First is an ango (anglon) forged from pattern welded steel. It is being mounted on an ash haft. I'm considering selling this as a set matched with an Anglo-Saxon shield that I'm making right now as well. The boss was forged by John Logan (http://www.ironjohnlogan.com) from Michigan and is quite a piece of work being raised from a single piece of iron sheet. It is still rough from the forge in this picture. The shield board will be from local birch plywood and have locally tanned deer hide covering. There will be bronze geometric/animal mountings as well.

I plan to work with John on a few of these shield in the upcoming months and hope to include other makers in collaborative sets.



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Next is a proto-pattern welded blade with bloomery iron/19th C. wrought iron piled core and W1 steel edge. My thought is do a native Irish sword from the early Iron Age... something along the lines of the various crannog finds. This blade can also go the route of a gladius as well. In the picture is a piece of pattern welded steel that I plan to inlay in the core ... either a serpentine form or.... ??? Still thinking! I have pictured with the blade some ideas for the hilt.. some beautiful diver salvaged black oak from the bottom of Lake Superior (mineralized like bog oak) and moose antler.

Also in this picture is a bar of shear steel that I made from 19 C. wrought iron. This bar will make a beautiful French Trade knife or early historical bowie replica as it is the steel those were made from. This could also be forged into a seax as well since the carburizing of iron was known to occur in that period.

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And lastly a pattern welded Norse seax or small war knife. I'm thinking of chip carved moose antler grip and matching scabbard. Also in the picture is some bloomery steel that I can make into..... ????

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So these projects will be on the bench in the upcoming months. Please contact me if you would like to be a part of their creation.

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That two cents' worth of free advice dispensed, allow me to thank you for sharing such goodness with us. We need more native craftsmen here in the States! I wish I could contribute to either of these projects at hand... but I look forward to seeing what you do with them :)