My Seax arrived today

W

Wolf_1989

Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
3,654
What a nice blade!

Big wide beefy blade with a sharp pointy tip.

It has good heft yet is still light in the hand.

Haven't sharpened it yet because I want to etch the blade to bring out the temper line. Any tips/methods on this?

I'd also like to know how the pommel plate is attached.

I bet this will be a very useful camp knife.:thumbup:
 
Wolf_1989 said:
What a nice blade!

Big wide beefy blade with a sharp pointy tip.

It has good heft yet is still light in the hand.

Haven't sharpened it yet because I want to etch the blade to bring out the temper line. Any tips/methods on this?

I'd also like to know how the pommel plate is attached.

I bet this will be a very useful camp knife.:thumbup:
Click to expand...

try anything with some acid in it...

i've used vinegar, lemon juice and tomato sauce...the lemon juice and vinegar seemd to work the best...
 
There are lots of good mediums for etching. For smaller blades like pocket knives I'll stick the blade in a potato or onion overnight. Your kitchen is filled with stuff for etching. Mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, etc. A lot of the times I'll use ferric chloride diluted 5 to 1 with vinegar or water. If you use vinegar get it hot and soak the blade until you get the color you want. Be sure to degrease the blade first with acetone or something and hit it with 000 or finer steel wool when your done. If you use ferric chloride be sure to neutralize it with windex or it will continue to eat at the steel.
 
As far as the buttplate goes, it could be attached a few different ways. Now, if memory serves me correctly, Dan Koster says that they are a flat piece of the tang that is hammered out and fully connected at the center. I have never taken one apart, but I trust Dan's description.

Mine have always looked like the plate was soldered on, but I suppose that the solder could be a filler for the gaps that happen as the plate is not perfectly beaten out.

Long story short, I have two seax and both have been beaten to hell. Neither of them have a loose buttplate:thumbup:
 
Ilbruche, How long do you leave the blade in vinegar or lemon juice? I guess the mustard you would just smear it on and leave it for a while? Also, where do you get the ferric chloride?
 
Big W, you can get ferric chloride at some electronics stores like Radio Shack and the like that sell circuit boards, transistors, chips, etc... it's typically used as a circuit board etchant, so I'm told.
 
himalayan-saex-sher01.jpg

'SHER-MEC-WOERHTE' (="Sher (the name of the Nepali blacksmith) made me")]

himalayan-saex-slade01.jpg

runic inscription = 'SLÆDE-MEC-ÆH' (="Slade owns me")]

[rune-etching done by Keith Sauers]
 
beoram said:
himalayan-saex-sher01.jpg

'SHER-MEC-WOERHTE' (="Sher (the name of the Nepali blacksmith) made me")]

himalayan-saex-slade01.jpg

runic inscription = 'SLÆDE-MEC-ÆH' (="Slade owns me")]

[rune-etching done by Keith Sauers]
Click to expand...

Too cool for words. I recognize Futhorc (I think). So is that Old English? Or Old Norse, or something else?
 
It's Old English... the spelling is a bit Old Norse-ish though (the runes are the Older Furthark, rather than the English Futhorc).
 
Love the etching, Beo- really cool. :thumbup:

Wolf, I've two HI seax- pointiest bastids (one in antler)- but my HIKV would come out of remission if they made one about 16-18" long.


Mike
 
Ad Astra said:
Love the etching, Beo- really cool. :thumbup:

Wolf, I've two HI seax- pointiest bastids (one in antler)- but my HIKV would come out of remission if they made one about 16-18" long.


Mike
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, a Long Seax would be SWEET!

I showed it to one of my friends today. His heritage is Austrian/German/Irish and he's in love with it.

He might end up getting one too. That's how we get them hooked. First he'll acquire a Seax then before too long he will have several khukuri's and a couple tarwars.

Do I get any commission?:D
 
ilbruche said:
If you use vinegar get it hot and soak the blade until you get the color you want. Be sure to degrease the blade first with acetone or something and hit it with 000 or finer steel wool when your done.
Click to expand...

Is the steel wool used on the blade before soaking it in the vinegar, or after?
 
Wolf_1989 said:
Is the steel wool used on the blade before soaking it in the vinegar, or after?
Click to expand...

After.

I used to just use regular vinegar until Andrew Colglazier recommended the hot vinegar method. It works faster. I have a Grand Baby Chitlangi from him that he etched with this method. It looks great.

Just make sure the blade is very clean before you soak it. It helps to have a container that will hold the entire blade so you get an even etch. I will usually use a clamp or something to keep the handle out of the vinegar.

Maybe experiment a little bit first. One thing about a patina like this is you can just scrub it off if you don't like it and try again. When I make knives out of the J Russell blades I etch them to remove the logo and then give them a Scotch Brite finish.

I etched the blade on my WW2 with vinegar.

IMG_4228.jpg
 
I have a Russel Green River dadley knife I use in the kitchen a lot. It's nicely patinated from everyday use slicing up food.

The first time I used it to slice up onions & tomatoes for chili, it got the dickens patinated out of it. That finish seems to be pretty permanent; I bet some polishing would remove it but Flitz only had a moderate affect.

Which is fine because now that little Dadley actually looks more like a 19th century original.
 
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