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Scott Kowalski
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb, 2011 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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You are correct Owen and it is because of yourself and the other makers who do establish a rapport with the various museum curators that we the non-makers get to see some of these pieces for which I for one would like to thank you and the others who do this.
Enough of me hijacking the thread though. I do believe that it is about a seax?
I am looking forwards to seeing the finished project.
Chris Landwehr 10/10/49-1/1/09 My Mom
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Owen Bush
Industry Professional
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb, 2011 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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one of the enigmatic and legendary elements of patternwelding is the serpent in the steel and i have tried a few variations on this theme.
I am going to go for an element on this in this piece.
some kind of serpent or worm .....
this was my first attempt a gently undulating snake up the middle of a seax in 2006
[ Linked Image ]
I have tried various twisting serpents but never been happy with the results.
the wolfs tooth patterns I did recently can look serpentine and undulating
[ Linked Image ]
those patterns are a little too subtle and more like waves than snakes.
last year I had another go at this pattern and came up with this version of a snake , based on my memories of a pattern I saw in the british museum . This is the end of a monsterous seax (heptisax handled by Petr Florianek) and it would be hard to be more snakey than this. I am very proud of that seax . It is however imperfect in its manufacture havein some cold shuts between some coils....
[ Linked Image ]
However making it prompted me to re visit the sword in the BM that inspired all this snakey ness it is an amazing piece of rusty old metal.
[ Linked Image ]
on closer inspection you can see the undulating coils , not to mention the amazing spagetty twists in the edge pattern pieces that you can see right through!!
[ Linked Image ]
this is without doubt in my mind the serpent in the steel , conveluted ,writhing and undulating ...even menacing . I have done a few prictice pieces since heptisax and am hoping to get a better and more subtle result in this piece .
slightly less bling ...a little darker!!
A serpent in the steel of a seax!!!
forging soul into steel .
www.owenbush.co.uk the home of bushfire forge school of smithing .
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R D Moore
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb, 2011 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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Jeremy V. Krause wrote: | To what era is this seax dated? |
This typology posted by Jeroen Zuiderwijk contains a similar langsax (#68 at the top) so it could be from the around the 8th century and of Frankish design. Just my thoughts on this and I'm certainly no expert, but I understand the langsax evolved into shorter blades after around the 9th century.
Attachment: 93.27 KB
[ Download ]
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation" ...Gen. Douglas Macarthur
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Scott Kowalski
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb, 2011 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Those are beautiful examples of your patternwelding Owen. I cannot wait to see how the serpent ends up looking on this project. That is also a very interesting pair of pictures of the sword from the BM. In the second picture you can see how someone could say there was a serpent in the blade. Thank you for posting them.
Chris Landwehr 10/10/49-1/1/09 My Mom
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Matt Corbin
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Posted: Sat 08 Oct, 2011 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Owen and Tod,
Have you guys made any progress on this project?
Not trying to to be a bother, just really want to see this completed :D
“This was the age of heroes, some legendary, some historical . . . the misty borderland of history where fact and legend mingle.”
- R. Ewart Oakeshott
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Richard Furrer
Industry Professional
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Posted: Mon 10 Oct, 2011 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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Owen,
Wonderful photos and I look forward to seeing the project unfold, er..rather, progress...unfolding the snake would be bad I assume...yes?
Ric
Ric Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
www.doorcountyforgeworks.com
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