Thanks, guys!

I recon I will be doing mostly Frankisch types, by the looks of it. I did finish my broken back blade yesterday, so now it's down to the polishing. I wonder what the max grit these ancient smith used for a "household seax" . I want to avoid the "over polished" look, so think I will go from 60 to 120 sandpaper and see how that turns out. That is after the filing, off course. Any thoughts?

Here is a partial passage from Cassiodorus secretary to Emperor Theodoric A.D.~520

"You have sent us swords capable even of cutting through armour. They are more precious for the iron of which they are made then for the gold that enriches them; with their strikingly perfect polish, they shine so that they reflect the face of whoever looks at them. Their perfectly formed edges......"

Oeps, forgot to put on the mirror polish to reflect the faces ......

Nah, that was design, as this is a very servicable knife which got a 120 grit sanding as a finish. Still, I may just do a mirror polish on the seax I am trying to pound out of a square piece of stock at present. Hard work, I tell you, even using mild steel. Will have to cast the pommel if I shape it after the Nijmegen find, never done that, either, so should be fun .... Then again, the original pommel looks like iron, so may have to shape it by forge and file. Need some additional data, wonder in which museum it is, can't remenber seeing it at the Valkhof.

Ah yes, found them, Thanks! Iron pommel it is. How were these attached, by the way? Peened tang projecting through the pommel or a pin through the end of it?? As to length, I guestimate the blade to be about 45 cm, if the grip is 15. Is there a discription of that find listed somewhere? I wish I knew how big the little cube with the number on it is. Looks like 1.5 to 2 cm square .... That ridge will be the most difficult to forge, but the foto's show it's construction well, so there is a challenge! Unless of course it is an added ring which slips over the tang and has been corroded in place to make it seem like it is one piece. Any thoughts on that: ring or forged out of one piece?

I do mean the bolster, but it looked to have been forged with the blade as a kind of ring. Much relieved to learn the bolster was a seperate piece of iron, this makes life in the smithy a lot easier . Thanks for the length on that piece, I should be able to manage a blade that long in my small forge using mild steel. If I use high carbon, there is more danger of cracking the piece because of stress caused by forging an piece not hot enough in the periferal areas. Smithing is more then just hitting iron in the right direction, so I have discovered. The seax blades I am working on now are tool steel with the longest blade around 35 cm.

I use good but ancient quality tool steel, as I recycle really old hedgecutterblades bought in French fleamarkets. Not much chrome in those, but it is still a nice stiff steel and requires (a lot) more force to forge then mild steel. There is some difference in quality, though, so I usualy spark test them before hand to determine how hard the steel is, to pick the best piece for the type of knife I want to make.

I am aware of the diffent tolerances in temperature and am carefull not to burn out the carbon. The thing about the long blades is the stress cased by the displacement when making the bevel. I have only cracked one blade that way so far, but that does make you accutely aware of the issue. There is a way around it, of course, and that is to work smaller area's in smaller steps of forging, as each reheating will relieve the stress built up. But then the whole thing takes a lot longer and chews coal. So I tend to stay on the cautious side and am not making large things like swords (yet). Now when using mild steel, this is much more tolerant, allows me a somewhat higher temperature (and thus also a longer temerature gradient through the blade) lessening stress problems. And that is the reason for using mild steel on the Nijmegen seax blade, that and wanting to make a large knife by drawing out the billet and all. I am still very much learning to forge, so try different techniques just for fun and to see how it works. Gives me a more authentic feeling as well, being able to shape a knife from a cluncky billet :D .

It's a single piece, but it's possible that it's welded from multiple pieces. The hole is particularly what makes that pommel difficult to make. If I'd make one, I'd use a solid block, punch the hole and then just file it down into shape.