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Owen Bush
Industry Professional
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 Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 2:15 am Post subject: troll hunter |
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This tuesday I am off to Ashokan sword gathering just out side of NY.
I have made a show and tell , trust an englishman to bring a knife to a sword gathering...
For a while now I have been feeling limited by "reality" by the scale of usability, by balance that feels good to a mere mortal (me).
So with this piece I have diverged from that, or at least tried to.....The habit of the smith and my standard ways of forging dragged this piece back from the lump of steel that it started out as , I wanted a blade I could not weild, one for a super human, for a hero ,for a troll slayer.
As forged it weighed over 6lb.......I dragged it back to 3lb 9oz .....I wanted it heavier!
blade is 24 inches and 14mm at the broken back, I have left the tang long as I think it may be needed that way.
I took my inspiration from a culture that has been troll free for more than a 1000 years , I guess we did a good job. Or possibly the French did when they came over.
All the literature I could fine refers to this kind of seax as a "troll seax" but I can find none that define as to weather it is a seax wielded by trolls or used against them. I have assumed the latter but the muse has dragged me to a place in between man and troll . I could pick this blade up and clumsily hack with it , A troll or a troll hunter could use it with ease.
I have been drawn to this shape for a while and was lucky enough to measure a smaller cousin in cambridge earlier this year this spawned a couple of "man" sized blades . the sharp step at the broken back makes me think of the crosses on a hunting spear , something that stops the blade becoming lost in the beast or keeps the beast at bay.....
anyhow I have not sharpend it yet , its just at reveal etch and I have ideas as to handle but for now its a show and tell just to prove that even a troll free culture can still make a troll knife!!
close up
the spine
and with a redneck to give context.....
forging soul into steel .
www.owenbush.co.uk the home of bushfire forge school of smithing .
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Tyler Keich
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 2:37 am Post subject: |
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Oh my, beautiful piece. I sure wouldn't want to be the troll on the receiving end. 
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 2:41 am Post subject: |
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WOW, I like and I have a weakness for extreme designs and being over 250 pounds it takes a lot of mass to scare me off.   
At first the title of Troll Hunter made me think of " Internet Trolls " which really one needs a blade or a wooden stake to pound through there evil little hearts but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was just a really big seax with really nice features and potential.
One should always indulge in extremes to be able to appreciate moderation.
Looking forward to reading after event reports and reviews of all the pieces and discussions people will have at the Ashokan sword gathering, should be fun and educational. 
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Owen Bush
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 2:48 am Post subject: |
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i have been looking forward to ashokan for a few years, it should help keep the fires burning.
forging soul into steel .
www.owenbush.co.uk the home of bushfire forge school of smithing .
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 3:02 am Post subject: |
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| Owen Bush wrote: | | i have been looking forward to ashokan for a few years, it should help keep the fires burning. |
And I wish you the best in meeting peers and enjoying the exchanges of ideas as well as good food and beer. 
Life is short and these special moments are precious: For us crazy people a good sword is better than sex. ( Yes I did say and mean crazy )
Oh, the fact that I'm drinking orange juice with way too much vodka in it has absolutely nothing to do with it.
( People don't drink and type, you might run over your good judgement. )
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Perry L. Goss
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 6:33 am Post subject: smaller cousin in Cambridge |
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Owen:
What specifics do you have on the "smaller cousin in Cambridge"? Antique original or spin off....
Would be interested in any info you have!
Thank you.
Scottish: Ballentine, Black, Cameron, Chisholm, Cunningham, Crawford, Grant, Jaffray, MacFarlane, MacGillivray, MacKay-Reay/Strathnaver, Munro, Robertson, Sinclair, Wallace
Irish/Welsh: Bodkin, Mendenhall, Hackworth
Swiss: Goss von Rothenfluh, Naff von Zurich und Solland von Appenzel
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Eric W. Norenberg
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 10:36 am Post subject: |
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Wow. We just learned a lot about Jean... Hi Jean!
Owen, Where have you run across references to "troll seaxes"? That's something I'd enjoy digging into a bit deeper. Is the literature Anglo-Saxon or Norse?
Oh, and don't forget, it would have been the Normans who would have played "clean-up" with the few left-over trolls, not the French, a thousand years ago. Imagine the tactical differences these two groups would have employed... there's a Monty Python sketch that never got written!
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William P
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| Posted: Sun 11 Sep, 2011 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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when crocadile dundee said 'thats not a knife now THIS is a knife'.. i can now safely say ive found something that would top even that
one feature i quite like is that 'hamon' likelook on the edge, not because it looks like a hamon but because that scalloped darker section adds something to the colour, and makes it more aesthetically pleasing,
that and that fact that this thing should, quite rightly be put on a 6-8 foot pole and put forward as that fabled 'viking halberd' that people keep debating over.
it looks ALOT like the head of a chinese pudao, or even a dadao.
i apologize in advance bringing that piece of hstorical butchery into this but it ALSO is reminiscent of the sword wielded in frank millers '300' by the spartiates,
and like both the chinese and spartan bl;lades i imagine THIS would be a nasty weapon against an armoured man, twith a thick spine and acute point it would puncture maile like noones business, and the sheer weight would hack off limbs and crush men under their hauberks. this is one of those weapons that i would take one look at, and make me seriously consider my options as to whether i want to fight this guy
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Paul Hansen
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| Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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That's a fantastic piece Owen!! Great work!
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Scott Hanson
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| Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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I think to be worthy of such a blade, you'd have to think "can't wait till I own that" rather than "don't want to mess with him".
Seriously, awesome seax, really makes me think "legendary hero's weapon".
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Eric W. Norenberg wrote: | Wow. We just learned a lot about Jean... Hi Jean!
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Don't worry I don't make a habit of drinking too much, but everything in moderation including moderation.
My Internet connection is " Wonky " these days, probably a sick Modem and some nights it's taken me 2 hours of repeated re-boots to get a stable connection ! That does drive one to drink !
My service provider is sending me a new Modem by mail.
( Sorry for the Off-Topic post(s) but this is sooooooo frustrating  : Not having a good internet connection is like losing a leg.   )
To add something relevant to the Topic: Owen, how do you plan to mount this one ?
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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William P
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| Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Jean Thibodeau wrote: | | Eric W. Norenberg wrote: | Wow. We just learned a lot about Jean... Hi Jean!
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Don't worry I don't make a habit of drinking too much, but everything in moderation including moderation.
My Internet connection is " Wonky " these days, probably a sick Modem and some nights it's taken me 2 hours of repeated re-boots to get a stable connection ! That does drive one to drink !
My service provider is sending me a new Modem by mail.
( Sorry for the Off-Topic post(s) but this is sooooooo frustrating : Not having a good internet connection is like losing a leg. )
To add something relevant to the Topic: Owen, how do you plan to mount this one ? |
with a great deal of effort i would imagine, and with a suitably big handle i hope..
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Patrick Kelly
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| Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2011 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Owen,
That's very cool on several different levels. What kind of hilt are you thinking of? It would actually look quite impressive mounted as a pole arm, like a glaive.
"In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
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Matthew Stagmer
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Tue 13 Sep, 2011 8:07 am Post subject: |
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Owen that is AWESOME ! Just pure awesome. I hope to make it to Ashokan this year but time is hard to come by this season. I will do my best !
Matthew Stagmer
Maker of custom and production weaponry
Youtube.com/ThatWorks
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Jim Mearkle
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| Posted: Tue 13 Sep, 2011 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry, but I have to say this: Ashokan is inside NY, about 100 miles north of NY City.
There is a lot of NY outside of NYC.
Anyway, enjoy September in the Catskills. I wish I could have scraped the cash to go, too.
Jim
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This is a standard topic