top and bottom layers in such a way that the waves on the other side are not flattened. But ithout a form I could see alot of lost effort if done incorrectly. Just my 2 cents and the threat to Thomas that I'll find him for more questions. Quote
Dave Budd Posted January 31, 2012 Author Posted January 31, 2012 the serpent can be done two ways (that I know of). This one was done by making a 3 layer billet, flattening it and cutting triangles from each side of the outer layers, then flattening the concertina to give the snake. The other way is to make up your 3 (or more layers and do a 90 degree twist, reversing direction with each twist, then when you grind through you see the layers snaking back and forthe. I went for the first one because it is the more bold of the methods, but I think likely to be less authentic? the next attempts will be much better, but you have to start somewhere I've not tried any of these techniques before and I really should learn to do trial pieces instead of just trying lots of new ideas in actual to-be-finished pieces Quote
Steve Sells Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 . I had been wondering about the surrpent that runns in the blade, as referd to not only here but also in the book about anglo saxon swords. At first I had thought it would be some foem of pattern welding but I see a formed buillets below but the seurpens seems clean and clear in the small of the blades. here is a serpent in PW steels Quote
ThomasPowers Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 These are the sorts of questions where several different colours of modeling clay come in handy---much easier and faster to experiment in clay and then take the process to steel! Quote
Thom Noblitt y Gonzalez Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 OK, so its the pattern with 90 deg. twists. cool cool. @ Steve so if I am looking right that is a 5 billet peice, 2 tisted, then the snake, and then 2 more twisted bars. They might be inturupted twist peices, I am not sure, Quote
Steve Sells Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 inner core, 7 layers cut like a ladder pattern, and used on edge, not flat. The stars are 2 twisted bars in opposite directions, about 80 layers each , 300 layer edges heavely peened with small ball peen before grinding. the red in the bronze guard is jasper. The wood came from Oz,. called Tiger Myrtle I think. its nothing like the blade in Daves post, His has a beauty from the flow of the metals that make us all want to make PW blades :) Quote
Lenaghan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Very nice, I love how the pattern flows with the Wolf tooth! First time I tried a wolfs tooth I drew it out too much and got a wave... Quote
Sonoran6 Posted February 3, 2012 Posted February 3, 2012 I dont even know what to say other than, that is really awesome! i like it a lot Quote
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