Ryan Hobbs

Cool! I love the blade profile and handle on the middle one, very nice.

A truly awesome project, beautiful work! What did the dimensions and point of balance end up being?

Oh wow! That is an awesome sword, and the patterns are beautiful! What did the dimensions come out as?

Thanks for all the suggestions and feedback, I truly appreciate them and took them to heart! Sorry for taking so long to reply, work had me busy, then a wedding, and then the Hobbs House vs. Covid Round 2. We won again ;) I decided to get a mix of a lot of the woods that yall suggested. I have some white ash, soft maple, curly maple, flame birch, birdseye maple, and some walnut. I want to get a good sampling of wood and see what works best for me, aesthetically, ease of use, and functionality. I'll fit handles on some cheaper blades, and work my way up to finally putting a handle on a hearth steel knife I won from a drawing Niels put on (covid shut down the carpentry shop I was planning on using when I originally won the knife). If time permits I'll put up some pictures of my progress so yall can tell me to start over again ;)

Ah, good point, I think I'll stick with 1/4-3/8. I just don't like the look of anything thicker. Unfortunately I don't have any cow horn to hand. For these knives I'm not really tying myself down too historically; my main focus is just get in some practice. I did just that ;) Anything I can do to help cause a fuss ;) Thanks for the search tools! Ya, I dabble in making bows. I always wear a mask, especially when working with certain woods. However, thanks for mentioning it, a lot of guys think wood dust is no big deal, so the more times the danger of it put out there the better!

Just have to say, after almost 6 years, this is still one of my favorite seaxes on this site!

Howdy! The Army moved me again to another place where I can't forge (can't dampen the noise enough to not be a nuisance), so I decided to work on making handles. I've ordered some seax blades (got 5 to work on altogether), and plan on doing simple wooden handles for them. I'll be burning them in, maybe throw on a thin copper or brass bolster. So, what are your favorite woods for knife handles and why?

Awesome job! I would love to do a smelt, but I'm worried I would be on my own too. Were there some parts that felt next to impossible because it a one man job?

Oooooooo, this looks like fun!

Sweet! Can't wait to try it out!

Wow, wonderful stuff all around! Like you, I'm very impresses by that heavy duty railing. Most interesting to me (because I love the period), is the boat! Sheeting a boat in lead?! Never heard of that! 1. How did they not sink? 2. Why didn't Carthaginian Environmental Protection Agency express concerns over possible heavy metal pollution in the Mediterranean?

Yay! I scared my wife with all my hollering and jumping when I saw this. I've watched the making of this knife many times, so it will be awesome to actually hold and use it, despite any "terrible flaws". Happy new year to all, and thanks again to Niels for putting this on!

I'll fight y'all for it. Every man brings his best seax.

Sweet, shared! Granted, your videos are the ones I always turn to when people ask about blacksmithing!

Awesome, that is some amazing work!