i have been working on a new seax series ....
this is my 6th attempt and is starting to be where i want it.....
I was looking for an ancient look with mainly modern materials 15n20 20c and victorian wrought.....

6 bars .Wrought at back..2 layers of 7 layer twist, 4 layers at 40 layers ....3 layers wrought ....then 12 layer laminate (4 layers being 10 layers) this has been wolf toothed with 1086V and then 1000 layers or so at the edge .

just the tip for now ......more of this and others to come!!

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Owen, after being snowed in this past weekend I read of Foggs forum like it was my job and I got all kinds of inspired to do some traditional viking blades. Man...this is great. Im not sure if everyone understands what they are looking at but I do!

I hope to have something along these lines to share myself soon...

That is very nice work Owen.
Very nice.

Good work!

That looks beautifully complex to my eyes.

Wow. Yep that accurately describes it. Wow.

Oooooh!

That is somehow BEYOND awesome. :)

Owen: Looks like something that wouldn't be this pretty just by accident. ;) :D :cool: I don't have the knowledge to appreciate the difficulties like Matthew hinted at but I assume that it isn't easy. ;) ( I'll assume that I should be even more impressed than I already am if I had a clue how this is done ! )

Soooooo, when does it go on sale....

This looks fabulous Owen,

What time period would this type of forging technique and seax design (if they are indeed contemporary) are you representing in this piece?

Very well done piece there Owen....I look forward to the video segment as well.
It is not simple thing you have done there.

Ric

thanks very much for all your kind comments .
the piece in the picture has an owner .
I have only shown a small section it is a 14 inch early narrow seax (or near about) . The pattern welding is appropriate for the period , however I have not seen that exact combination .
I will post more pictures when it is appropriate .
the blade is part of a series of seax exploring differing seax shapes and concentrating on material texture . These first two blades are the ones I forges last and have exactly the pattern texture I was looking for.


this next blade is a broken back seax made from the same bars as the first blade .
blade is just over 8 inches long and 8mm thick at the hump of the broken back, it distal tapers in both directions from there .
I have not managed to yet get a good photie of the whole blade.....

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but better a little closer
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and even closer still.......

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this blade is looking for a good home!

Wow! i really like the shape & proportions of this seax! It looks fast and mean! I'm starting to see more and more reproduction broken back seax profiles that match the historic record. This, plus your "authentic" (i put this in quotations because there is still some modern steels in there, but who's counting? ) construction techniques, makes this a very compelling piece, indeed!

This is some really good work.

Dustin

thanks Dustin .
I have made a lot of broken back seax , the early ones were based on modern makers version of seax . since then I have looked at and documented a lot of originals and many of them are elegant (some are not !!).
There is a language of form to broken back seax and this only becomes apparent if you immerse yourself in them .
There is a movement afoot , a makers renascence if you will, the environment here and in places like Don Foggs blade-smiths forum has laid fertile soil for makers to grow from.
it is an interesting time to be a bladesmith .

Very impressive Owen, as always. Looking forward to seeing the first seax finished, that is going to be something very special.

Great work!

thanks for the kind comments.

Here is another blade.
This one was forged as an experimental pre curser to the other two .
It is made up of off cut bars left over from the west Kentish Saxon hoard mixed in with experimental bars for this series.

It has some bars that are only modern steel and they look bolder than the mixed fine layered steel and wrought.
7 bars
wrought at back then 3 twisted bars, then the two bars for the teeth.....wrought with steel pressed into it , the teeth were forged and the layers flow and undulate but are less toothy as a result.. The edge is 1050 .

the blade is 9" long 8mm thick at the broken back and tapers from there in all directions.

I think this blade should be called "Bastard son of sword and seax" ....... which probably sounds better in Saxon or old Norse!!

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closer
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closer still
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this blade is available for sale for you to handle or as a finished seax.....

is it at all possible to edit posts ?
as I have spotted a few spelling mistakes........... not my skill really .....