Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Recommended Posts

This piece has a lot of firsts for me. I tried casting the pommel directly on to the base of the tang, and it worked wonderfully. The 3D printed medallions are an adaptation of the handle wrapped design I made a while ago. Nicholson file edge/core material with ancient wrought iron shell and pure nickle shims. Cyprian olive wood, synthetic counter material, and copper pin. I had never used the counter material before, and it ended up complimenting the other materials really well... although they are misaligned. The Nicholson file had a lot of great texture that showed up after acid etching. Plunge lines are a little fudged up.

20160611_142816-02.thumb.jpeg.e5ba8a718d20160611_142836-01.thumb.jpeg.b1b6ebe64320160611_142901-01.thumb.jpeg.adf9ccc32d20160611_142932-01.thumb.jpeg.297e882df520160611_142951-01.thumb.jpeg.aefd67935d20160611_143003-01.thumb.jpeg.9fb056cb8020160611_144840-01.thumb.jpeg.9d8656356b20160611_145244-01.thumb.jpeg.b2f508df5b

Here's a little video about the piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwpEWB-a1Y&feature=youtu.be

Comments and critique always appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seriously, I wish I was doing what you're doing now when I was your age. I first got into metal work doing guns, but I was about 23 at the time. (I'm guessing you're maybe a little younger than that :D )Before that I was an idiot with a drug problem. It's so refreshing to see young men and women doing something as creative as this. Not knocking your age, you're well ahead of the curve there. If I'm way off on my guess, I apologize in advance Theo. :P

I wish my son had an interest in what I do, but call of duty is far more interesting a prospect, I'm afraid :lol:

You got some solid talent man. It's great to see.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK for me "ancient" is pre dark ages; most likely your wrought iron was  made by the puddling process rather than the  bloomery process  and less than 200 years old.  Hard to get the real old stuff in the states; it's not like we can move some stones out on our patio and find a viking smiths grave over here---unless you live near the "Meadows"

Wagon and cart tyres tend to be made from very low grade wrought iron so the character is not so much a function of age as of cheap.  Knifemakers like it for just that reason and often make fittings from it.  I once gave a knifemaking friend some WI and he didn't like it as I had sent him some of my best WI; so I went out and hacked off some old wagon tyre pieces and sent those to him and he loved it!  (Have you tried twisting a WI piece at welding heat before working it down to give different character to it?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

San Mai is an excellent way to use the character yet still have a good alloy for edge holding part of a blade; if you are not comfortable with your forge welding, (I was reading the history of welding in the big black Lincoln book at the breakfast table today---crude and seldom used blacksmith method was the gist of their comment on Forge Welding...), using the WI material for guards and pommels and etching them after fitting and before mounting them can be a nice way to use it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't forge welded in a long time, and I've never welded a billet. I did a bunch of faggot and lap welds back in the day and enjoyed the process. I've got some coil spring that's about the same cross sectional area as the spikes, so I'm thinking that I'll draw the the pieces into roughly 1:3 rectangles weld them WI-CS-WI into a square bar and then draw out from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TheoRockNazz said:

Thank you Steve. I'm 26 this month, still quite young haha
I play a lot of video games, I find it a wonderful resource for inspiration. There is a lot of great artwork and design that goes into each game produced, and I find myself drawing on many genres. 

Cool Theo. I figured you were a bit younger, but when you're my age you'll look twice as good as I do :D

I got nothing against video games, I just hate to see kids sit like zombies in front of them lol. I was never any good at them, I was out in my garage tearing skateboards and bikes apart. You obviously have an excellent handle on balance and inspiration. I guess if I could convince my son he could make Nerf guns out in my shop, I may have half a chance :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...