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So, it is said that in order to make progress one must get out of one's comfort zone... so - I started a little project. About 75 hours into it atm. Still lots to do. Still need to complete background removal, then do the shading of the scrolls and leaves... And the do it all again on the other side... And then there is the guard, handle, sheath... yeah.... ... The road is long and perilous. Already made a few mistakes. Alright, that's it for now.. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I know where I will be... bent over my microscope cutting steel... Sincerely, Alveprins.

Hi everyone - thought I'd share the latest one... I give you Sǫg Tǫnn (Saw Tooth) - forged in honor of the innumerable abandoned wood mills scattered around the country, left to rot as their purpose has been served long ago. How many a farm has been made possible due to the many-toothed high carbon blades - spinning tirelessly day and night, through summer and winter? How many noble trees has met their end at the sawblade's edge in order to fulfill an even higher purpose of keeping man and livestock dry and warm? Hail to you, old saw-mills covered in moss, with leaking tiled roofs and rotting support beams. Your legs may finally give in underneath you, but I shall pick you up and breathe new life into you! I cannot like Odin, Vili and Vé give you spirit, movement, mind or intelligence - but I can give you shape and purpose! Stats: Blade length: 10,3 cm Blade width: 2,5 cm Blade thickness: 4,5 mm Handle length:10,7 cm Hardness at edge: 58 HRC Weight w/o sheath:167 grams The blade is forged in a san-mai lamination consisting of pattern welded forge folded and twisted sawblade-steel and 15n20 for the core, clad in a jacket of 15n20 for that extra shiny exterior. The ricasso of the blade is engraved in a deep relief, with 24ct gold borders and elder futhark runes in 18ct red gold. The handle is in stabilized Linden with vulcanized fiber and brass spacers - as well as a frame of brightly polished sawblade steel. The bolster is in stabilized white, brown and black mammoth tusk. The sheath is in antique dark brown stained vegetable tanned leather, also with a frame of brightly polished sawblade steel with deep relief engraving and 24ct gold inlay. Everything stitched together using black Tiger Thread. I wanted to do massive engraving and gold inlay on the steel frame and bolster of the handle - but somehow it air-hardened / age-hardened - and it became impossible to cut into it. I instead went for a mirror polish.. Alright, that's about it. I am really bummed out about not being able to engrave the steel frame... Currently I am looking for a type of steel that will not air-harden / age-harden / work-harden to any particular degree. I would love to get some suggestions of anyone have any! Any constructive criticism is as always more than welcome... We must all strive to better ourselves! Alright, now I just need to make a certificate for this bad-boy, and we'll see how the Norwegian market takes to this one... Until next time - thanks for having a look, and Chiao! Sincerely, Alveprins.

Hi everyone... Previously I posted a little sneak peek at something I was working on.. Well, now that little something has come to completion - and I'm ready to share it with those who might be interested at having a look. I've always wanted to give it a shot at a dagger - since this blade geometry has fascinated me ever since I was a kid... And without further ado, after 170 work hours - I give you Vegvisar - the Pathfinder! I have forged this dagger in honor of the four dwarves, Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri - supporting the heavenly dome made from the skull of the jotun Ymir. Today we call this "the sky". Vegvisar is forged in about 140 layers of 15n20 mixed with saw-blade steel - with a core of also saw-blade steel. The sawblade was sourced from a local old sawmill. The ricasso of the blade is engraved and sculpted into a deep relief, with inlaid border of brass, and runes inlaid with copper. On one side the runes KH - my initials can be found, and on the other a single "T" for the god Tyr - as to ensure victory in battle. The handle is in a composite of African Ebony wood, vulcanized fiber, and a steel frame made from saw-blade steel. The steel frame has been engraved in a deep relief, with the names of all four dwarves on their proper side correlating to the cardinal points. Connecting all their names are straight lines of inlaid 24ct Gold. On the front side of the knife - the name "VEGVISAR" is engraved. the sheath is in 2mm thick leather, with a frame of brass. In the middle - near where the handle meets the sheath - there is a steel plaque engraved in relief with my initials in the runes KH, also inlaid with 24ct Gold. On the belt loop I have placed a small brass plaque, engraved with the first rune of all four dwarves. The sheath is hand sewn using saddlers stitches using black Tiger Thread, and stained a dark brown to match the handle. Knife stats: Blade length:10,8 cm Blade width:2,5 cm Blade thickness: 5mm at handle, tapering down to 1mm at tip. Blade hardness at edge: 58 HRC. Handle length:10 cm Handle thickness:1,2 cm And then there's the pictures: I believe that's about it... It has been a learning experience, and having inlaid gold for the first time - I have to say it was a very pleasant experience in comparison to brass - which is much less maleable. For the next one - I'll give it a shot at gemstones... maybe... Alright, have a nice weekend everyone - and peace out! Sincerely, Alveprins.

Hi guys, I've been working on this little side-project for the past week - and thought I'd give a little sneak-peek. I've decided to go with a new makers mark for myself. This one is the first one of it's kind - and is in a deep relief with copper inlay. In the future all my makers marks will be 24k gold inlay. (still in the mail unfortunately...) Thought I'd give a shot at a dagger - and finished the blade in it's entirety today. about 40 hours work on the blade. (not including pattern welding. Had a bar lying around...) Have a great week! Sincerely, Alveprins.

I've got this dagger and I have no idea of its origin or its worth - any help?

Here is a video on forging a dagger.. It is what I like to call "Run and Gun forging".. This means the blade is simple forged from stock as you go along and not use a preform.. I wanted to forge a dagger and sadly, A dagger because of the geometry and the blade profile is not a great "run and gun" example.. I had a very hard time not making a preform because Daggers are excellent when done as a preform.. ON a "Run and gun" forging session the blade width and shape are constantly being adjusted.. This adjustment occurs and then needs to be fixed again and again.. For many this is how they forge.. there is nothing wrong with this.. But, there are also ways which using Run and Gun can be applied like any technique to good value.. I love to forge daggers and my preferred method for daggers is preforms.. I had a really hard time not just switching to a preform.. The corrections in blade width and sexiness were constantly modified.. This leads to a longer forging session and I prefer to forge to finished shape.. Preform short video: https://youtu.be/s7CAzGyZWQE Preform long video: https://youtu.be/2GPFMQuMTBk and Forging a dagger, run and gun sorta..

I actually made this one back in October/November as a Yule gift for my girlfriend's Wiccan girlfriend, but realized I forgot to share it. We knew that she didn't have an athame (too expensive, she said, but she's the type to not feel like she NEEDS one, either), and figured it would be a nice gift. I'm not Wiccan, myself, but I tried to be considerate of her beliefs and intent, and my girlfriend provided me with input on that. The blade is recycled farrier's rasp (both the recycling and the connection to horses are good things for her particular beliefs), with a yew handle (apparently the best wood for magic conduction) and natural-death horsehide spacers (the horse connection again), and copper pins (also good for magic conduction). Since Wicca is big on 3's, doing a triple normalize/quench seemed appropriate, and I did it on the night of a Full Frost Moon. She was very excited to unwrap it, and I hope it serves her well, even if I don't totally get it

Alrighty, gotta get these off my hands. [br]Three blanks I made, one a smallsword or long dagger (along the lines of needle from Game of Thrones, this one has both a guard and pommel) And one my interpretation of the Uruk Hai scimitar from the Lord of the rings, with a tang set up for either a katana style grip or a knife style handle. Lastly is a knife, with pin holes and lightening holes already drilled. [br]Knife measures 11.5 inches overall, cleaver sword measures 31 overall, and the smallsword thing measures just under 29 inches overall. [br][br]35 for the small sword, 25 for the knife blade, 35 for the uruk hai chopper, or 75 for all three. Steel is 1075. Untempered. Buyer pays shipping.. [br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br][br]

This started out as a gift for my son but he wanted something more LOTR inspired which is cool. It is 304/1084 San mai with wrought iron fittings and a maple handle that I stiched a leather wrap around it and with an ode to Peter Johnsson I wrapped string around it wet to give it that look that is both functional and pretty damn cool looking. Overall is about 12-14" and the blade is some where around 8-9 " I promised the lady who wanted it for her husband a sheath so I made this little guy cheap and easy.

Hello folks I've recently started working on the swiss short sword inspired by examples from 15/16th century. Since it survived the heat treating I decided to share it. Before HT Current state after HT (lots of hand polishing ahead )

Soon I'll be casting a reproduction of the giant bronze age Ommerschans dirk, recently acquired by the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands. In preparation I've cast the regular sized dirk that these giant ceremonial versions are most likely based. The regular size version is the so called Kimberley type dirk. At least two nearly identical blades of this type have been found. One has rivets, so originally would have been hilted. The one found at Kimberley never had rivets, and is therefore already a "ceremonial" version, just like the much larger ones. The Kimberley dirk is 34cm in length, and weighs just over 300gram. My reproduction is a little bit heavier, but the overal dimensions and maximum thickness match the original. The original dirk is in the collection of the British Museum, but sadly not on display: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=808735&partId=1

Dog Bone Quillon Dagger This is the dagger from the pinned WIP on this forum. Blade: 300+ layer 1080/15N20 ladder Damascus from Randy Haas at HHH Damascus.Guard and Fittings: 4140, mild steel, stainless steel. Hot blued.Handle: Mammoth ivory with stainless pins and escutcheon plate.Sheath: Leather and deerskin belt sheath by Tony Beard.Blade length: 10-5/8"OAL: 15-3/4"$2600 Shipped in the US. Outside the US, please message me.Prefer Paypal. Most other forms of payment accepted. Email moosetrax@live.com

Another push dagger finished and shipped to the customer. The blade is made from leaf spring, the handle scales are redwood burl (which is a first for me), and the pins are 1/8" diameter brazing rod. The sheath was made by a good friend of mine who does all of my sheaths now.

Some of you may recall a bit of a concept I had a couple years back, the Santa Dagger. Well, I finally got around to finishing it up. It's one of those projects I started a couple years ago and when I went to finish it this year I realized how much better I had gotten in that time period. I was still pressed for time (it was commissioned by someone to give for Christmas this year) so I left the old work and just handled it. I did make some modifications from the original render but I still like the finished piece.

Hey, everyone. Although I usually make historical inspired blades, sometimes I like to play around with fantastic concepts, even some of which have nothing to do with medieval times, as I prefer most often. In this case there are two daggers based on Lovecraft's work. The first one was made almost one year ago, when a costumer asked me to freak out and make a Cthulhu cultist inspired knife. Then I kept with the idea in mind as I really liked the concept and this week I just finished the second one. In both cases the blade was forged to resemble a tentacle and I used ebony for the handles. In the first I put two emeralds on the handle and made a horn statue of Cthulhu. I then used a more primitive construction, wrapping the blade in the handle. On the second I carved the face of the Elder One on the handle and tried to make it all more organic looking, as if it all was part of an animal part. Hope you enjoy it.

Hey guys I just finished the shobu zukuri tanto up. It is forged from W1 round bar, the Habaki is copper and the shirasaya is basswood with an African Blackwood mekugi. I have learned a lot in making this and had a blast. I'm asking $350 please message me if you are interested! Thanks -Jeff

ÆLFGIFU: “Elf Gift” Blade Length: 8 inches: 1080 Edges, 1095 cable center Ricasso: 1.75 inches Handle(Grip): 3.5 inches Overall: 14.5 inches - 11 oz. POB: .3 inches from hilt (right at my stamp) ———————— Like the birth of fawn and flower Spring arrives in its time The Seasons turn Like seeds that float to earth The gift of love befalls Each of us in time ———————— This is one of those "Historical Fusion" blades which is quickly become my preferred style. This one happens to be inspired by some Bronze Age antenna swords, some Roman knives and of course some level of La Téne Germany. I was pleasantly surprised that it doesn't actually require much material for the spirals to balance the blade out. I originally had enough in there for a full sized sword. I had to reduce the amount three times and it turns out I had over 3 times the amount of material I needed for this style of hilt. Backstory: I imagine this to be a blade that was gifted to Freya from an Elf that was more than intoxicated with her after she decided to share her love with him for a season. The Elf was inspired by her sleek yet curvy sexiness and love of nature. The handle materials are simple and pure to the earth, copper which the Elf mined from some cave on one of his journeys and cherry wood which he used from a branch without killing the tree all in the spirit of Freya. The Elf commemorated the time that sweet Freya had spent with him by adding a triangle for each night they had spent together (110). ———————— See more pictures on my facebook page: thepxsmith

About eight years ago I made an experimental blade using cable and thin tool steel rods twisted into a rope. After grinding, polishing and etching it I put it in a drawer as I had no idea what to do for a handle. Around May of last year (2015) a client visited my shop and asked to see what I am working on. As I opened the drawer he spotted the blade and fell in love. He asked me to finish it for him, and gave me total artistic freedom within his budget. A month or so passed and I had a faint idea of using a tsuba type guard, so I made one, and added two brass spacers as well: I had no idea how to continue so I put the blade away again. While doing research for some other project I stumbled across an image of a pirate flag, a skull with two crossed daggers, which closely resemble this blade. I decided there and then on a pirate theme. The first step was to finish all the fittings; a rope carving around the guard to fit into the nautical them, and a "Jolly Rodger" pommel cap, both in mild steel: The handle took a while to come together. I chose red ivory and blackwood, with a red and black spacer between the two, symbolizing violence and death. I also inlaid two bits of ivory in order to add some scrimshaw: On one side I did a scrim of Captain Blackbeard: ... to be continued

So a buddy of mine brought me an old broken 70's or 80's ish era store bought sword and wanted me to salvage it for him to see what i could do, after a quick dip in the acid tank i realized i had something to work with. so i set to work and this is what came out. im considering maybe some celtic style carvings on the antler, thoughts?

Yay! I love when sometimes I am asked to make something different to my usual production. This time, I was asked to make a pattern-welded arabic styled dagger. Budget allowed for some 400layers and a simple handle with a brass collar. Boy was I fool! After I forged two 200.layered billets, I relaized that there is not enough material for me - I write "for me", because I like to leave more meat on the blade and correct various odditites by grinding. So, it ended up being 600 layers, my highest count so far. The cross section is diamond - I know that originally it was supposed to be a hollow grind, but to be honest I didn´t want to get into it then - there were far too many firsts on this one for me. Anyhow, then came the brass collar... *sigh* FOUR TIMES! Four bloody times did I have to do it I was trying to chase the borders, and - again, it beign a first - it took some time... the first brass collar was ugly, so I threw it away. The second one was very nice, but I cracked the "rib" in the final leveling of the surface. The third one I burnt off while soldering.... and the fourth one is visible in the pictures below So, the blade is about 25cms long and 4,8cms wide, and some 8-9mm thick. The handle is made of stained oak.

this project was born when I picked up a stick in the park. I noticed how greatly the balance affected how I could swing it and that made me think of swords. Realizing that I could not make a sword when I have never even made a gaurd I decided to go with a smaller blade at first. dangit Caleb you spread the sword fever to me. This started as a peice of leaf spring that is apparently not 5160(it was from an old ford f150). forged down to thickness and lenght before forging the tang. I don't have a fullering tool so I just used the edge of my anvil. Tang forged! forging the tip: end of day one, about 4 hours of forging. Tomorrow I will forge the bevels and normalize if all goes well.

Hello all, So the moment has finally arrived, my first proper and fully functional blade! Made from a leaf spring and based on a design by David Delagardelle from Cedarloreforge, who was so kind to give me permission to use it. As you might know, David's designs are a piece of art in itself already, so it's not easy to make a good representation of it three-dimensionally, but I did my best. I'm not sure if the design was meant to be elvish, but I thought it could be categorized under that style so I approached it as an elven dagger with all the stories from Tolkien in my head.. So inspiring! I haven't got a forge and a very limited amount of tools, so I painstakingly used nothing but a few files, a handsaw, sanding paper and a drill. First I cut out the outlines of the blade with the handsaw and then shaped it with a file, then I had to file the edges (which was the most work). The handle and scabbard are both from oak coming from the woods nearby. I decided to name it Ythrildagr, a name I came up with myself. I later checked if it existed and it turned out that the Gealic name for dagger is "Dagr", so that was a pretty cool coincidence! OAL: 33 cm (13") Blade Length: 18,5 cm (7,2") Wood: Oak finished with oil (scabbard and handle) Steel: old leaf spring This is the original illustration by David on which I based this dagger (the one at the bottom), I did alter the proportions a little bit but I think you can still see the similarities. Thanks for taking a look! Let me know what you think. - Jasper Dielemans

Hello My name is Michał Plezia, also known by nickname as Elchon. This is my first post on this forum, but I've been browsing it for some time now. I am stunned with the high level of works presented here. Many of the pieces are truly works of arts. I've finally decided to show you a few pieces that I've made. Let's start with the two daggers I've finished recently. The first one is inspired by 15th century ballock daggers. (At last something for myself ) Nz3 tool steel, circa 55-57 HRC. Satin finish. I've made a short movie showing the quality of the heat treat (narration in Polish). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osy3otT0Kio Total lenght 32,3 cm Blade lenght 19,5 cm Blade width 2,2 cm Blade thickness at the base 3,5 mm Guard and cap is made of brass. The handle is italian walnut. The second dagger is based on the 14th century italian baselard. Nz3 tool steel, 55-57 HRC. Reinforced tip. Satin finish. Total lenght 36,7 cm. Handle lenght 13,6 cm. Blade width 2,9 cm. Brass pins, plum tree wood.

Last night I got home from work at about 5:30 and went straight to the forge. After about 4.5 hours of forging, I then annealed the blade in sand over night. This morning I got up good and early and began grinding. I've only got the rough grinding done, but I thought I'd post a pics as I go. As always, your criticism is welcome, And I appreciate your time! -=James Fuller=-