Knife handle-Blackwood

[xgrain]

Hi all,
Was not where to put this as its metal, leather and woodwork :)

Occasionally a scenario comes along that allows you to slide between disciplines as each overlaps the other. This can be a challenge as the skill set is spread wide but it can also give a great sense of accomplishment.

First of all legality. I do some work for reenactors and they hold licenses to keep this sort of gear. Rules and regs are adhered too.

I was asked to create a medieval ladies dagger because the customer could not find a simple yet elegant one of a small size on the net and typical shops etc. While Im not a smithy and not really set up for things metalwork I did know someone who could rough me out a tang/blade so the challenge was accepted.

I had time constraints and like all things I do it has to have a persona of its own. Some link to the person who is going to receive it. I managed to get a piece of newly fallen(storm damage) blackwood from a property close to their heart. I was off and running. I fast seasoned the wood using a microwave over about a week.Having never used green before I was amazed at the results. I dont have a lathe so I roughed out a blank from the wood with a bandsaw and then "phoned a friend" to put a hole up its center. Made a spindle from all thread and using a press drill like a lathe, began shaping it.

After much filling of metal I got a nice(blunt) edge and shape to the blade and put a thread on the end of the tang. More filling I had a brass hilt (another phone call to mill the slot for the blade). Using a small piece of brass round stock I made the pommel and threaded that to match the tang. I purchased a "concho" from a "handy" :Uleather shop as the pommel butt and threaded that on too. More filling, sanding and polishing and it all came together.

The next trick was to make a leather sheath for it. I wet formed the leather around the blade and butt stitched it.

All in all very happy with the results as was the new owner.

oo whilst starring at the blank polished hilt and pommel I just gut reacted and had to "break it up" a little so i tried my hand at engraving too.

Definitely a jack of all but master of none result but still pretty chuffed with it.

[artme]

Nice piece of work all round.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[JPA]

Looks great! Fantastic job :)

But am I missing something...do you really mean a microwave? Certainly a trick I've never heard of!

[AlexS]

Very impressive. I especially like the engraving on the pommel & hilt. Any chance of more details on how you did them please? Also the microwave drying. I've had some success using the "suck it & see" method, but I presume you were a bit more systematic.

[Robson Valley]

You are a true "artisan" to bring so many skills to the bench for this.
I feel very singular (wood carver) but that's OK with me.
I've had many dealings with the SCA/reinactors bunches over the decades.
Your build is of great, great value to them as a whole to see a medieval
item remade in the present.

[Sebastiaan56]

Just the thing for the next feast, well done! Im sure its going to be treasured as Robson has suggested.

[Bushmiller]

Xgrain

Nice job :) .

Regards
Paul

[xgrain]

thanks, many thanks for your comments. Its always nice, as I know you all on here understand, when a labor of love is recognised for what it is. I could easily picture a bladesmith producing this much easier and faster than I did but we know thats not the point in this case :)

Microwave drying.
I used the info from USING THE MICROWAVE TO DRY GREEN ROUGH TURNED WOOD (http://mgorrow.tripod.com/microwave.html) and Rex's Woodturning Site (http://haslip.info/woodturning/microwave.html) . Go slow is my advice do it somewhere where you wont stink the place out(ie not in your good wifes kitchen) and weigh it constantly to build a picture up of whats happening inside.

Engraving.
Probably the least of my skills, never done it b4 but I have done pyro work.I half drew the outline using Inkscape (couldnt quite work out an easy way to draw celtic knots with it) printed it then completed it with pencil. Glue/tapped it to the hilt and tried to engrave over the lines.(this works for pyro) Wasnt very successful maybe it was too small but the paper tore or the inner sections just fell out as they were cut around but I got enough "scratches" to see where things needed to go. Redrew over it in pencil again and then off I went. I played with a few different tips in ye olde dremel on some scrap. I think I ended up with a fine point diamond bit(cheap ripoff) and just went real real slow on the outline. Id been inspired after reading this Engraving Brass HOW-TO : beginners and hobbyists - The Jockey Journal Board (http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84355) however I didnt have the round bit to create the dimple, I tried a few other ideas but couldnt recreate that effect. So I opted for the "halo" type glow around the knot.
Initially what I really wanted was some of that metal band filigree ive seen as boarder or such on boxes and things but try as I did I could not source any nice ones here. I was going to embed that into the wood. Anyway it turned out fine.
The pommel was done by hand, thats why its simple :lol I made sure I divided the pommel in 1/4 s and then just penciled in the wave then engraved.

Rob the (carver) I would not sell yourself short being a master of one. I think a master of one is better than a mediocre of many ;) Im just too flippant and fickle to stick at one thing.:screwy:

thanks chaps

[AlexS]

Thanks for that.

[Robson Valley]

Thanks for the reassurance. Many of my carvings I've posted in the woodcarving forum.
I see things in the wood = that's what I carve. Ideas are OK but I have to "find" the piece of wood
they fit into (in my imagination). The rest of it is fun. The Penone-style logs are simply exhausting.

Metal banding. I know several ways to do this for round things.
1. Cut/carve the groove. shape the copper rod/wire with an overlapping (scarf?) joint.
Tin the opposing faces. Install, solder and sand/grind back.
2. Cut/carve the groove. Mix a batch of "plastic steel" or "plastic aluminum". Goopy adhesive stuff,
I don't even know if they still sell it. Fill half the groove.
When that gets tacky/set-up, then over fill the groove and trim when set hard.
The aluminum stuff looks really cool around wood turnings.

Nevertheless. To see the recreation of medieval items is a delight. I was(?) a trebuchet builder, designed and built 14 of them.
At the limit of portability for me was a 3m item that could fling a 400g ice cube about 100m, about 120kg steel in the counterweight.

[Bushmiller]

Thanks for the reassurance. Many of my carvings I've posted in the woodcarving forum.
I see things in the wood = that's what I carve. Ideas are OK but I have to "find" the piece of wood
they fit into (in my imagination). The rest of it is fun. The Penone-style logs are simply exhausting.

Metal banding. I know several ways to do this for round things.
1. Cut/carve the groove. shape the copper rod/wire with an overlapping (scarf?) joint.
Tin the opposing faces. Install, solder and sand/grind back.
2. Cut/carve the groove. Mix a batch of "plastic steel" or "plastic aluminum". Goopy adhesive stuff,
I don't even know if they still sell it. Fill half the groove.
When that gets tacky/set-up, then over fill the groove and trim when set hard.
The aluminum stuff looks really cool around wood turnings.

Nevertheless. To see the recreation of medieval items is a delight. I was(?) a trebuchet builder, designed and built 14 of them.
At the limit of portability for me was a 3m item that could fling a 400g ice cube about 100m, about 120kg steel in the counterweight.

Ummm. I'm thinking you don't have too many nuisance visitors knocking on your door :cool:

. I expect you already know of this, but Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey produced some interesting books on siege engines and crossbows. They are still available cheaply through Amazon (the crossbow book was delivered for about $20 to Oz) despite being first published in the late nineteenth century.

Like you said it is pleasing to see old crafts and designs kept alive and xgrain's knife is indeed a delight.

Regards
Paul

[Robson Valley]

SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism, has many guilds and groups devoted to the accurate
reproduction of everything from weaponry to clay brick bread ovens and grain milling.
xgrain's knife is just over the top, professional work. You'd have to expect only a noblewoman
would have such a possession.

The trebuchet is a mechanical marvel with the geometry of the parts inter related.
Get the proportions right and you can scale it up or down.
Hugh Kennedy (England) flings Hillman cars, grand pianos, flaming toilets, etc.
Most interesting point of all: there are no drawings or engravings to detail
the construction of the trigger. HK won't show his, either.

[xgrain]

Strange as it may seem i have been asked to build a treb a few times and I have declined. Not a trivial job and has to be done correctly or possibly explode so as yet I havent tried ;)

Yep many living history groups around, most are great to work with.

The dagger was indeed for noble folk, ceremonial almost. It was for the bride on her wedding.