Hi!

I'm a black/bladesmith from Québec (that's in Canada!). I've been working with metal for a few years and got more involved in blademaking in the last 4-5 years. After dabbling in asian blades I came back to european blades lately, throught friends in viking and later medieval reenacment groups.
I guess my knives took up asians element along!

Please look and tell me your impresions!

This is the latest scramasax I made.
It is of composite construction (W1 core 1018 sides) The polish is a working polish (and a bit dirty, the owner had it for a couple of days before the picture was taken...) , the core shows only in the sunlihgt. The handle part is copper, wrougth iron and birds eye maple.
It's a heavy and strong blade 1/4 inch tickness for a bit less than the first 1/3 ofthe blade; usually my blades taper much sooner bu the client (and friend now) asked for it...It hit terribly hard!!

Thank's!
Happy to be here there is much to learn on the forum!!

Antoine M.

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That is very nice.

I really like how the different elements mesh together.

Really nice one!!!

Like it alot!

Antoine;

Bienvenue au site et j'aime bien le scramasax. :D

Back to English: Very nice work and I' m looking forward to seeing more of your work.

You should add some contact information and a web site if you have one and give some idea about how you work with customers for custom orders: Just good marketing and most of the people who frequent this site are into historical European swords, knives or armour, so you may well find some clients here. This link to this topic should explain in more detail the scope of interests intended for this site. http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=87

This site is not exclusively for European and strictly historical pieces it is just the focus of interest of many here, but fantasy pieces as well as pieces from all periods and places in history have a place here.

Look at the various collections and you will also find Celtic, Roman, ancient world bronze age topics.

Jean

Welcome! Very nice seax!!! How about some stats?

Antoine,

I really like that you didn't completely polish the blade. The rougher finish on the spine gives it a very nice highlight. As a blacksmith myself, I like to see a little unobtrusive evidence of that construction.

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Bienvenue au site et j'aime bien le scramasax. :D

Avertissement, Je comprend an peu francais.(Which is probably completely wrong; I claim to understand, not speak or write, a little). :p

-Grey

wow, im really loving that seax, its beautiful.

-james

Thank's for the nice comments!

Bonjour Jean! Si tu passe par Trois-Rivieres, arrete faire un tour!
I'll add reference if ones wishes to contact me.
The whole construction of this piece was very interesting cause the client lived nearby, so he stopped a few times to see the evolution. Usually, I work with a loose description from the client ( could you make me a dagger X long with X wood for handle) and work with what I think would fit. When a problem comes, I refer to the person. That's what happened with the rough forge back, he wanted something along the back but had too much of a thigt budget for fullers. So I proposed this solution. Yeah, I often make sketches.
Basically, it's a dialogue between the two of us.

Tim, the blade is 12 inches and the overall lenght 18 inches.
I'm trying to make a set up for sword lengh blades. Right now 14 inches is a lenght I'm sure of getting good results.

Greyson, don't worry, I learned my english at the hypnotic institute. I'm convinced to speak english, but infact I'm just making incoherent sounds!
:D

Thank's for the warm welcome!!

Antoine M.

Antoine,

I tried to make a dagger with a 14 inch blade myself. It was a limited success, but I learned that I don't think, with my current setup, I can properly heat treat a blade much longer than that. Do you use a coal or propane forge? I have a coal forge (that I haven't used in three years because I went and joined the Army, which tends to keep me a long way from both my forge and my swords), but I have recently wondered if a propane forge might be a better choice.

Trust me, you English is better than my French or German (I don't think hypnosis would make a lick of diference). The practice is good for me though; I've got to do something to get me prepared for trying to decipher Bejamin Fillon. :eek:

-Grey

I still use coal exept for heat treat. Propane is good, clean ( good for welding!!) and with a good design it can be quite efficient. It does not take as much room also.
But I still find coal useful, quick heat up from cold, and an open fire allows forging of weird shaped pieces. With propane once the piece doesn't go trough the door, it gets complicated.
And sometimes I find propane boring... you just sit and wait... with coal there is always something to do.

I'd keep the two system if you can! :)

Antoine

Very nice seax. I love the overall proportions and choice of materials. I think that I would prefer to have the blade completely polished, though.

Antoine;

You might wish to give some very general idea as to your prices and what the waiting time from the design being agreed upon and getting the finished piece: Since custom work can be for simple small projects or big complicated projects you can say that these would be just an idea and would have to be specified on a project by project basis. I just find that this sort of information can very useful when deciding if one should even contact a maker: A price in thousands of dollars and a waiting time of 10 years for a top and in demand makers will attract different clients than prices between a few hundred of dollars and a waiting time of 3 months.

Again, the lines of the seax are very nice and if you can, you should post Picts of more of your work. :D

Good point Jean.

For a similar piece, monosteel, the price would go at around 400$. From there It's a matter of materials (damacus, exotic woods, fullers so on...) and open to discution.There is much variation possible on a same design, it is hard to give a price list.The making time right now would be about 2 month.
I'm in a strange phase now as I make more blades but still have to take ironwork to pay the bills. I'm in a work limbo! In a few months I'll see if thing are right to rely solely on bladesmithig.
There is a knife show in Québec city next weekend that hopefully will give me some clues. A medieval event is also being held not too far from where I live, so I'll see what kind of reactions I get from my work.
Having a new familly makes me much more cautious than I was!

For the medieval event I made little eating knives. In Québec, we almost only see weapons offered at those events (the little I went), everyday knives are rare...probably will make viking one piece knives too.
Here they are.
Composite W1-wrougth iron 4 inches blades. Handles of copper and olive wood, birds eye maple and ebony. Total lenght, about 9 inches.
Thank's for the help guys!
Forum marketing is kind of new to me, I appreciate.

Antoine

Antoine

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For those interested, info on the quebec knife show:

http://www.gcaq.ca/


Antoine

USD, plus shipping, if any.

Antoine

Antoine;

I would think it takes time to build up a clientele of repeat customers but coming to this site may help a lot getting your work known.

Knife shows are good because the possible customers are aware that a forged knife at $400 dollars is a bargain if the quality is there. I'm not an expert on marketing but Ren-Fairs and hunting and fishing shows usually have a wide spectrum of vendors and buyers but a lot of the buyers are not serious collectors and get sticker shock at anything over a hundred dollars. There may be some serious collectors who will appreciate good work and be ready to pay what it is worth but they will be in the minority at these events.

To be blunt a lot of people going to Ren-Fairs or Hunting / Fishing shows tend to be " cheap " and are looking for that $50 hunting knife or Lord of the Ring wallhanger. You have to find your market and you have to make it easy for your market to find you.

From what I have seen so far your work looks really good, so if you persist the knife making will take over as your main source of revenue gradually. Well, major knife shows attended by top makers should attract the kind of clients willing to spend. ( Sort of repeating myself here. :eek: :lol: But you get the idea. )

Antoine;

The was a topic recently about daggers and the types people might want that to see that are not being made: The replies you might find interesting and give you an idea what would be popular with many of the people who frequent this site.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ht=daggers

Obviously swords might also be popular ;) A Longseax should attract some favourable attention.

Hope this helps. :D

Oh, don't forget to explore this site or use the search function: There is a tremendous volume of good topics here that might help or at least be very good research.

Thank's for the tips Jean!!
I'll start searching and reading!
Langseax, been thinking about that one for a while yuummmm!

Antoine