Forging a Norse Cook Pot

- A recent commission has been to create a replica of a Viking Age iron cauldron:


In the past I have made a number of versions, based on the cauldron from Bengtsarvet, Sweden. Graham-Campbell illustrates it in 'Viking Artifacts' as his object number 45 (photo on pg 220). He gives the museum credit as SHM 22293. This particular small iron sheet cauldron is depicted in a number of other references, but there only appear to be a couple of standard images available.

Now, Graham-Campbell gives the dimensions as ' height of 13 - 14 cm, and diameter of 22 cm'.
When I transpose those dimensions to a drawing, the result is a shape considerably shorter to width in proportion than what seen the photographs. Angle may have something to do with this, but frankly, my past reconstructions look 'more like the photograph' when I make the total height of the pot roughly the same as the diameter.


The image above is the finished replica for the commission. It is forged from 1/8 thick steel plate. (Unlike the earlier replica linked above, which was actually made from 4 mm antique wrought iron plate!)
The drawing seen is my layout, created by transposing the measurements given by Graham-Campbell. The actual dimensions of the replica are a bit different, with sizes limited by the available metal stock. The bottom bowl was cut from 23 cm (9 inch) wide material. Once again, this produces a pot that looks a lot more like the photograph - and not quite as close to the measurements given.
The handle seen in the image was NOT the handle used in the finial replica, by the way. The artifact uses a flat strip curved along its thin edge. This profile is considerably stronger, in fact well beyond what is required for such a small sized pot. That design is actually quite uncomfortable to the hand when picking up the full pot.

I did take the time to fully document the individual forming steps. The plan for this extensive series of still photos is to produce a short pamphlet (as a first stab with e-books) over the winter (watch for it!). I also filmed the major forging part - hot dishing the lower bowl:

'Christmas in the Country' Demo

I will be demonstrating again this year at the Saugeen Conservation Authority's 'Christmas in the Country' event over this coming weekend.

Friday, Nov. 26 (5-10pm)
Saturday, Nov. 27th (2-10pm)
Sunday, Nov. 28th (2-7pm)

Headquarters Conservation Area
(south of Hanover off of Grey Rd. #10)

Admission: Adults $7.00, kids $2.00, under 5 years FREE!

Come out to this enchanting event, featuring thousands of lights and hundreds of candle lanterns in a natural park setting. Stroll through the grounds and enjoy the various activities in each building.

Christmas in the Country web site
Map to get there

This is an OUTDOOR event - so dress for the weather! My normal demonstration period is about 4 hours, so expect I will be active in the middle of the posted event hours each day. One of the stranger part of this event is that it is primarily a nightime 'festival of lights' kind of thing. I will be located in the 'Pioneer Encampment' part of the grounds, so working under candle / lamp light. Expect to see a Settlement Era presentation, in terms of costume, equipment and type of work undertaken.

Econo Norse for CanIRON 8 - VIDEO

This is some video, primarily of the extraction process, of the iron smelt at Wareham on November 6.
Neil Peterson features as the smelt master. You'll see me mainly hovering in the background, jumping in to give a hand when required. The point of the smelt was to bring Neil and Richard up to full speed on the system. (With a bit of hammering by the old guy at the end.)

The draft report on the smelt is on the main Wareham Forge Iron Smelting documentation.

'Point to the Wind'

I've got a potential customer interested in a Rooster pattern weather vane. I often work from historic patterns, and thought I would share some of my favourite designs from the exhibit 'Pointing at the Wind'. I had seen the exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa quite a few years ago. There was a companion volume by Pierrre Crepeau.
I have left the original captions with the images :





Those interested can see a few of my past work with weather vanes on the main Wareham Forge web site. These have ranged from historic and traditional patterns, to very modern designs. Techniques have ranged from simple cut out shapes to full 3-D models. Below are a few pieces that I have not got posted up to the web site yet.


For the last couple of years, I have been working more with my 'Windbile' series. But I think I'll leave that for another post...

Sing a long on Remembrance Day

To a tune from our youth...

One, little Two, little Three, little Infantry
Four, little Five, little Six, little Infantry
Seven, little Eight, little Nine, little Infantry
Ten little Infantry gone.

Eleven, little Twelve, little Thirteen, little Infantry
Forteen, little Fifteen, little Sixteen, little Drivers
Seventeen, little Eighteen, little Ninteen, little Infantry
Twenty little Infantry lost.

Twenty One, little Twenty Two, little Twenty Three, little Infantry
Twenty Four, little Twenty Five, little Twenty Six, little Infantry
Twenty Seven, little Twenty Eight, little Twenty Nine, little Field Medics
Thirty little Infantry 'repatriated'.

Thirty One, little Thirty Two, little Thirty Three, little Infantry
Thirty Four, little Thirty Five, little Thirty Six, little Chopper Pilots
Thirty Seven, little Thirty Eight, little Thirty Nine, little Infantry
Forty little Infantry bagged.

Forty One, little Forty Two, little Forty Three, little Infantry
Forty Four, little Forty Five, little Forty Six, little Infantry
Forty Seven, little Forty Eight, little Forty Nine, little Special Ops
Fifty little Infantry bought it.

Forty One, little Forty Two, little Forty Three, little Infantry
Forty Four, little Forty Five, little Forty Six, little Translators
Forty Seven, little Forty Eight, little Forty Nine, little Infantry
Fifty little Infantry buried.

(Oh, Don't quit now, We're 'making a difference'!)

Fifty One, little Fifty Two, little Fifty Three, little Infantry
Fifty Four, little Fifty Five, little Fifty Six, little Infantry
Fifty Seven, little Fifty Eight, little Fifty Nine, little Infantry
Sixty little Infantry lost.

Sixty One, little Sixty Two, little Sixty Three, little Infantry
Sixty Four, little Sixty Five, little Sixty Six, little Infantry
Sixty Seven, little Sixty Eight, little Sixty Nine, little Mechanics
Seventy little Infantry gone.

Seventy One, little Seventy Two, little Seventy Three, little Infantry
Seventy Four, little Seventy Five, little Seventy Six, little Radio Operators
Seventy Seven, little Seventy Eight, little Seventy Nine, little Infantry
Eighty little Infantry zapped.

Eighty One, little Eighty Two, little Eighty Three, little Infantry
Eighty Four, little Eighty Five, little Seventy Six, little Infantry
Eighty Seven, little Eighty Eight, little Eighty Nine, little Crew Chiefs
Ninety little Infantry got it.

Ninety One, little Ninety Two, little Ninety Three, little Infantry
Ninety Four, little Ninety Five, little Ninety Six, little Infantry
Ninety Seven, little Ninety Eight, little Ninety Nine, little Supply Clerks
One Hundred little Infantry slaughtered.

(Oh, You can't stop now, We 'Made a Commitment')

One Oh One, little One Oh Two, little One Oh Three, little Infantry
One Oh Four, little One Oh Five, little One Oh Six, little Infantry
One Oh Seven, little One Oh Eight, little One Oh Nine, little Infantry
One Ten little Infantry gone.

One Eleven, little One Twelve, little One Thirteen, little Infantry
One Forteen, little One Fifteen, little One Sixteen, little Door Gunners
One Seventeen, little One Eighteen, little One Ninteen, little Infantry
One Twenty little Infantry lost.

One Twenty One, little One Twenty Two, little One Twenty Three, little Infantry
One Twenty Four, little One Twenty Five, little One Twenty Six, little Forward Observers
One Twenty Seven, little One Twenty Eight, little One Twenty Nine, little Infantry
One Thirty little Infantry shot full of holes.

One Thirty One, little One Thirty Two, little One Thirty Three, little Infantry
One Thirty Four, little One Thirty Five, little One Thirty Six, little Infantry
One Thirty Seven, little One Thirty Eight, little One Thirty Nine, little Sappers
One Forty little Infantry blown to bits.

One Forty One, little One Forty Two, little One Forty Three, little Infantry
One Forty Four, little One Forty Five, little One Forty Six, little Reconstruction Workers
One Forty Seven, little One Forty Eight, little One Forty Nine, little Infantry
One Fifty little Infantry - wasted.

(Oh, We can't quit now, We don't have an 'Exit Strategy')

One Fifty One, little One Fifty Two, ...

Idealistic Young Soldiers all





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Related

• Lest we forget: This year's fallen

Additions to Nov 6 Smelt

The DARC team would like to thank
McDonald's Home Hardware in Dundalk Ontario.
who assisted in the purchase of the charcoal.

Additional photographs have been added to the published description.
These include a series showing the extraction process. Images taken by Steve Budge.

Katie Thorton - acted as Recorder, plus assisted with charcoal preparation and was a striker.
Thomas Beckett - assisted with charcoal preparation and was a striker.
Steve Budge - assisted with charcoal preparation.

Thanks to all who assisted and observed!

Econo Norse for CanIRON 8

The DARC team, under Neil Peterson, will be conducting an open public demonstration of iron smelting as part of CanIRON 8, the Canadian National Blacksmiths Conference. In preparation for this demo, the next several smelts will be used to bring the working team up to full speed on our Econo Norse test bed furnace.

The first of these working production style smelts was held on Saturday November 6. Neil was the smelt master, Richard Schwietzer was the assistant. (I kept to the background and tried just to make suggestions and make notes on equipment.)

The smelt used 24 kg of ganular hematite, resulting in a very compact 8.5 kg bloom. This was spark tested and looks to be a high carbon metal.

A short photo essay on the building of the furnace is available on the main Wareham Forge iron smelting documentation.

Very nice work by Neil and Richard!

Revised TIMETABLE for CanIRON 8

As my regular readers know, I'm on the organizing team for the Canadian National Blacksmith's Conference ; CanIRON, in late July 2011.

This is the revised schedule for CANIRON 8:
For more details see the web site.

	Time	Area	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
			July 27	July 28	July 29	July 30	August 1
MORNING	9 - 12		Site Opens				Packing Down
		Public Demo	Iron Smelt	Major Project	Major Project	OABA Members
		Demo A		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Demo B		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Hands On		Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop
LUNCH	(12 - 1:30 )		Registration Opens				Site Closes
	12:30 - 1:30	Gallery		Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation
	12:45 - 1:30	Caffeteria		Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation
AFTERNOON	1:30 - 4:30						(Cleanup)
		Public Demo	Iron Smelt	Major Project	Major Project
		Demo A		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Demo B		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Hands On	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Forging Competition (public)
DINNER	( 5 - 6:30 )		Opening BBQ		(Thank Yous)	Official Closing
EVENING	7 - 8	Caffeteria	Meet Demonstrators	Feature Presentation	Auction (public) 6:30 - 9
	8 - 9	Caffeteria	Feature Presentation	Feature Presentation	Auction (public) 6:30 - 9
	( 6 - 12)	Hands On	Open Forge	Open Forge	Open Forge

The Organizing Team is intending on setting up the CANIRON site to provide for the following:

DEMONSTRATION AREAS - There will be two
main areas equipped for your featured demonstrators. You can
see that this means two choices for any given session - with sessions
planned for both morning and afternoons on Friday / Saturday / Sunday.

HANDS ON AREA - There will be a third work area, equipped with between
6 - 8 forge work stations:
1) The featured demonstrators will conduct a specific hands on workshop
session. Sessions Thursday
afternoon, plus both morning & afternoon of Friday / Saturday,
plus Sunday morning. Individuals wanting to participate will need
to sign up in advance, and available slots will be limited. Of course
others will be free to observe those sessions.
2) In the evenings (Thurs/Fri/Sat)
The SIX work stations will be available for pick up work, inspiration,
or just plain messing around. There will be teaching supervision provided
in the evenings from 7 - 9 pm only.

LUNCH TIME LECTURES - In the later half of the lunch period, speakers
drawn from a wider pool will be presenting shorter sessions on an
expanded set of topics inside the gallery space. We expect to be able
to provide 35 - 50 spaces of seating there. This in addition to presentations
in the main dinning hall by our featured demonstrators. So come feed
your mind as well as your body. (Friday / Saturday / Sunday)

EVENING PRESENTATIONS - We have broken the evenings down for two individual
sessions, to take place in the main dining hall and also in the smaller
space inside the gallery. Each session is for an hour, and is certain
to include formal presentations by your featured demonstrators.

FORGING COMPETITION - Love it or hate it, forging competitions done
on the spot between teams of participants are always a big part of
any gathering of Blacksmiths! Our hope is to allow the general public
to be able to observe the goings on 'from behind the ropes'. This
event will take place in the Hands On area on Sunday afternoon.

AUCTION - In keeping with our mission to inform and involve the public
in selected aspects of CANIRON, we are hoping to open up participation
in the fund raising auction to those with fatter wallets! The Auction
is scheduled for Saturday early evening.

GALLERY - The best way to inform the public to what we REALLY do is
to allow them access to the Gallery. Bring your best and most inspiring
work, make sure you include a stack of business cards. The layout
of the site at the Fergus Sportsplex is ideal in terms of both layout
and large size. Security and close supervision will be provided for
all the work.

OPENING BBQ SOCIAL - All registared participants are
invited to join in for an informal BBQ on a Bun dinner on Thursday
- hosted by OABA. (Included with your paid registration.) Come meet
the other conference members!

PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS - A special area is being set
aside, accessible to the general public, to illustrate just what Blacksmithing
is all about:
1) Thursday - A demonstration of bloomery furnace iron smelting by members of the Dark Ages Re-creation Company.
2) Friday & Saturday - Work on creation of a larger artwork project, undertaken by OABA members under the direction of Dave McCord.
3) Sunday - 'Hammer in' style work by members of OABA

CanIRON 8 - Revised Timetable

As many of my regular readers know, I'm helping organize the Canadian National Blacksmith's Conference : CanIRON, for late July in 2011.

This is the revised schedule for CANIRON 8:
For further information - see the web site.

	Time	Area	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
			July 27	July 28	July 29	July 30	August 1
MORNING	9 - 12		Site Opens				Packing Down
		Public Demo	Iron Smelt	Major Project	Major Project	OABA Members
		Demo A		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Demo B		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Hands On		Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop
LUNCH	(12 - 1:30 )		Registration Opens				Site Closes
	12:30 - 1:30	Gallery		Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation
	12:45 - 1:30	Caffeteria		Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation	Mealtime Presentation
AFTERNOON	1:30 - 4:30						(Cleanup)
		Public Demo	Iron Smelt	Major Project	Major Project
		Demo A		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Demo B		Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration	Feature Demonstration
		Hands On	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Guided Workshop	Forging Competition (public)
DINNER	( 5 - 6:30 )		Opening BBQ		(Thank Yous)	Official Closing
EVENING	7 - 8	Caffeteria	Meet Demonstrators	Feature Presentation	Auction (public) 6:30 - 9
	8 - 9	Caffeteria	Feature Presentation	Feature Presentation	Auction (public) 6:30 - 9
	( 6 - 12)	Hands On	Open Forge	Open Forge	Open Forge

The Organizing Team is intending on setting up the CANIRON
site to provide for the following:

DEMONSTRATION AREAS - There will be two
main areas equipped for your featured demonstrators. You can
see that this means two choices for any given session - with sessions
planned for both morning and afternoons on Friday / Saturday / Sunday.

HANDS ON AREA - There will be a third work area, equipped with between
6 - 8 forge work stations:
1) The featured demonstrators will conduct a specific hands on workshop
session. Sessions Thursday
afternoon, plus both morning & afternoon of Friday / Saturday,
plus Sunday morning. Individuals wanting to participate will need
to sign up in advance, and available slots will be limited. Of course
others will be free to observe those sessions.
3) In the evenings (Thurs/Fri/Sat)
The SIX work stations will be available for pick up work, inspiration,
or just plain messing around. There will be teaching supervision provided
in the evenings from 7 - 9 pm only.

LUNCH TIME LECTURES - In the later half of the lunch period, speakers
drawn from a wider pool will be presenting shorter sessions on an
expanded set of topics inside the gallery space. We expect to be able
to provide 35 - 50 spaces of seating there. This in addition to presentations
in the main dinning hall by our featured demonstrators. So come feed
your mind as well as your body. (Friday / Saturday / Sunday)

EVENING PRESENTATIONS - We have broken the evenings down for two individual
sessions, to take place in the main dining hall and also in the smaller
space inside the gallery. Each session is for an hour, and is certain
to include formal presentations by your featured demonstrators.

FORGING COMPETITION - Love it or hate it, forging competitions done
on the spot between teams of participants are always a big part of
any gathering of Blacksmiths! Our hope is to allow the general public
to be able to observe the goings on 'from behind the ropes'. This
event will take place in the Hands On area on Sunday afternoon.

AUCTION - In keeping with our mission to inform and involve the public
in selected aspects of CANIRON, we are hoping to open up participation
in the fund raising auction to those with fatter wallets! The Auction
is scheduled for Saturday early evening.

GALLERY - The best way to inform the public to what we REALLY do is
to allow them access to the Gallery. Bring your best and most inspiring
work, make sure you include a stack of business cards. The layout
of the site at the Fergus Sportsplex is ideal in terms of both layout
and large size. Security and close supervision will be provided for
all the work.

OPENING BBQ SOCIAL - All registared participants are
invited to join in for an informal BBQ on a Bun dinner on Thursday
- hosted by OABA. (Included with your paid registration.) Come meet
the other conference members!

PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS - A special area is being set
aside, accessable to the general public, to illustrate just what Blacksmithing
is all about:
Thursday - A demonstration of bloomery furnace iron smelting by members of the Dark Ages Re-creation Company.
Friday & Saturday - Work on creation of a larger artwork project, undertaken by OABA members under the direction of Dave McCord.
Sunday - 'Hammer in' style work by members of OABA

Norse Axe Making Tutorial

Starting at the end of September, there has been an extremely interesting (and useful!) set of submissions and discussions on Don Fogg's Bladesmith's Forum. For those who don't know about this, The Forum is one of the older and most significant discussions on the web related to all facets of bladesmithing. It includes topics of both modern and historic methods - even a section on the growing area of iron smelting for knife work.

Jim Austin has contributed an excellent photo essay and description of creating a Viking Age combat style axe, working with Jeff Pringle. You can follow the series starting : Viking Axe Tutorial

'Split Eye' prepared to lap over peen and weld
Image by Jim Austin - direct from the Tutorial

What is presented is a third option for forming the eye and peen for Viking Age axes. I have described my own work using the 'punch and drift' method in earlier postings (best to just search for 'Viking Axe'). The method more typical for Settlement era is the 'fold and weld' (sometimes called 'bow tie').

Working from detailed descriptions of a number of Viking Age axes, the method illustrated involves starting with a heavy block of metal, then slitting open the back end into a Y shape. The two individual arms are then contoured to form the 'ears' typical of many Norse axes. The two free ends are then curved in and lapped over, then welded to form the eye and peen.

Jim has presented the method in several descriptive postings. Each series contains a number of clear, step by step black and white images like the one copied above. He has included the specialized tools used as well. Jeff has contributed a good amount of his collected research, including artifact drawings taken from various (hard to find!) specialist publications.

Taken with the various contributions from others, the Viking Axe Tutorial is an excellent piece of work!