Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

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sgainbrachta
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Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by sgainbrachta »

Hi all- just had a great day's visit from my friend- a smith of no small skill, Richard. One blade he had hardened and made was brought to me to handle, as he likes making the steel bits a LOT, and as you can see- he's darned good, too! This is a one-of a kind piece, as are all of his made to date. If you look at my original post (hello from the high desert) the knife with the light wood handle on the first page is his blade as well~

This blade is going to be right at 6 1/4" long, 1 5/8" at the widest, and almost exactly 1/8" thick. It is made of L-6 and mild steel for the pattern-welded part, and leaf spring for the edge. The pattern-welded portion is made from 2 bars of random-pattern, and then the edge is applied. In the first picture, you can the the whole beasty, and the other 2 show the patterns in the steel fairly well. It is medium-hard, as it was intended to be a camp knife, and the grind lines were not fully polished out, as well well as the etch being done lightly as neither will survive actual work very well. Not to mention, the extra time would add a rather large amount to the overall cost!

In the next couple of days, this will have a handle made in a sort of Scandinavian/Viking style, with masur birch and birch bark, as well as brass or copper depending on what I have on-hand~ maybe even both. The handles I make tend to be pretty simple in cross-section, but I do like contrasting materials!

When completed, with a matching Viking-style sheath, it will run about $275.

Please do let me know if you are interested, as I'll post it all here first, then to FaceBook, and finally to ETSY (my shop is http://www.etsy.com/shop/HammerandHand - but it's currently empty~)

I am also willing to take payments within or over a month or 2 if necessary. Watch this thread for the handle pics!
Attachments
Will measure 6 1/4"x 1 5/8" x 1/8".  Pattern welded blade from L6, mild and leaf spring (most likely 5160 steel) for the edge.
Will measure 6 1/4"x 1 5/8" x 1/8". Pattern welded blade from L6, mild and leaf spring (most likely 5160 steel) for the edge.
Gknives 1 full rsz.jpg (65.26 KiB) Viewed 15017 times
Flip side.  Note the edge steel looks like it's a different depth here.  Pattern welded bars are L6 and mild steel, edge is leaf spring (probably 5160)
Flip side. Note the edge steel looks like it's a different depth here. Pattern welded bars are L6 and mild steel, edge is leaf spring (probably 5160)
Gknives 1 right rsz.jpg (104.34 KiB) Viewed 15017 times
Note the 2 bars of pattern-welded steel, and the edge steel of leaf spring (probably 5160~)
Note the 2 bars of pattern-welded steel, and the edge steel of leaf spring (probably 5160~)
Gknives 1 left rsz.jpg (97.75 KiB) Viewed 15017 times
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Eric C
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by Eric C »

Beautiful work. I know someone on here that may be interested if the money is right, but I'll let that one reveal himself on his own. :wink:
Ichthean Forge (pronounced Ick thee an). Maker of knives, and primitive camping gear.
sgainbrachta
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by sgainbrachta »

As it should be. Heck- tried to do a trade for the blade, but Richard needs some scratch... Our usual deal is I do the temper and grinding, he forges. As you can see- he's perfectly capable of the grinding, hardening and tempering, but he much prefers the hammereing...
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theowl
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

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Watching
sgainbrachta
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by sgainbrachta »

All right- so, I've been able to get into the shop for some time with the blade... and here is the handle, mostly done. It will have a "keel" of sorts (small~) on the pommel, for pull cord or lanyard, should you want it.

Overall it's 11 1/8" (before the keel- which will add about 3/8"), @5" handle, and the blade is right at 1 5/8" wide. The handle is a slightly tapered oval- thinner at the finger than at the hand, but by only a tiny amount.

The materials are brass, copper, masur birch, leather and birch bark, then the reversed order- mind you, the pictures don't do the birch justice. it is amazing stuff, with fire you would not believe in the sunlight! The blade will be cleaned up a bit, as I marked it a couple of times while handling it, and will get re-etched as well- hopefully, it'll bring a bit more color to the finished piece- but I hope not too much, as this is a working knife, not a wall hanger. My smith made it with a fairly soft temper, as it was intended for a camp knife, so chopping and the like. With an edge of 5160 leaf spring, it'll take a fine edge, in any case.

So, here are the pictures- a full view, and then a closer one of each side of the handle. I may get the sheath worked on today as well- a simple viking-style one is the plan, with mayhap a bit of metal on the outside at the suspension points and tip. Might not, as the metal work part is in the shop of freezing finger-y doom...
Attachments
The whole thing.
The whole thing.
PW seax full resize.jpg (211.06 KiB) Viewed 14939 times
The right side~
The right side~
PW seax handle R resize.jpg (207.15 KiB) Viewed 14939 times
Left side of the handle~
Left side of the handle~
PW seax handle L resize.jpg (200.39 KiB) Viewed 14939 times
sgainbrachta
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by sgainbrachta »

So- she's done, except for the polish of the edge- which waits until AFTER I make the sheath.

The handle has 5 coats of tung oil based finish, and is still taking it, so more to go there, until it stops absorbing it, and the whole handle has a slight sheen to it. I imagine the bark center will take a while to get to that point!

The pommel has a sort of "keel" to cover the tang, which is peened over- under an arch in the keel. this keel is held on by 2 pins, which are hidden by being the same material as the keel and pommel- brass. These 1/16" pins are at about a 40 degree angle, so a pull straight out won't loosen the keel. The arched hole is also where you will put a lanyard or pull, to ease it out of the sheath. In the picture- you can just see the peened over knife tang under the arch.

The blade has been cleaned up a bit, as I had scratched it while making the handle- and the smith didn't have any finer grits to do the finish work, either. So- while it still shows some light grind lines, the deeper ones have been removed. Finally- the blade has had a nitric acid etch, to bring out the darker color. The etch is still not too deep, as it is a working knife, and the perfect etch won't last, anyhow. You can see how much harder the edge is- the harder the metal, the quicker the etch. Despite the steel in both the pattern-welded bars and the edge being the same, because of the mass of the other iron, the pattern-welded steel is somewhat softer, so it is less dark.
Attachments
if you look carefully, you can just see the knife tang under the arch~
if you look carefully, you can just see the knife tang under the arch~
PW seax done handle resize.jpg (136.92 KiB) Viewed 14917 times
The other dusty side
The other dusty side
PW seax done blade r resize.jpg (211.38 KiB) Viewed 14917 times
one side...  oily blade- it has dust on it... sorry!
one side... oily blade- it has dust on it... sorry!
PW seax done blade l resize.jpg (203.87 KiB) Viewed 14917 times
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Eric C
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Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by Eric C »

That is very pretty! I'm hoping to get into some pattern-welding this year as I finish up several overdue orders. Nice attention to detail.
Ichthean Forge (pronounced Ick thee an). Maker of knives, and primitive camping gear.
sgainbrachta
Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
Posts: 152
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:33 am
Location: Reno, Nevada, USA

Re: Pattern-welded Seax for sale (soon!)

Post by sgainbrachta »

Thanks! It's the little things that really make a difference in a knife- or really any hand-crafted item.

I'm working on a forge that will get to welding heat, myself- and a new one for the fella that forged this blade, too. His current one is nothing but a giant heat-mass of concrete...
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