Bjorn Gylfason

I feel like I might just have performed a miracle today Was messing around this week with a blade profile I haven't tried out before and thought hey why not hollow grind the entire thing? Now while the grinding went alright I might have gotten a bit carried away as once I block sanded the bevels smooth the edges were down to less than 0.3 mm... Pre heat treat... So I ran the edges over the grinder shaving a bit off them to bring the edges up to about 0.5mm and put on a heavy coat of anti scale paint. Still, edges this thin with a strong center ridge and a full thickness spine going two thirds of the blade length down would still be pretty susceptible to massive sabering and corkscrewing Now I fully expected this to come out of the oil in some weird bacon pretzel shape and wasn't too worried about it either as this whole blade is just a bit of messing around. But still set everything up to maximize the chances of getting something usable out of it Pre heated the oil and got an extra helping hand to clamp it straight out of the quench to at least combat edge baconing and twisting And much to my surprise I just got the slightest amount of sabering to it that I'm not even sure I want to grind out of it. Quenching gods looked down on me today but now I have a blade that I havemt even given any proper thought about how to hilt

And the belt frog done. Now to see if I can sell someone the idea of a shoulder harness to go with it

Ooooh those look nice. Been wanting to make a folder for such a long time but somehow never find time for it. You mentioned preparing raw bone, what does that process involve?

Finally got around to working a bit on a sheath. Rayskin inlay and first time using some artificial sinew thread which was an absolutely brilliant idea on a black background the thread is wide and very flat so it's a bit difficult to get it to lay down nice and evenly but oh well, at least the color of it matches the ray and horn. Going with a frog suspension as even though at first I'm just going to make a simple belt looped one it gives me the opportunity at some later date to make a underarm shoulder harness for it

Depends a bit on how wide the fullers are to be. I've usually freehanded them onto curved blades with sanding drums mounted ln a long nose die grinder. But those have all been relatively small diameter. If you are going with a wider fuller and doing it on a belt grinder I would probably cobble up some support fixture. Like a 20mm rod facing the belt that is adjustable in height amd how close to the wheel it is. That way you might have solid support under the blade while still being able to tilt it following the curve of it as you slide it across the wheel. Or get one of those fancy rounded wheels some swordsmiths have had made for them and I dream about

On these I've found this method to work really well. First I pick out the straightest 2x4 I can find and then fixture the blade blank in the dead centre of it so it's easy to switch sides to grind. Then it's just a question of grinding away. On this type I loke to grind the fullers straight past the tip and have them relatively even in depth as then, when I begin on the bevels the distal taper comes in almost by itself and it makes the fullers fade out in a way I like

While being one of the most common in period the type M seems rarely reproduced, maybe understandably so as compared to most other types it might feel overly simplistic and austere. So it was a welcome challenge when I was asked to make a nice one while also keeping it simple and fitting someone of middling status The blade is 80crv2 steel with mild steel guards and grip from reindeer antler Scabbard is wool lined composite of modelling plywood glued and shaped around the blade, covered in linen for strength and finally thin leather glued and stitched over producing a thin and light but also strong construction Some measurements of sword: Weight: 1135 grams Total length: 86cm Blade length: 74cm Blade width: 57mm at base Thickness: from 5mm at the guard to 3mm where fullers fade out Point of balance: 15cm from guard Grip length: 8,7 cm oh and the grip length was specifically asked for and withing historical parameters and just wanted to show how it actually works quite well even for relatively big hands is it the most comfortable grip ever? No absolutely not but at the same time it really locks the hilt into my hand and you have an unparallel feel for edge alignment

Ooooh messers, I love messers While I'm absolutely no expert I do like messers more than the average person and have made a few with what I would like to think progressively better feel and handling as I fail my way towards the right results. For that size and shape I would say a weight between 1700 and 1900 grams should be about right. I've pestered Elmslie in the past about all sorts of things regarding them and one of the best things I've learned from him is just how non linear the distal taper often is on these larger ones as that greatly helps with weight, balance and stiffness in the right places to the point the pommel caps are really much more decorative than serving any real balancing purposes, very often being hollow shells. The blade should feel good bare. So just as a vague example a blade might go from 9mm at the base down to 6-7mm in the first 4-5 inches, from there a gradual taper from those 6-7 down to 4mm over the next 20 inches ( I like false edges and usually use them ss reference point) and from there they really start to become thin and knife like in thickness towards the tip. But it's also so hard to say anything definitively with things like point of balance and weight as the originals are as varied as they are many

As I was spending the day cleaning up kitchen knives for a small show in the weekend I decided to do some rubbing on the blade and think I'll leave it at this

I had the frame parts superglued together while I filed in the starting notches to make things somewhat align but the more I look at pre 20th century works the more I feel like we really shouldn't care so much about perfect alignments and airtight gaps between materials as the right amount of asymmetries and flaws give the object character and reaffirm that it was made by hand. But it like everything else is subjective and a big gray area For the blade I did a couple of normalizing cycles and quenched at as close to 790° as I could tip down. No clay and wasn't really planning on any hamon but I hollow ground the bevels quite thin while keeping the entire spine at 6mm thick which produced a very noticable hardening line and an oh so subtle recurve

One of the many nice thing with horn like this is it doesn't really crack and splinter like bone or wood so apart from taking care not to mar it with the hammer peening it was surprisingly stress free Here's a few more pictures from the sides. I didn't have any brass in 6mm thickness for the frame but did have some 3mm stock which is the the main reason I felt the need to do any kind of filework It's probably going to be a while until I start on a sheath for it but exactly as you say I too have been thinking about some kind of underarm carry to fit the theme.

Oh I definitely want to experiment more with both horn and multiple layers. The main issue is how difficult it is to find anything other than black water buffalo horn on the market today. The flattened rams horn pieces are quite nice but are a bit limited size wise

I have found a new challenge for both my non existent photographing skill and my poor phone. Shiny surfaces in layers apparently are too much for both as I just can't capture the transparency and colours of the rams horn to do it any justice. I would like to blame Joshua States for this one as I've been looking st his frame handle thread for a long time and finally just had to try it out The idea was to make a modestly sized bowie with a bit of flair, something that would suit a riverboat poker player of dubious standing The blade is W2 steel, 17,5cm long, hollow ground with a 6mm thick back rib and the knife has an overall length of 29,5cm Bolster is several pieces of brass, each fitted tightly to the tang and staked in place The grip has a two piece brass frame the got a bit of filework inside and out as the rams horn scales ended up being slightly more translucent than I anticipated. scales are attached with peened brass pins I might need to get someone with better skills to photograph it once I've cleaned it up properly, made a sheath for it and decided wether or not I should bother with bringing out the hamon in the blade

I look at pictures and then more pictures and browse books and look at historical objects and then browse some more pictures. Then small bits and details here and there stick in my head until I have no idea any longer where said things come from Then it's just the question of somehow incorporating details into one piece in some way they kinda look right together

I've felt for a long time now that the modern kitchen is a bit lacking in medieval aesthetics so aiming to rectify it