4 hours ago, JHCC said:

Viking-ish

I watched a video not to long ago about Viking shields and their construction. Most were made from pine boards only 5/16" thick. I would guess they were saving the oak trees for ship building, but IIRC there have been 2 examples of oak shields discovered. They were covered in raw hide, cured or uncured, dry. Wet raw hide would cuase the shield to warp when it is dry. Modern reproductions use linen but only 1 shield has been found with small pieces of linen under the boss. They are not sure if it covered the shield or was just used as lining for the boss. Uncured, wet, raw hide was used around the rim and held by metal clamps, IIRC (again) as few as 4 and as many as 54 have been found. The handle had a small detail, the nails holding the handle on were driven in from the front, then the tip was bent to form an "L" shape, these were then bent over so that the short part of the "L" tucked into another hole in the handle. So when you look at the handle it looks like a staple. 

Like i said i watched one video i am no expert, so take this for what you will. 

Nice sword though, even if it just a wall hanger.  

I have a number of 1/2” x 3-1/2” pine boards to make up the shield itself. 

On 10/26/2025 at 10:05 PM, bluerooster said:

Got some forge time in.  Just playing around with various things.  Found that rebar doesn't like to be forge welded. (I didn't expect it to)  Then did some destructive inspection of a failed blade, and found that the hotdog didn't get welded to the bun in places, and in the process, the bun got way too thin anyway. So, I'll be re visiting that procedure some time in the not too distant future.  Then got a chunk of 5/8" square stock, and just heat and beat until it decided to show me what it wanted to become.  I started out with the cross peen, and flared the end after drawing it some, and flattening it a little.  Thought it might be a spade like you would find on a drawer pull. But it was a bit too rounded for that.  Then, a handle started taking shape.  By that time my shoulder was beginning to let me know that I needed to swap to a lighter hammer.  So, I went with my 2 pound ball peen to finish it up.  The little thing must have thought I was hungry, because it turned into a spoon of sorts.  It's only the second spoon i've made. The first was a botch job that serves well as a flux scoop.   

  I need a dishing form of some sort. That would help with making spoons.

I guess it needs some planishing to smooth it out

found that rebar is great for nails, arrowheads, hooks, ornaments, hangers, tools, and other things handy things (not blades).. and for experimentation with different blade shapes.. it's cheap/free, and when you're done with it, just make a bunch of hooks and sell them to get some proper blade steel.

The first thing I did today was take two rigidized and dry pieces of ceramic insulation for what could be a meaningless experiment.  One piece I left just air dried, but the other piece I put in the forge and heated until glowing.

After it cooled off, I compared the two.  The air dried piece (left) was rigid, but still had a little bit of sponginess and flexibility.  The fired piece (right), although more rock-like, crumbled into fine powder very easily. 

What does this prove regarding air-drying vs. heat until glowing?  IDK. Nothing?  

I then made five more Christmas dwarfs because my wife wants to give one to six closest friends.  I thought I made six, though.  Oh well, I'll crank one out tomorrow.

The new mini-forge is working out nicely.  I was able to do all the heating of the 3/4" square bar with the forge pressure set at about 2-2.5 psi.  It also runs well all the way up to 17 psi (which is the max for the regulator).  I guess it's tuned and running slightly rich.  I didn't notice any scaling of the workpiece while in the forge, and I see about 4" of blue dragon's breath with some orange on the edges--I think.  It is hard to tell during daylight.

Summer holidays have just started at this end of the world, so I finally got a little bit of time in the shed. I'm running low on charcoal, so I kept the forge fire small and made some really simple Christmas tree icicle decorations out of old 3" nails I pulled out of some recycled hardwood beams I got from a mate of mine. I learned a lot about twisting small and thin stock. Best results were using pliers and pulling tension while twisting. I discovered this after trying to make a twisting bit for my hand drill, but it caused loops and buckles in the twist from having to push down, so I tried the opposite and pulled up.

 

I filed off the scale and got them back to shiny on the high spots, but I still don't know if it will be enough to make them catch the light in the tree. I'll try them out and if I have to, I'll spray them white or shiny silver.

Cheers,

Jono.

Get any pics of the twisty loops and buckled ones? You could call them Krampuscicles. 

The one on the right is my favorite. Do you have a wire wheel? They'll shine mild steel up nicely but you gotta be more careful and a cricket at a lizard convention. NO gloves and keep away from leading edges!

Of course there's nothing wrong with paint or heck have them chromed. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Also, you can use cotton buffing wheels with progressively finer buffing compound (one wheel per type of compound). You can get them up to mirror finish.  Or, You can just hit the high points rather than trying to get the whole thing.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

Like the red paint, MeltedSocks: it really makes them pop.

The simple concepts are sometimes best, Hefty. Cute idea, like it!

Forged some items from the 'honey-do' list myself: a couple of chunky storm hooks for the shed doors. Wanted to start with 8mm round stock, but didn't have any. Rounded some 8mm square instead. That made them even more chunky. But still accepable to me (and the Mrs, which is more important).

Had other stuff going on, but managed to nip out to the shop and cut out the pieces for the edging of the shield. 

This once again made me very happy with my purchase a couple of years ago of a Beverly clone throatless shear, which makes short work of this kind of cutting. I’m reminded of something my old boss in the furniture store liked to say: “Your business will expand to the limits that your system allows.” That’s as true for tooling as it is for inventory management and point-of-sale software. 

Cleaned up the pieces for the shield rim. 

It's pretty fancy, must be a Viking Chieftan's. The 8 pointed star pattern could indicate a Druid mage Chieftan, a veritable D&D hero.

I'm really looking forward to following along with the build.

Frosty The Lucky.

I slightly burned my grabber-nabber tongs in my coal fire a while back, so today I started a replacement set using 3/4" 4140 round bar.

This will be my second set of made-from-scratch tongs.  One day I'll have all the tools I need to make my first hammer.

Got in a little forge time today. I'm going to have to draw the reins out with my forge press because the DKE66 is a little slow in moving this 4140 round bar.

I use my throatless Beverly clone quite a lot. It is the little HF model but it works well and cuts 16ga steel without much effort.

One of these days I would like a big Beverly but they dont show up often and are usually priced out of my reach.

I do recommend the harbor freight one however - it is one of the hidden gems from HF.

I think it's discontinued.  Couldn't find it of the HF website.

Bummer. They appear to be available elsewhere but you might not get the HF quality control haha

(mine had some bondo in a few minor casting flaws but performs as expected)

Gingko leafs.

Small one is for secret santa at work.

Big one is for key to gardenshed.

Also I made a number. Very pleased with the looks.

The bottom part needs a bit more umpff. I know what to change.

I will make the 2 2's at the same time so the look very similar.

Gewoon, I am particularly inspired by your number because first, it is beautiful, and second, it is inspiring since the fire marshall told us we need to have more visible house numbers or they will not be able to find us, so it is on my list. 

Size is 20x10 cm.

I will paint them (no idea of color) and they will be put on a rusted (corten) mailbox

I, too, am inspired by your 2, Gewoon.  

I've been thinking I need to make a larger "8" for my house, because any time UPS, FedEx, or Amazon send out a new driver they seem not to be able to see the hardware-store 8 on the fence, even though it's painted bright red.

 

Good afternoon all.  Had to replace a hook in our bathroom, so did another Gordon Williams inspired hook. 

Ooh, nicely done Billy! I like it a lot.

Frosty The Lucky.

5 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Ooh, nicely done Billy! I like it a lot.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty!

Would you prefer I transfer these to my computer and shrink them first?

Oh no, I prefer the full horse size hooks so the local moose can hang out without falling.

Frosty The Lucky.