I finally got up the courage to start and so here we go.
I started on the non-rune side of the blade with the cross hatching near the tip and I went for a silver and brass wire combination. The grooves were hammered in using a small cold chisel with a 2mm edge and then undercut with the same chisel. I was not very happy with the way it cut and later changed the tip profile from a cold chisel to a true 'chisel grind' to allow me to undercut without smudging the edges of the cut too much.
The two long grooves were then cut in and the bottom faced before undercutting the edges and then I went on to cut the main crosshatching. I was then going to lay in the long twin wires and then go back to the shorter cross hatches, but I decided to change the order. By laying in the crosses first I will have to go back and trim off the ends of the wires later, but somehow it felt like the right order. I was also going to punch the triangles and squares in at this stage, but again I changed my mind as I worked the piece and will now finish the inlaid cross hatched wires, then do the squares and triangles and then finish with the paired wires. In-between each stage there will be some clean up so we can start to get an idea of the look of the piece.
Quite why I have changed the order is a little hard to concisely explain, but really it is just that as I see how the metal moves and behaves (this blade has been made from ore so I am not very familiar with it) I have changed my mind. Really it is just a case of one step not messing up the previous nor causing issues for the next step.
I am pleased with the progress and the wires have gone in well and seem secure at this stage.
Tod
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