[Michael Pikula]

Happy Tuesday night everyone!

Last night I was pondering if I should go to bed or continue working part of the bloom from the first video that I posted, in case you missed the thread, http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=25558 Guess which option was more appealing? The videos are much rougher then the first due to me being alone in the shop and having to divide may attention between turning on the camera to capture what I was about to do, and actually doing it. Also I never opened video editing software before last night so please bare with the quality while I'm learning. I do think that it gives a pretty decent idea of what goes on during the process so I wanted to share with the community since this is a direction that I will continue to build on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWo-mpaC6A&am...hxB0Z2JJ4=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khGc_iNXATs&am...x7_nWQ6nk=

I would be happy to answer any question or get into details about what is going on, just post your thoughts and questions!

[Jean Thibodeau]

Fascinating to watch and I wonder how much more exhausting work it would have been in period without a machine to do a lot of the hammering ?

Since you used metal dust from previous work to make the bloom I'm sort of wondering if some of that dust might be from grinding the two swords of yours I already have. Probably impossible to tell except if you know from when to when the metal dust is from: I would imagine some might be from the work on my swords and some from other projects made during the same time period.

Not that this is really important except that it feels like there is some kinship between whatever you make using this steel and some of your previous work: It just emotionally feels important for some odd reason I can't fully explain.

Although it seems like a lot of work it also looks like every move is very direct and economical with no wasted motion or time: A true kinship with the work and shaping an amorphous mass into a clean geometric shape ready for use for a sword or some other project.

Sword, seax. dagger, spear point or axe head are all potential uses of some or all of this steel and I'm looking forward to seeing what it becomes.

[Michal Plezia]

Great videos. It is a pleasure to watch.

Do you plan to make bulat (wootz) steel too?

[T. Arndt]

[Michael Pikula]

Hi Michal, Wootz has fascinated me and I have given it a try with limited success, I do plan on learning and working with the process at some point, but I feel like I have much more exploring to do with smelting in the near future. This summer I am hoping to start using natural occurring ore for my iron source. Once I get consistent results, and if the work sells, then I can start to explore Wootz.

Hi Jean! The power hammer sure does speed up the process, especially when I don't have a few strikers to help out In period I have a feeling that the pieces worked would have been much smaller, hence easier to work by hand. T. Arndt post was a good one! Yes, some of the steel in this bloom very very possibly came from your swords, spears, and knives. I've been shoveling grinder dust into a large trash can and as I smelt through the dust I am essentially moving back in time through the various projects I've worked on, giving new life and a new direction to a steel that has been left to rust. If that isn't a metaphor for life I don't know what is! Once I run out of dust I'll be jumping even further back in time by using natural ore! Whoever says time travel isn't possible clearly has no sense of imagination, or has way too much thought into it

[Michal Plezia]

I'll be happy to watch next movies. I think that making your own steel is a higher level of smithery. I've always wanted to do this, but I don't feel ready yet.

Do you plan to have it analyzed to know its chemical properties? (how much carbon, silicone etc...)

[Michael Pikula]

I did send off a piece of one bar to get tested, which I think will help me to dial in my heat treat, but I don't think that I'll be getting every bloom analyzed. I really like the organic nature of the process and one of the things I'm working on is listening and learning from the material. Once I start using ore I will probably get another piece tested, but I have a feeling that my main task will be to build a new heat treat rig since salt pots might not be the way to go.