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Eledhwen
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Well met

Post by Eledhwen »

I thought I'd give an introduction of sorts. My name is Siani, I live in western Massachusetts, I'm 52, and a former Marine. I'm a blacksmith/bladesmith/armorsmith, although at the moment my forge is packed up so to speak. I've been camping and doing wilderness rambles for a lot of years and I'm getting my sons involved too.

I've done RevWar reenactment, Celtic & Roman as well, and I've played in the SCA for a whole lot of years as well. Been around a while as it were.

I've been a Tolkien fan since the late 60s, I play D&D & Warhammer as well as historical wargaming...and I sew, spin, weave, bellydance, and cook pretty well too.

That's about it in a nutshell I guess. It'll do for an introduction.

I probably should mention that I found this forum via the Middle Earth Ranger site while doing a search on Google for Middle Earth related things.

Glad to be here and I look forward to learning a lot. :)

Siani
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hesinraca
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Post by hesinraca »

Heh, I was going to question how you posted this message in the future until I realized you're in Massachusetts.

welcome:)

It's exciting to ahve another blacksmith/bladesmith here. I've been blacksmithing for about 5 years on and off and I am just now apprenticing for bladesmithing, so you may get questions from me;) My smithy is in a shed as well, sort of depressing really... but its necessary.

Nice to meet you:)
-Cedric (Hesin Raca)
winterwolfforge.com
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Eledhwen
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Post by Eledhwen »

Hi!

I started learning when I was young...a rancher taught me a bit about farrier work. Later I picked up books and bought a forge..and kicked off. Much later I finally got around to taking Blacksmithing lessons; Blacksmithing, Blacksmithing II, Toolsmithing, etc. After that I took private instructions as an apprentice, sort of, in Bladesmithing. My Master's teacher was JD Smith out of the Mass College of Arts...someone whose work is amazing.

My first blade was the elven hunting knife; my take on Aragorn's knife. Came out beautifully and it is the one I use for a Ranger longknife.

I had to move out of the house we were living in and now live in an apartment, so all of my forge, every piece of it, is literally in storage. It's all hand and foot operated stuff; no electric tools at all...post & beam drill press, hand cranked blower and so on. Unfortunately, until I can get back into a house I can't use my forge. Hopefully not much longer though.

Thanks for the welcome! :)

Siani
Nandalad!
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Peter Remling
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Post by Peter Remling »

Welcome, nice to meet new people with old interests :lol:
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mcapanelli
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Post by mcapanelli »

Welcome Siani. Here's to hoping you'll post some pictures of those blades you've made. :lol:
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Eledhwen
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Post by Eledhwen »

Image


Early picture of the blade, before the grip and such were added. I'll see about current pics when I can.

Siani
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mcapanelli
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Post by mcapanelli »

Nice! was that forged or stock removal?
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Eledhwen
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Post by Eledhwen »

Completely hand forged; I don't do stock removal. Couldn't even if I wanted to as I have no power tools of any sort. My entire forge is hand/foot driven.

Polish is by file and sandpaper, and yep, that takes a lot of work. Which is why I try to get the blade as close to finished as possible via the forging process.

Siani
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hesinraca
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Post by hesinraca »

That's beautiful, very cool. I'd be very interested in seeing some pictures of your shop equipment, sounds intriquing...
-Cedric (Hesin Raca)
winterwolfforge.com
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Peter Remling
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Post by Peter Remling »

From the picture, it looks like it has a sharpened false edge. If so I like your design better the the film version which appears to just have a heavy flattened spine. Would love to see a picture of it finished.
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Eledhwen
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Post by Eledhwen »

It does. When I referred to the images of Aragorn's knife in the movies, I noted that the false edge was pretty much the same as the back of the knife blade; flat and thick. I was originally going to duplicate this but...I couldn't resist 'making it better' as it were. What crafter doesn't get the urge?

So I hammered the false edge into a true edge, and gave it that concave shape which made it look a lot nicer in my eyes.

Interestingly, everyone who sees it prefers it to the movie original. I've several people who've expressed a desire for one of them, but for the moment I can't do that.

I'll see about getting some pics of the finished longknife and it's sheath when I can.
Nandalad!
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