Forn-fljót: Ancient River -- Sax blade

[Dave Stephens 328]

Hi All:

 

Here's another Seax I'm trying to finish in time for Owen's Bushfire gathering.

 

Last night I finished the blade and was pleased at the pattern. The wolftooth stretched a bit more than I wanted, fortuitously it (at least to my eye) has taken on the appearance of a lazy mountain range while at the same time, the highlight stripe in the edge bar appears to be a river running in front of the range. Hence the Old Norse name: Forn-fljót (Ancient River).

 

Standard recipe 1095/15n20. Seven bar construction. Two straight 20 layer bars sandwich two alternate twist bars from the same billet. The monosteel bar in the middle is plain 1095. The two edge bars are high layer (1000+) with some random stripe added in because I love the unpredictable effect it adds.

 

Cast guard/pommel elements are next (hopefully) and a carved blackwood grip w/ a river/mountain scene. All this before Monday! Wish me luck!

 

Dave

 

 

[John Page 52]

Luck, Dave! Fortuitous indeed It certainly has the feel of a wayfaerer's blade to it, ready for the journey across the pond! Hopefully your castings turn out better than mine have been

 

John

[Jeremy L. 0]

That's awwwwesome.... Really like the effect that came at the wolfs tooth weld. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Jeremy

[Miles Hebbard 2]

Lovely blade! Nice one!

[mseronde 5]

Oh man ! Dave, I'm really digging your work!

 

I did a quick little search on wolfstooth paterning, but it seems that it usually looks very different from that pretty awesome (literally awesome) mountain range - I see waves -

Did that happen because, as you say, you drew those bars out more than anticipated? And the highlight bar? You wouldn't happen to have any WIP photos would you?

[Collin Miller 136]

Mountain range pattern? I like it! awesome job so far. I'm really looking forward to see this one hilted!

[James R.Fuller 15]

Wow.. Absolutely stunning. I love how straight you manage to keep the multibars.

[Kip Kaiser 2]

Looks awesome Dave, did you draw that out with your rolling mill? Best of luck finishing up, I'm sure you got it!!! Wish I was going to see you In London. Next time for sure!!!

 

Kip

[Doug Lester 213]

Yes, mountains with a little fog hanging on them above a river that runs along them. Have a good time at Bushfire.

 

Doug

[Kevin (The Professor) 115]

that is looking good, Dave. I think it looks better with some unplanned elements than if it was too controlled.

kc

[John F. Ellis 0]

Nice! Can't wait to see more!

[Wes Detrick 482]

I love the way the wolf's tooth/now mountain range turned out. It's very "mellow"... it just flows. Beautiful steel

[james G. 1]

Nice work Dave looks great!

[Karter Schuster 1]

Ohohoho I am loving it Dave!

[Dan P. 38]

Lovely!

[Josh Brannen 2]

That's probably one of the best looking patterns I have ever seen. The "mountain range" seems like something Tolkien himself would have been proud to see one of his characters carry.

[Dan P. 38]

The "mountain range" seems like something Tolkien himself would have been proud to see one of his characters carry.

 

I thought the same;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUvkxz1nHMM

[GEzell 135]

The pattern is impressive, but the grooves and fullers are what really get me...

[Scott A. Roush 18]

Very nice Dave. It is very unique and that is hard to achieve in the seax.

[Matthew Parkinson 164]

love the edge bar ... totally going to steel that idea...

[Dave Stephens 328]

Thanks everyone!

 

Here's a shot of where it's at now. Just getting ready to cast the guard/pommel elements.

 

The cocobolo handle will be stained a bit darker, and if I have time I'll be carving a river/mountain on it.

 

 

 

Sprued up before going into the flasks and the investment was poured.

 

 

I'm all twitchy and full of Arctic Fire casting PTSD with anxiety about this cast (if you watched AF 2013 you'll remember that we had a wee bit of trouble). . .

 

As you can see, I now have a kiln that is taller than the heat treat kiln. Hopefully this will fix the burnout problems we had.

 

 

Burning out now . . . casting in the AM. Wish me luck!

 

Dave

[Eric C 1]

That's going to be beautiful! Can't wait to see the cast pieces.

[Collin Miller 136]

That's just awesome, I love the way this is going, the cocobolo wood is perfect for this seax.

Yeah, I remember the Arctic Fire 2013 cast video, I was watching it live and it about scared me to death. lol Good to see you got a new kiln for burnouts though.

Not to be nosy or anything, but how much would you say a really bare bones lost wax set up would cost, without a vacuum caster and a kiln and stuff? I'd really like to do lost wax but it seems pretty costly on the front end to get the equipment and everything, so I just decided I'd have to fabricate all my stuff for a while, and maybe save up for last wax someday.

[Lukas MG 72]

That is looking spectacular!! Great shape and pattern.

[J.Arthur Loose 71]

Looks great, Dave.