Ancient Witch's Athame

M

mcdonald

Joined
Dec 26, 2008
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Forged by myself from an old wellworn English-made cultivator hook tine. Looks to be 1060 steel. Guard and fitting also from recycled scrap 1060. Popcorn antler handle is as-is color and undyed. 5" blade, 11" overall.

The idea was to make the athame look old, so some forge marks and metal pitting was left on as part of the overall 'aged' effect. The smooth edge of the blade has been sharpened, as this one isn't a fake.

witches_athame2.jpg
 
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Thanks for the feedback. If the athame freaks you out or makes you think of Stonehenge then I've apparently done my job correctly :)
I finished the odd (wood) 'sheath' so I'll try and get a photo of that up today.

Again, thanks for the feedback.
 
OK, so here's the sheath for the athame. Made from a solid block of oiled mahogany. The belt loop is made from a piece of rusty metal I dug up the other day while rototilling. It was cleaned up as much as possible with a wire brush and sandpaper, then oiled and hot blued and attached with barbed hot blued tacks. Once again the pitting and voids in the metal was desired in order to make the piece appear to be very old. (Much better to have mother nature do the work for you than to mess with chemicals attempting to recreate the proper patina.)

witches_athame3.jpg
 
looking EDC knife ya got there:D I really like it, very creative and love the handle and sheath, nice work:thumbup:
cheers
ivan
P.S. How'd ya do the sheath i always thought a wood sheath was a cool idea
 
Thanks for the great feedback. I'll try and get some decent photos up of the blade.

I actually thought about doing the sheath in halves, routering out for the blade, then gluing the two pieces together (and even cut two 1/2" slabs of bubinga for it), but then instead decided to try it first from a thicker solid piece of mahogany that would also accept the guard by drilling out for the blade (Makita handheld drill) and drilling/ routering for the guard, finishing with a long 1/4" bit to get the proper depth, and cleaning up the inside with assorted files and chisels. (Not so bad with a softer wood like mahogany, but it'd be painful to do with something hard and dense like bubinga.)
The inside was also heavily oiled to help protect the carbon steel blade and prevent the wood from sucking up moisture from the air. The knife is held in the sheath by a 'friction fit' that requires a slight push at the end to seat the guard and a slight tug to free it, which should loosen up slightly with use.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

And hopefully the witch this is for won't turn me into a newt :)
 
thanks for the lowdown on the sheath, i may try one for my old bowie, might be kinda cool
cheers
ivan
 
mcdonald,
Very cool:thumbup:
A lot of fine aspects to your work. The blade, guard and handle are very Magickal. But I know the headache of hollowing out the sheath and getting the friction fit to...friction fit;)

Cheers,
Mark
 
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