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- Jan 10, 2010
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I've been admiring Serge Panchenko's work ever since I first got into bladesmithing and have always loved his use of textures and creative constructions. His work struck a chord with me and after learning more about him I realized we both got some of our initial inspiration from Joe Keeslar and his idea of the 'knife paradox' in his Brut de Forge knives... the juxtaposition of rough and finished. Another aspect of his work that I liked were his 'Relic' line of knives which fell into line with my love of the old, gnarly museum specimens.. the blades you pull up from a bog or the River Thames.
So I recently approached him with the idea of a collaboration since we are both fascinated by ancient weapons and the cultural diversity of blades found around the world. I would provide laminated and/or pattern welded blades using a combination of antique, recycled and/or home-smelted iron and steel with modern, high carbon steel to bring back to life the idea that old blades were rarely composed of a single piece of steel. They were typically a combination of small bits from various sources and whatever was available at the time... a process which eventually led to pattern welding and modern damascus. So my blades would reflect this type of thinking as well as have that museum, relic quality that we both like. Serge will do what he does best with his handles and I can't wait to see the first one done!
At this point we are going to do a series of four knives inspired by different cultures and time periods. It may not stop at four if it ends up being as much fun as it seems to be right now. We have no desire to do replicas or actual period correct pieces... just weapons that capture the spirit but also having realistic elements that tie the blade to the time period.
The end products will be artistic in nature, but fully functional (with functionality sometimes being of modern standards and sometimes being within the historical context depending on what methods are used for the blade!). We have agreed, at this point, that each piece will be accompanied by a display stand rather than scabbard/sheath. But this may change. The stands will also be a collaborative effort and include Serge's creative compositions and my forged components made from historical steel/iron.
The first blade is an Early Iron Age, Celt-Iberian(ish) style short sword with leaf shaped profile. Leaf shaped profiles were very common during the Bronze Age but started to wain in the Iron Age in favor of straight sided profiles. But there are number of examples of these in Europe, especially in the British Isles and what would become Spain (Iberia).
The blade starts off with a weld of 200+ year old phosphoric wrought iron from a defunct grain elevator and W2 tool steel. Each piece being 1/2" thick and 6" long. This billet was welded,drawn out and then cut in half and stacked for another weld. From there it was a progression of adding layers of band saw blades, some antique cross-cut saws, and some 1084. This stuff was processed until it was about 20 or so layers. And finally this billet was cut in half and welded onto another bar of W2 for a san-mai 'sandwhich' construction.
I will show some pictures of how the blade comes together and then Serge will chime in with his handle work.
Here is the first picture, which was taken after the first couple of welds, but shows the variety of materials going into the blade... wrought iron bar, old saw blades (for nickel contrast), 1084 and W2.
Here is the actual starting billet... wrought iron and W2
Welding forge:
I like to set the weld with hammer before going to press:
The press for drawing out:
After getting about 20 layers, the billet was split and welded onto a core of W2 for final drawing out and forging. I wanted to forge as close to shape as possible so as not to cut through layers and maintain an organic flow. Here is the forged blade being laid out for grinding:
The blade is hollow ground which is correct for leaf shaped blades of this time period and this also shows off the pattern with more drama:
The blade was quenched and here I am testing hardness. I love W2:
And here is the blade after rubbing to 600 and long etch in sodium bisulfite:
That is where the blade is right now. It still has a lot of etching to do as I intended to do it deep, deep, deep... again.. think relic.
I will post some video later of some wood chopping I did. This thing is so thin, light and sharp I couldn't resist having fun with it while I can still mar the finish.
Alrighty... Serge?
So I recently approached him with the idea of a collaboration since we are both fascinated by ancient weapons and the cultural diversity of blades found around the world. I would provide laminated and/or pattern welded blades using a combination of antique, recycled and/or home-smelted iron and steel with modern, high carbon steel to bring back to life the idea that old blades were rarely composed of a single piece of steel. They were typically a combination of small bits from various sources and whatever was available at the time... a process which eventually led to pattern welding and modern damascus. So my blades would reflect this type of thinking as well as have that museum, relic quality that we both like. Serge will do what he does best with his handles and I can't wait to see the first one done!
At this point we are going to do a series of four knives inspired by different cultures and time periods. It may not stop at four if it ends up being as much fun as it seems to be right now. We have no desire to do replicas or actual period correct pieces... just weapons that capture the spirit but also having realistic elements that tie the blade to the time period.
The end products will be artistic in nature, but fully functional (with functionality sometimes being of modern standards and sometimes being within the historical context depending on what methods are used for the blade!). We have agreed, at this point, that each piece will be accompanied by a display stand rather than scabbard/sheath. But this may change. The stands will also be a collaborative effort and include Serge's creative compositions and my forged components made from historical steel/iron.
The first blade is an Early Iron Age, Celt-Iberian(ish) style short sword with leaf shaped profile. Leaf shaped profiles were very common during the Bronze Age but started to wain in the Iron Age in favor of straight sided profiles. But there are number of examples of these in Europe, especially in the British Isles and what would become Spain (Iberia).
The blade starts off with a weld of 200+ year old phosphoric wrought iron from a defunct grain elevator and W2 tool steel. Each piece being 1/2" thick and 6" long. This billet was welded,drawn out and then cut in half and stacked for another weld. From there it was a progression of adding layers of band saw blades, some antique cross-cut saws, and some 1084. This stuff was processed until it was about 20 or so layers. And finally this billet was cut in half and welded onto another bar of W2 for a san-mai 'sandwhich' construction.
I will show some pictures of how the blade comes together and then Serge will chime in with his handle work.
Here is the first picture, which was taken after the first couple of welds, but shows the variety of materials going into the blade... wrought iron bar, old saw blades (for nickel contrast), 1084 and W2.
Here is the actual starting billet... wrought iron and W2
Welding forge:
I like to set the weld with hammer before going to press:
The press for drawing out:
After getting about 20 layers, the billet was split and welded onto a core of W2 for final drawing out and forging. I wanted to forge as close to shape as possible so as not to cut through layers and maintain an organic flow. Here is the forged blade being laid out for grinding:
The blade is hollow ground which is correct for leaf shaped blades of this time period and this also shows off the pattern with more drama:
The blade was quenched and here I am testing hardness. I love W2:
And here is the blade after rubbing to 600 and long etch in sodium bisulfite:
That is where the blade is right now. It still has a lot of etching to do as I intended to do it deep, deep, deep... again.. think relic.
I will post some video later of some wood chopping I did. This thing is so thin, light and sharp I couldn't resist having fun with it while I can still mar the finish.
Alrighty... Serge?
