- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 539
Morning all! I've been continuing to work on my medieval style wrought iron blades. This one is coming out pretty well, so I thought I'd share.
It is primarily of wrought iron construction (a big thank you to Chuck Richards for the wrought iron. It's really good stuff) with a forge-welded edge of W1 which I forged down from thicker stock prior to welding. I did something a little different this time and continued the edge steel into the tang for a little added strength.
Blade is styled after a Frankish (German) type I short seax from around the 8th century (see the picture below for a comparison with a similar blade from the period) I'll be putting it into a handle this week. Hopefully I'll update the WIP in a day or so with completed pictures. Enjoy!
Three welding passes, and counter-cut and forged down the point. Sorry I didn't get pictures during the welding process...
Quick grind to check the weld. Looking good.
Forged down to final forged dimension prior to cutting it off the bar. What appears to be a crack on the tang is the cold shut formed when I forged the blade material into the tang. I didn't bother to weld that bit.
Forged to shape.
Final shape and first grind on the belt grinder.
One of the blades I'm basing the build on. 8th century German kurzsaxe (short seax)
About two minutes in ferric chloride after heat treat and final grind.
Wet sanded to 1200grit after the ferric. Really digging the more subtle grain of this iron when compared to some of the other wrought blades I've done. The anchor chain I got from Chuck is definitely way cleaner than some other stuff I've used. I might be spoiled for the other stuff now...
It is primarily of wrought iron construction (a big thank you to Chuck Richards for the wrought iron. It's really good stuff) with a forge-welded edge of W1 which I forged down from thicker stock prior to welding. I did something a little different this time and continued the edge steel into the tang for a little added strength.
Blade is styled after a Frankish (German) type I short seax from around the 8th century (see the picture below for a comparison with a similar blade from the period) I'll be putting it into a handle this week. Hopefully I'll update the WIP in a day or so with completed pictures. Enjoy!
Three welding passes, and counter-cut and forged down the point. Sorry I didn't get pictures during the welding process...
Quick grind to check the weld. Looking good.
Forged down to final forged dimension prior to cutting it off the bar. What appears to be a crack on the tang is the cold shut formed when I forged the blade material into the tang. I didn't bother to weld that bit.
Forged to shape.
Final shape and first grind on the belt grinder.
One of the blades I'm basing the build on. 8th century German kurzsaxe (short seax)
About two minutes in ferric chloride after heat treat and final grind.
Wet sanded to 1200grit after the ferric. Really digging the more subtle grain of this iron when compared to some of the other wrought blades I've done. The anchor chain I got from Chuck is definitely way cleaner than some other stuff I've used. I might be spoiled for the other stuff now...
