This started out as a practice billet to learn forge-welding edge material around a core for pattern welded Viking/Celtic blades. The core is piled construction of wrought iron and 1095.. with little attempt at a pattern. The edge is piled wrought and 1095 at a higher density and then twisted. I sheared off quite a bit of the edge material so I'm ending up with a much shorter blade... probably end up 15"-17". I will now use the blade for a Celtic short sword.. probably of Irish inspiration (thanks again Peter!) with organic hilt... probably combined with copper or bronze. I intend to use a 15,000 year old fossilized bison bone as the grip... retaining the bone character instead of using a pommel... just use a small peening block.

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currently it looks very 'caveman' although i reconise its not finished, the blade looks good though.

I promise it will become less 'caveman' as it moves from the pommel to the guard/throat plate. :-) That's the fun of looking at the raw components, eh?

I forgot to mention that the wrought iron in this piece was from a recent lake shore expedition looking for shipwreck parts heaved up on shore from the ice.... You never know what will get thrown up on the beach.

well a new plan was in order. I decided that the caveman bone was simply too bulky and I didn't want to risk grinding into the pith to narrow it.

So the new plan will be deer antler and ebony. Still deciding on whether I should add bronze or copper throat plate. I think it would look wonderful... but the Crannog stuff didn't have this.

I'm also trying to decide whether or not I should work harden it as the native Irish swords were of this time period... or to go ahead and quench. The blades from Crannog were 'iron' and probably didn't have any composite welding like this blade does.. so quenching probably makes more sense. Although.. the iron in this blade is phosphoric which allows for good work hardening. What should I do???

I would be very curious how just work hardened blade would perform...

Would work hardening preclude heat treating it later ?

You could do some performance non-destructive testing with the work hardened blade temporarily mounted in some way: Get the results and then heat treating it and comparing the exact same blade's characteristics to see how much better or not it is heat treated.

In a way this might be a better test than making two different blades which might differ in performance for other reasons.

Luka... My belt knife that I use almost every day is forged and work hardened from the same phosphoric iron that went into this celtic blade. It holds an edge very well for every day use (although not as well as my W2 of course)... cutting mostly fibrous stuff.. rope, woody branches, paper, cardboard. It can take some flex with out a set. I also made a longer short sword and reduced it's tendency to bend when used broadside by a 'very large percentage' by work hardening the spine.

Jean.... No.. it wouldn't. I may consider it. The only thing now is that I hate to start hammering on such a nicely ground blade at this point. Just don't have the heart.

I have plenty of material to make another blade like this.. and will consider planning it for work hardening from the start. As I mentioned in the other post.. I know that my wrought takes work hardening well... but not sure what will happen with the 1095 in the mix!

An update on this project...

This picture shows the hilt coming together. Still needs further finishing of throat plate fitment to 'guard'.. as well as finishing rest of hilt.

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Beautiful Scott. I love the blade.

Thanks Ben...

I've set this aside out of frustration. The antler hilt fittings became problematic... and I don't know. It needs to time to think. :-)