- Joined
- Jul 31, 2002
- Messages
- 2,959
This actually started some time ago, but I don’t get much time in the shop these days. It’s more important to me to spend that available time with my little girl. So on those occasions when I’m home alone, I take advantage of the little time I can get for metalwork.
My shop showed it. Stuff was piled up in my way, there were spider webs on my equipment, and several of my tools and files had a fine speckling of rust. There was even a pile of turds on top of my old computer desk. What the hell? Even if a cat had gotten in somehow, it would have buried it…
I had a couple big projects that I really needed to work on, but considering the time thing, I wanted to something simpler that I could actually get done this year. So I cleaned up the bench and set to work grinding steel. As a Sinfonian, I naturally had to have some music going to set the mood. So I threw in a CD of J.S. Bach’s harpsichord concertos, then some of his heavy organ works. Also a bit of Ramstein, Rage Against the Machine, and Evanescence before returning to more Bach.
I was really into it; for a moment there was nothing else in my world except for the steel and music. Then I heard a strange rustling noise behind me. I looked back over my shoulder, and there was a nasty ol’ possum climbing into our bag of dog food near the closed door. It took my mind a second to shift gears- “What the….” I kicked at the possum as he took off across the floor, and he got behind a bunch of wood I have leaning against the wall. I tried kicking him again, but when my shoe met the edge of my double bitted axe instead, I decided I’d better try something different. My eyes frantically searched for something I could grab- the hammer was too short to reach him back under that wood, the files just wouldn’t do… Then my attention fell upon my old Windlass broadsword hanging from the bench. BWAAAHAHAHAHA. It was the perfect tool to dispatch the vile creature, and afterwards, I discovered he must have been living under the wood pile by day, and coming out every night to raid the dog food. That explains the pile of crap on my desk, I suppose.
Anyway, where was I?
I chose inspiration from a beefy antique bowie in one of R.L. Wilson’s books, with ample belly, thicker stock, and a coffin handle with lots of flare at the butt to keep the hand in place. Although I did make a few concessions to style with this piece that I normally wouldn’t on a user. Initially I planned to add escutcheons to the handles, but in the end decided not to cover up any of that nice natural texture in the stag. I think I must have honestly spent 11 hours hand polishing this dang blade! I couldn’t keep the edges flat when I transitioned from the stones to sandpaper, (even with the sandpaper glued to glass) and I’m still not happy with it. It’s still got several warts that bug me, but luckily my photography skills are so poor these details don’t show up too bad in the pics.
Hope ya like it.
Here's one of the front-
And the back-
My shop showed it. Stuff was piled up in my way, there were spider webs on my equipment, and several of my tools and files had a fine speckling of rust. There was even a pile of turds on top of my old computer desk. What the hell? Even if a cat had gotten in somehow, it would have buried it…
I had a couple big projects that I really needed to work on, but considering the time thing, I wanted to something simpler that I could actually get done this year. So I cleaned up the bench and set to work grinding steel. As a Sinfonian, I naturally had to have some music going to set the mood. So I threw in a CD of J.S. Bach’s harpsichord concertos, then some of his heavy organ works. Also a bit of Ramstein, Rage Against the Machine, and Evanescence before returning to more Bach.
I was really into it; for a moment there was nothing else in my world except for the steel and music. Then I heard a strange rustling noise behind me. I looked back over my shoulder, and there was a nasty ol’ possum climbing into our bag of dog food near the closed door. It took my mind a second to shift gears- “What the….” I kicked at the possum as he took off across the floor, and he got behind a bunch of wood I have leaning against the wall. I tried kicking him again, but when my shoe met the edge of my double bitted axe instead, I decided I’d better try something different. My eyes frantically searched for something I could grab- the hammer was too short to reach him back under that wood, the files just wouldn’t do… Then my attention fell upon my old Windlass broadsword hanging from the bench. BWAAAHAHAHAHA. It was the perfect tool to dispatch the vile creature, and afterwards, I discovered he must have been living under the wood pile by day, and coming out every night to raid the dog food. That explains the pile of crap on my desk, I suppose.
Anyway, where was I?
I chose inspiration from a beefy antique bowie in one of R.L. Wilson’s books, with ample belly, thicker stock, and a coffin handle with lots of flare at the butt to keep the hand in place. Although I did make a few concessions to style with this piece that I normally wouldn’t on a user. Initially I planned to add escutcheons to the handles, but in the end decided not to cover up any of that nice natural texture in the stag. I think I must have honestly spent 11 hours hand polishing this dang blade! I couldn’t keep the edges flat when I transitioned from the stones to sandpaper, (even with the sandpaper glued to glass) and I’m still not happy with it. It’s still got several warts that bug me, but luckily my photography skills are so poor these details don’t show up too bad in the pics.
Hope ya like it.
Here's one of the front-
And the back-
Great work man.
