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I Forge Iron

Bjorn makes sharp things. My beginners log book


Bonnskij

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Righto. Done whinging about welding, though it is the cranky season for me. More practice I guess.

Did manage to weld some rebar onto a piece of leaf spring as a temporary handle and I've done some more work on my kitchen knife. Managed to marr my knife with a piece of steel that got stuck in my fine file shortly before finishing. Annoying...

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File cards are pretty cheap compared to the work it'll take to clean out a scratch don't you think? Maybe buy one or two rather than repair an old broken one? I wouldn't throw it away, maybe repair it even but file cards are cheap.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Yes that's true. I just don't like wasting anything that can be salvaged (or going shopping for that matter) I think it should be an easy fix, but if it doesn't work out I'll definitely go and buy a new file card.

In other news I was finishing up my drawknife yesterday and decided to take the blade out of my spokeshave to sharpen it. Bad idea, as I never managed to set it properly again afterwards and left terrible chatter on my handles. Banged the drawknife onto the table in frustration (not even particularly hard)... And promptly snapped it in half... After that the spokeshave took a flat arc flight across the yard followed by several explicits that would probably have moderators breathing down my neck harder than last time I said something debatably PG. Split a tomato stake in half on its journey and shattered in a thousand pieces against a brick wall. Possibly puzzling future generations of archaeologists. Dingdangdiddly cast iron tools...

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On 11/4/2020 at 7:38 PM, Bonnskij said:

flat arc flight across the yard

One might call it a low Earth orbit... better a tomato stake than a radius I suppose. Considering your use of profanity I'm going to assume you didn't find it very humerus...

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Well Frosty. I've got this new material made from the breath of a fish, the spittle of a bird, the beard of a woman, the sound of a cat's footsteps, the sinews of a bear and the roots of a mountain. Seems quite promising.

In all seriousness though, it was the body of my spokeshave that broke in half and that was cast iron. I seem to be more likely to have too soft blades than too brittle ones so far.

 

You're not wrong Frazer. Any throw you make is by definition orbit around the centre of the earth. The only problem being that the rest of the earth gets in the way before the orbit is completed. A tomato stake is a small price to pay.

I did not find it particularly humerus at all at the time. In fact it was a royal pain in my foot (sorry).

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Figured I'd better practice some tapering and drawing out in the hope that I might be able to do it without fishmouthing. (And also Christmas is coming up too quickly and I'm coming up short on ideas for presents). With any luck there will be bottle openers for everyone! Though I do wish I had an anvil with a horn for this bit...

The beer fridge has also been filled in anticipation of the oh so necessary testing phase.

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That's one bottle opener forged and tested. Might be a bit rough here and there, but it was good fun and I'm quite happy with it at the end of the day. Managed to do brassing this time as well. Just needed to put a bit more force behind the brushing.

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Working on an axe at the moment. I think this is my favourite thing to make so far. Mild steel body and leaf spring edge. The leaf spring inset ended up further ahead than intended as i welded too much of the body together. OVerall though, I'm quite happy so far and my welds are definitely improving.

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Been trying to improve my forge welding somewhat. Made this 1084 and mild steel laminate.  Without etching I can't see a weld line, so I think that's a success! I did successfully weld two additional bits of wrought iron onto my chisel blank, but cannot improve on me forging it out. I don't have JLP's skill or an anvil with a horn. I give up on it and will repurpose it as buttcaps and bolsters. Once I upgrade my anvil I'll try again. I feel quite relieved about giving up on it.IMG_20210115_143910_976.thumb.jpg.604cd7b0176ffb0e3ed0ab2777635ff0.jpg

Here's also a slightly shinier axe. I'm going to attempt some copper wire inlays in the body of it. Successfully hardened and for the first time I managed to see the shadows dance on the steel before the quench.

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Been doing some more research on curved knives from viking age Scandinavia lately. I've made a few sketches that I will be trying to reproduce. Fairly simple designs (for the most part), so the rough forging doesn't take that long. I was surprised by how small the knives actually were. The first one that I forged out this afternoon is actually on the large side.

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I wonder what they were actually used for. There weren't really that many specialised knives back then compared to what we have now. Maybe a skinner or textile knife is what I am leaning towards if drawing parallels to knife shapes of today. Hard to imagine a herb knife in viking society to be honest. Perhaps a general purpose knife that is light and easy to carry around and use for various tasks? Fits surprisingly well in the hand.

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B, have you found any actual historical/archaeological evidence for the use of "blacksmith" knives with an integral, curved back handle such as your example in viking age Scandinavia?  I have found plenty of secondary or tertiary sources stating that they were used but I have yet to find a primary source such as a report of an archaeological dig or a period illustration.  If you have found such a source(s) I would greatly appreciate a citation.

BTW, the best use I have found for a curved blade is for skinning larger (deer or larger size) wild game or cutting meat.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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George, lately I've been using a portal encompassing Norwegian museum collections; Unimus.no. Before then i was using the University of Oslo's photoportal but since then all information seems to have been moved from the latter to the former and it has been more difficult to get accurate information.

I downloaded a small collection of photos here, that I have managed to find a little bit of information on:

 

This may or may not be the one i based my first knife on. It is similar, but a little bit smaller than mine.

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This knife is the only one i actually found a date for. Younger iron age, so a fair bit older than the viking age.

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This knife was found in a grave dig in Ringerike. One of my favourite viking age art styles is named after the municipality. The inlay on my latest axe is Ringerike style. The graves in the area are mostly from up to 400 a.d, but finds from the viking age have also been made. Worth noting the ritual destruction of the blade that is common in association with grave finds.

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These next two and best preserved knives were found in Gran and are probably from the viking age as that seems to be the archeological finds the area is best known for. The blunt tips are not typical for this style of knife in general.

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If I were to make a guess at this point. I think the integral curved back handle predates the viking age. There are other examples, but in far worse shape than the first one i posted. This style of curved knife seems to have been in use for at least 1500 years though. I suppose the viking age is farily short in the grand scheme of things.

I definitely agree with your assessment that it would be a good shape for a skinning knife. Also originally I would have thought the short handle would make it somewhat uncomfortable to use, but if used with a pinch grip it sits remarkably well in the hand.

I hope that helps, but if it doesn't please let me know. I will keep digging, but since most of the sources I use are in Norwegian it is somewhat inaccessible to the broader public.

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Bjorn,  thanks.  I'll investigate those sources.  What you have posted is better than my old printed references.

I'm sure that you know that grave goods in many cultures are ritually "killed" so that the departed may be able to use the object in the afterlife.  The living cannot use "dead" things and the dead cannot use "live" things.

My wife is currently studying Swedish and between that and various translation programs I should be able to muddle through.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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No problem George. Glad I could help!

Yes I've seen a lot of swords in particular from norse grave finds that have been turned into pretzels. I'll admit I wasn't aware of the reasoning behind it and never stopped to ponder about it either, but that is interesting. Are there any other cultures in particular that practiced the ritual killing of objects?

It doesn't sound like you should have much trouble translating anything, but if you get stuck anywhere just let me know. I'd be happy to help out.

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