[Scott Roush]

Well it's been a long hard winter and productivity has been down due to extreme cold temperatures and bad luck with shop equipment. And I've also been doing some non-historical work. But... I've recently finished a couple of things...

One is a Norse themed 'feasting knife'... a speculative piece of work. Multi-bar pattern weld, copper/bronze ferrule and elk.



It a nice very thin blade.



The other is an experiment that I did for a customer in which I wanted to do a relic style Viking period axe using modern materials. I took 1/8" thick mild steel plates and pack carburized them in charcoal before welding them together into a high carbon bar. My hope was that I would get enough carbon to make for a harder blade through what would be a very thin cross section.. but enough variability to show character across the layers. The haft is Osage Orange that was acid stained to black. It is called 'Svartleggia' or 'Black Leg'.. an axe kenning used in the sagas.







Also... you don't see much Japanese work posted here... but I suppose it fits the category of historical arms? Anyway... Here is the progress of a moroha zukuri tanto I'm working on. Using as many traditional tools and methods as I can. The blade is forged from laminated steel and I made mokume-gane for the habaki. I've also had to make my own saya nomi (saya chisels) for making the shira saya.

[Daniel Wallace]

i'm again at your work

the axe looks like it has a stone texture to me with its patterning like being burnished out of a river rock or flint.

i'm curious, was it wrapped or punch and drifted?

[M. Livermore]

Scott, that axe is wonderful. What are the length and weight?

[Scott Roush]

Thanks folks...

Daniel... I punched and drifted this one. And hammered out the 'ears' on the drift. I've had two wrapped axes fail on me over the last couple of months and decided to take a break from them. The failures were mostly due to the quality of my wrought iron which is one of the reasons why I used mild steel to make the 'shear steel' for this.

The blade is 8 inches (20 cm) from edge to poll. The haft is probably 30 inches (76cm). I haven't weighed it yet.. but it is a bit heavier than my last couple of wrapped axes due to heavier poll and a little more meat around the eye in general. But it has a very thin blade and would certainly be classified as a light fighting axe rather than a wood axe.

[Mikko Kuusirati]

Wow, that axe is beautiful! The steel pattern almost looks like birch bark, especially in the latter two photos.

(The knife is nice, too. )