Now from China...

I was wondering how long it would take the Chinese to jump on to the 'smelted iron for weapons' band wagon. Turns out not very long. Dynasty Forge was only established in 2003 - and carefully manages not to mention very often that they are located in China.

(from their web site)

The Steel

The Daimyo Tamahagane blades are made using high-carbon Tamahagane iron sand, the traditional ingredient of the true Japanese sword. This sets our swords apart, as it is very rare for blades to be made outside Japan with this material. By sourcing our Tamahagane from China, we can create a superior product at a fair price. The iron sand, through a low-temperature smelting process, combines with carbon to form fairly crude high-carbon ore. The resulting material is broken into smaller pieces that are sorted by carbon content. As much as half of the extracted material contains insufficient carbon for sword-making.

Tamahagane/Jade Steel

Our Tamahagane/Jade steel is smelted by our craftsmen in the traditional process that pre-dates modern steel producing technology. Starting from iron-sand and charcoal,the raw materials are heated in a clay smelter, producing a solid steel bloom that is smashed into smaller pieces and hand-sorted by our smiths for carbon content. These fragments are then forged and folded into a solid billet from which a blade is meticulously shaped. This traditional process produces an inherently impure steel, and it is these very impurities that give the steel a complex and organic grain.

Looking over their site , you will see that the stress is on 'traditional' Japanese blades and processes. Little is actually said or illustrated on the physical methods used. Surprisingly, virtually nothing on the tamahagane smelting method. Nothing on exactly the forging methods either. Although the term 'hand forged' is used repeatedly, I suspect massive use of power hammers (with shaped dies) is the actual case.

I find the pricing irregular. It appears the blades seen on the company web site are the higher end - with considerably more care on the furniture and scabbards. The range seems to be $2500 US +. Comparing to their other blades, it appears they are charging roughly double for the smelted iron material.
Surprisingly, Relics in London Ontario is offering one of the simpler 'production line' blades from Dynasty for roughly $2200 $US+

Now - of course the Dynasty product are for finished swords. Their normal high end work looks pretty well finished (sorry I could not poach an image to show)
But notice that they charge $500 for carbon steel, $1300 for layered steel, and $2500 for smelted steel. Note that a finished katana is in the range of 2 - 3 lbs. I would expect you to start with maybe double that material to create a layered blade, perhaps three or four times the finished weight with bloom iron.


For comparison, Lee Sauder (by far the most experienced iron smelt master in North America) has pegged the cost for raw blooms (per pound as produced) at $22 USD and consolidated to billets at $32. (Note that I personally think this is not near enough! Although our smelts here at Wareham generally tend to smaller blooms, its still roughly $300 plus in consumed materials for each smelt event. With our typical yields at 8-12 lbs, at Lee's prices we would not be recovering the raw cost!)*


The reason I am commenting on all this - there is a FALSE 'mystery' being placed on bloomery iron in the blade making and collecting circles. The process is not as controlled as many individuals are making out that they can achieve. No one now working (certainly in North America, and I suggest anywhere in the world) can state: I need carbon content XX - and I can get that result inside a smelter. Worst, those few who pioneered and reserrected the ancient techniques are quickly being lost in the dust of those rushing to cash in.

Historically, the smelting process was ALWAYS a random one. Predictable results could only be ROUGHLY achieved by exact duplication of both method and most important, materials. After the smelt, the resulting bloom would be typically fractured, and then carefully examined and sorted. This is where specific carbon content material could be selected and set aside.

(Looking back over this post, it seems random and rambling, even for me. There are clearly at least three or four individual topic areas could be expanded here?)

* Thanks to Karen for pointing out my error on not specifying 'per pound'

Norse and Anglo-Saxon Knives - grind profiles

I was short on a posting for this week, so thought I might toss out this tid-bit based on an ongoing discussion from Don Fogg's (excellent) Bladesmith's Forum

Topic: Sword grinding the ancient european way
http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=14894

... Later Anglosaxon pieces had blades that got wider past the handle, adding to the blade-heavy feel...
(Alan)

A good number of the A/S and Norse knives I have looked at have a taper to the thickness of the blade (looking down the back edge) getting thinner from handle to tip. So even with blades wider closer to the tip than at the handle (the classic seax shape) the mass is not as far forward as one might think.
Generally the artifacts are considerably thicker at the back edge than most contemporary blade makers. This is no doubt due to the use of softer wrought iron and almost always much lower carbon content metals than in modern blades. Thickness in the range of 1/4 inch (or more) on a small knife blade is common.

Other readers might be interested in something I started working up - Knives from the Viking Age (based mainly on the finds from York, England)

Its hard to actually find a single volume source for information on Migration Era knives (swords, yes - but just on knives?). I have been working in fits and starts in trying to tie bits from various museums and reports into some kind of summary. One thing that becomes clear when you start looking at a lot of artifacts - the historic knives were generally quite small (at least to modern eyes) with most knives * less * than four inches in blade length.

If readers are interested in the topic in general, search past entries here (use "Viking Age", Knives).

Shifting Shapes

Brenda Roy and Brigitte Wolf

The Carnegie Gallery
10 King St W. Dundas ON
October 2 - 25, 2009

www.carnegiegallery.org

Forging Norse Arrow Heads - Two

This continues the previous days work in the forge. Here I have started with thinner flat stock (primarily 1/8"). Once again the finished forged points are made of mild steel, and have been rough ground to profile and more or less a flat diamond cross section. The image below is a direct scan, the points set on a 1/4 inch grid.


On this table, sizes are in MM / weight in GRAMS

#	MATERIAL	STOCK	WIDTH	LENGTH	BLADE	SPINE	TANG	SIZE	WEIGHT
G	mild steel	3 X 25 (1/8 X 1)	31	130	80	3	50	8 x 3 (straight taper)	35
H	mild steel	3 X 19 (1/8 X 3/4)	24	115	75	3	40	7 x 3 (straight taper)	21
I	mild steel	7 x 12 (1/4 x 1/2)	22	90	55	4	35	6 x 4 (straight taper)	17
J	mild steel	5 x 12 (3/16 x 1/2 )	20	90	55	3	35	10 x 3 (flare & taper)	16
K	mild steel	3 x 12 (1/8 x 1/2)	17	85	45	3	35	3 x 7 (flare & taper)	12

PS - modern arrow points are weighed in grains - 100 grains = 6.5 grams

Forging Norse Arrow Heads - Details

In a continuation of yesterdays posting...
As I had mentioned, I was focusing on the available starting metal bars in this project so far. (If you are wondering, this is why the stock sizes are given as Imperial, the finished measurements in Metric.) I had chosen a generic spear point shape, which as you can see in Neil's research is well a well represented type.
Of course a Norse blacksmith would not be purchasing his metal as modern mild steel industrial lengths. In the period, raw metal was purchased (from the iron smelter) as fairly standard 'currency bars' - roughly 2 x 2 cm by 40 cm or so long. So for one of the working series, I chose to use a block of antique wrought iron. This material is salvaged from a bridge originally built about 1850 (and is wonderful, consistent material to work with by the way).

	Provenience: Kjølstad, Sør-Odal, Hedmark, Norway, c. 10th c. Museum: Universitetets Oldsaksamling, C37550 f,g,h Length: 12.5 cm
The replica, forged from antique wrought iron.

Showing the individual forging steps:

Drawing out one end of wrought iron billet.	Bar is cut off, its end pointed, the first rough bevel.
Shoulder in.	Cut from bar, start on tang.
Tang is drawn and tapered.	Finish profiling bevel, straighten.

Forging Norse Arrow Heads

Neil Peterson is an archer of some skill. It was natural for him thus to be interested in archery equipment from the Viking Age. There is one tiny problem - outside of arrow heads, there just is not much artifact evidence to go on. Bows and arrow shafts are wooden, and any wooden object is extremely unlikely to survive 1000 years in the ground. Worse still, an old bow is liable to end up as fire wood, old or broken arrow shafts re-used as useful sized pegs. None the less, Neil has taken a look at the range of arrow heads available as artifacts. The drawings at the left are from his summary, which is posted with details on the artifact sources on the main DARC web site : Viking Era Arrow Heads. The smaller sample seen here are variations on the basic hunting broad head style. It should be noted that most often there was not any information in the quoted sources on the cross section or the thickness of the various heads. Considering the majority ofthe hunting points are forged from softer wrought iron, this thickness is critical to strength. Of course without the thickness being known, its hard to estimate the probable weights of the heads.

Now, Neil has been after me for some time to make replicas of ALL the various styles he has found in his research. As it turns out, one of my ongoing commissions is to make a batch of five arrows for the Encampment program at L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC. The various points seen to the left are the result of a couple of sessions in the workshop. I used a bit of an unusual starting point - that being the available standard mild steel bars. The order of production is reverse of the illustration, I started with # F at the bottom of the page, working first with 1 inch wide by 1/4 then 3/16 flat stock. The next pair started with 3/4 wide, again by 1/4 then 3/16. The last pair are experimenting with differing metal types. At the top (last made) is a point forged from antique wrought iron. This required forging down heavy (1 x 2 inch) to the starting 3/4 by 3/16 bar. The second point seen was forged from a scrap of low carbon steel (so called 'French' or 'Electric' iron). All the points were simply air cooled after forging. Then each was given a fast profile on the grinder. Next each was roughly smoothed to a diamond cross section, using an electric sander with a 60 grit belt. The edges have been reduced down to roughly 1.5 mm ( about 3/32 "). This is where I normally would water harden any of the steel points, then use a fine belt sander to put the actual short bevel for the sharp edge on each.

On this table, sizes are in MM / weight in GRAMS

#	MATERIAL	STOCK	WIDTH	LENGTH	BLADE	SPINE	TANG	SIZE	WEIGHT
A	wrought iron	5 x 19	25	125	65	4	60	10 x 4 (double taper)	34
B	'french iron' / 1005	4 x 21	25	100	65	3	35	6 (round taper)	23
C	mild steel	5 x 20 (3/16 x 3/4)	27	130	80	4	50	8 x 4 (flare & taper)	41
D	mild steel	7 x 20 (1/4 x 3/4)	29	140	70	5	70	10 x 5 (flat taper)	49
E	mild steel	5 x 25 (3/16 x 1 )	32	130	85	4	45	9 x 4 (flat taper)	50
F	mild steel	7 x 25 (1/4 x 1)	35	155	85	6	70	10 x 5 (flare & taper)	81

Trade Like the Norse - Coins and Currency at the Althing

The following will be of most interest to those attending the 'Icelanding Althing' event being held September 26 near Orono ON.

Although the Icelandic Althing was centred on legal maters, any time a lot of people gather together is a chance for other activities - trade among them. Although a certain amount of barter was still taking place, one of the aspects of the Viking Age was the increased use of sliver based coinage as the means of exchange. Although the Anglo Saxon Silver Penny was closer to 1.5 gm total weight, the years of 'Danegeld' had lowered their silver content to closer to 50%.

The Norse system of measures is based on the following, (the values are converted to grams of pure silver):

1 peningar = about .78 gms silver

1 eyrir = 30 peningar
about 24 gms silver = cost of 6 ells (yards) of wadmal (wool cloth)

1 mark = 240 peningar or 8 eyrir
about 200 gms silver

Although the Anglo Saxon Silver Penny is closer to 1.5 gm total weight, the years of 'Danegeld' had lowered their silver content to closer to 50%.

In the spirit of the Althing, a set of trade tokens will be available as exchange at the Althing. These are backed by Master Sylard (and the Wareham Forge).

LEFT to RIGHT (life size)

Pewter Ingot - trade amount $10 ( 45 gm)

Silver Pennies - trade amount $5 (.75 gm = 1 penningar)

Pewter Token Bar - trade amount $1 (15 gm = 1/2 eyrir)

The INGOT shows 'Wolves and Cattle' on a thick oval surrounded by line and dot pattern. It was intended to be used as a guard for a knife (cut a slot to fit the blade). No specific historic prototype, never released to the public.

The PENNIES are the two replica coins issued by the Wareham Forge, artifact sizes and weights, made of 99 % fine silver. Sometimes called 'Silver Sylards' - a detailed description (image shows face and obverse of each coin)

The TOKEN is slightly modified from the event token used at the original Althing, years ago. It's shape is taken from a small whetstone, and has the figure of a Norseman - and original design.

HOW THIS WORKS

Modern currency can be converted into any of these trade tokens either at the Admittance Troll or at my demonstration of coin minting inside the DARC market encampment. You will in effect be PURCHASING these tokens.

At the end of the day I will happily REFUND the full purchase amount against any of the tokens returned to me for exchange.

Merchants may also 'buy in' by purchasing extra token to act as 'change'. These may also be exchanged for full refund at the end of the event.*

Rules:

1) I will make myself available for refund exchanges :
Saturday September 26 - until * 10 PM * (after that I'm likely to be in bed)
Sunday September 27 - from 9 AM to 12 Noon

2) The pewter INGOT and TOKEN have no refund value AFTER Sunday September 27.

3) The silver PENNIES remain the standard 'gift certificate' for the Wareham Forge. They may be returned against goods in to the future at their $5 trade value.

4) Only full, unaltered tokens are ellidgable for refunds. (If you cut a token to make 'small change', the pieces can not be refunded.)

* 5) Merchants ONLY can make special arrangements to exchange collected tokens for a LIMITED PERIOD (two weeks) after the event. Please contact me directly (info@warehamforge.ca) to make arrangements.