peter johnsson

Too bad. It would be great fun if you could make it. You would also be a very valuable addition to the group. :-)

Great! Hope you can work it out. It would be great if you could attend.

An example of work done during the class, by Zack Jonas:

Sword Reflections on the Celtic Sword two seven day classes at Tannery Pond Forge hosted by Zack Jonas with me as guest tutor. Dates: 1st - 7th & 10th - 16th of September 2018 Back in January 2017 Zack Jonas and I arranged the first sword class in the series of Sword Reflections in his workshop, the Tannery Pond Forge in Wilmot, New Hampshire. Since then we have arranged 7 one week classes. The emphasis of the Sword Reflections curriculum is not primarily to produce a sword of a certain type but rather to study the essential principles of the sword, both functionally, and ae

I really like what you did with that bronze bead Dave!

Very happy to see this! Inspiring work on so many levels: a craft that is alive and kicking! :-)

-Hehe. Dave, you describe in a condensed manner the story of my life :-) BTW, I would never say it aloud since I am rather superstitious (only and specifically in regards to blade making), but I think your chances of an "Oh-wow-moment" are pretty good :-)

Certainly. It works well for anything from a small knife to a long sword. The suppliers I have tracked down offer it in 30 cm x 100 cm size, so that would be the limit in blade length.

Thank you, guys :-) Yes, the goal is to cover most aspects of the making of this scabbard, including the metalwork. At this stage the final design can go several ways: there are some techniques that needs testing before I can choose what will work best. The scabbard must also work well with the hilt, so at this stage I am leaving the scabbard be until I have made some progress with guard and pommel for the blade.

Dear firetenders I have been very slow in posting in recent months and I am sorry to have missed your company and many good discussions. I thought I´d make up for that by posting a WIP of a scabbard I am currently working on. It is being made for a large dagger or short sword that is part of a set that will go on an exhibit (but more on that later). All of the swords and daggers of this set are being made to be time-less or free from any direct associations with existing cultures or past times. All of them will be have their form and proportions defined by geometry and each will be

Outstanding work! It was a pleasure to go through the thread and enjoy all careful and thoughtful steps in the process. Thank you for taking the time to document it: very valuable addition to the forum.

You are of to a great start! Make the fuller deep so it leaves about a 1 mm web in the middle of the blade. Make the outer third of the blade thin (about .5 mm behind the point) and make a rather drastic distal taper in the first 1/5 of the blade (go down 1.5 - 2 mm in thickness). The blade will then be agile and nice to work with. I will watch this with interest!

Very happy to see this :-)

Great work! Very much looking forward to seeing this develop.

So satisfying and inspiring to see. Thank you for showing the details of your beautiful work.

Great work! A really nice study of an interesting type. Thank you for showing this.

Thank you :-) I will contact him and describe my project. Good to know he is customer friendly. I am grateful to you guys who have shared your experience with this product. -You shorten my learning curve considerably! :-)

Thank you Jeff! Have you worked the material after curing? What do you think of hardness and finishing properties with the stabilised material?

Haha! Sounds like something I could have done! The lessons we learn, eh? Thank you for the suggestions and advice. I saw a Youtube vid on the use of this and the guy demonstrating recommended to let the material soak for a while after the vacuum ad been lifted. I plan to do this. First pulling vacuum for a good while and then let the material sit in the juice overnight or 24 hours. I wonder what long term deterioration one might expect with a material like this. -Who knows? Might be stable for the first 10 years.... Hmmm?

Hello hivemind! I have a question for the collected wisdom of this forum: can you recommend a resin for stabilising wood, bone and antler? After some light Googling I came across the product Cactus Juice that seems simple to use. From the site: "Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin is a premium, professional grade, heat cured resin for stabilizing and hardening wood and other porous material. It is especially effective on those beautiful, punky, spalted woods that are just too soft to work with! Cactus Juice is easy to use and does not significantly change the color of most woods. Cac

Good project and god work! I will follow this with interest :-)

Very nice piece. The touch of gold is like a discreet gift to the viewer. I like it!

Fenomenal carving and sculpting. So satisfying and exiting to see. Jim, just today I received your book of collected work. I am very happy that you put this together so that I can have some images of your work neatly at easy reach within the covers of a book. It is curious how observing your work can be at once so calming and deeply stirring. Thank you!!!

One happy customer :-)

I like the form and proportions of this one! I would love to bring this knife along on a walk in the forest. Seems like a purposeful and trusty tool.