Hi fellows,

after so many people gave me so many useful tips on my last post about a Viking-ring-brooch I forged things came really clear to me. Today I forged a new one regarding all the new knowledge I gathered.


This is what came out:



Thank you guys again for sophisticating me. I´d be glad to hear your opinion about it.



- Daniel

I like it well done , However , a bit more time and it could be a bit smoother on the pin even with that it is a nice piece .

Sam

I like it well done , However , a bit more time and it could be a bit smoother on the pin even with that it is a nice piece .

Sam

I made that pin as smooth as I could get it. The pictures is extremely over-sized and small blemishes may appear way bigger than the actually are. I tested it on different fabrics and it worked fine.

This looks great, i now know what I'm going to make next

Cheers Joe

as per our conversation , yes it is a very nice piece.

G'day 99, nice piece of work.
Following on from Sam's comments, if you want to get the pins smoother, try a wooden Hammer.
Make a hardwood hammer/mallet and when you get the pin as smooth as you can with your steel hammer, take another heat and belt it with a wooden hammer and you'll find it helps smooth it even more. Sometimes a piece of wood to hit on is good also, but with these pins being so thin, they may just burn into the wood too fast and the anvil may be better.
Anyhow, something to try. Keep up the good work

G'day 99, nice piece of work.
Following on from Sam's comments, if you want to get the pins smoother, try a wooden Hammer.
Make a hardwood hammer/mallet and when you get the pin as smooth as you can with your steel hammer, take another heat and belt it with a wooden hammer and you'll find it helps smooth it even more. Sometimes a piece of wood to hit on is good also, but with these pins being so thin, they may just burn into the wood too fast and the anvil may be better.
Anyhow, something to try. Keep up the good work

Thanks for the credit and the good tip!

nothing wrong with that pin keep up the good work

Very good but to my eye the leaves look a little unfinished without veins. Only my subjective opinion.

I particularly like the way you have made the eye of the pin symmetrical. Not many folk do it. I thought that I was about the only one who did that.

Historic Viking brooches often just have the terminals flattened and turned back toward the body of the brooch. In the vertical plane at 90 degrees to the horizontal plane of the body. Not in the same plane like your previous terminals. I'll see if I can find some links to historic iron Viking brooches. One site I can think of off the top of my head is the one for the Kopi company in Denmark. They have some very nice but expensive things with good historic documentation. Google "Kopi." (For English speakers: "Kopi" is Danish for "copy." "Kopie" in German.) Nice for inspiration and documentation.

I'd label this one as a fantasy or Elven brooch.

Historically,
George M.

A nice piece. I've not made anything like this in iron, however my first metalworking was with silver and gold and I did make a fair number of brooches. Some of these were in old styles such as Celtic, Roman, Saxon and later 'Pilgrim' badges.

I was initially surprised by the size of the pins used in the original brooches, but I put that down to the fact that the fabric used then was coarser so a larger pin was not a problem. Wrong!

A lady at the British Museum set me right... the fabrics were of a perfectly good quality; there were permanent holes (usually emroidered around, like a modern buttonhole) through which the pins passed, usually securing the two sides of the garment together. She believed that for most people the same brooch would have used on all the garments they owned.

A nice piece. I've not made anything like this in iron, however my first metalworking was with silver and gold and I did make a fair number of brooches. Some of these were in old styles such as Celtic, Roman, Saxon and later 'Pilgrim' badges.

I was initially surprised by the size of the pins used in the original brooches, but I put that down to the fact that the fabric used then was coarser so a larger pin was not a problem. Wrong!

A lady at the British Museum set me right... the fabrics were of a perfectly good quality; there were permanent holes (usually emroidered around, like a modern buttonhole) through which the pins passed, usually securing the two sides of the garment together. She believed that for most people the same brooch would have used on all the garments they owned.

Ahh that explains a lot! Thank you for sharing this information!

Good job 99

Nice progression from the first post, both in form as well as function.
One small suggestion would be to add a little color by making the pin out of brass or bronze. Just one way to make your work stand out from the rest.

Nice progression from the first post, both in form as well as function.
One small suggestion would be to add a little color by making the pin out of brass or bronze. Just one way to make your work stand out from the rest.

That is one awesome idea!!!

Forge braze the leaves and then incise veins with a small chisel.

I tend to take abrasive paper and run the pins between a fold of it held with thumb and forefinger until very smooth indeed. a thin coating of wax can help too. (of if you are going for all "non-modern techniques" I will smooth items with natural sharpening stones

I like it well done , However , a bit more time and it could be a bit smoother on the pin even with that it is a nice piece .

Sam

Interesting thought came to mind. When I look at work done by others I actually like the rough or imperfect parts of the work. When I look at my own work I see the rough parts as somewhat ugly or a result of poor technigue/skill. They stand out as glaring problems and somewhat ugly. I just found it interesting that I am more critical of my own work than of others. I beleive I could make a broach very similar to this. BUt if I did would I just see the imperfections? Probably...

Interesting thought came to mind. When I look at work done by others I actually like the rough or imperfect parts of the work. When I look at my own work I see the rough parts as somewhat ugly or a result of poor technigue/skill. They stand out as glaring problems and somewhat ugly. I just found it interesting that I am more critical of my own work than of others. I beleive I could make a broach very similar to this. BUt if I did would I just see the imperfections? Probably...

Imperfections just show that it is a unique piece. Wrought be hand. There is a difference between bad quality and the blatancy that it is hand made.