L R Wicker Design
Playground for the Etsy shop of the same name…
Cable Welding With Kainon
Kainon looks as happy as I have ever seen him holding this nicely welded cable.
Kainon and I spent Saturday morning welding a large wire cable into billets for knife making. As you can see, Kainon is very happy with the work. I think we did very well to get about a foot of the cable welded solidly before we somehow managed to burn it off the main cable. We could hardly believe it, but that’s what happened. Once we fished to welded piece out and split it, we had about 4 or 5 inches of 1 1/2 thick billet apiece. Not too bad for our first welding attempt down at the Zilker Botanical Garden Swedish Forge. Next time we vow we will be more careful and get more welded. Then we can hammer the billet into flat stock which will be much easier to work once it’s cut free.
The heat for welding is very high, check out that white section in the cable that is ready to be welded.
The heated section of the cable is now completely welded solid.
Leaf, Finally!
The leaf pendant I finally managed to produce after multiple disasters.
I have made many attempts at producing one of the little guys and Saturday finally saw success. Kainon kept giving me pointers and pep talks, I was just about to give up at one point when I hammered the taper incorrectly. He said it really wouldn’t matter much and in the end he was right. This proved to be a very decent leaf, in spite of the difficulties! I have hung it on a thong and given it to Jene to wear, she loves it! I am going to keep working on these and get a few on the Etsy shop for key fobs or pendants so others can have little leaf of their own.
The finished leaf atop Kainon's rounding hammer from Big Blu.
Also in the photo is Kainon’s massive rounding hammer from Big Blu. He has been using this hammer almost exclusively since he got it and he can’t say enough about how much he loves it. I may have to get a smaller one myself, it does have a great range of edges to use when forging.
Thanks for stopping by!
Two Edges Are Better Than One!
My first double sided blade attempt.
My first attempt at a double edge is going fairly well. I am grinding the bevels at this point and so far I am happy with the outcome. I haven’t cut the long tang down at all, I will have to get the handle figured out first. Once I have the grip sorted I will cut it and thread it so I can screw on a pommel to finish it off. I think I will be using some of the same exotic wood that the Scandinavian style knives will be sporting for this as well. I also need to get a guard on this, possibly in brass, and it should match the pommel. So much more to do, I need to get busy!
The beginning stages of the flat grind on the dagger.
I will be working on a grip and sheath for this guy soon.
Thanks for dropping by!
Two New Blades
The first stage of grinding on the longer hidden tang blade.
First stage of grinding on this short hidden tang style blade.
I got two new blades worked up to the point where I need to think about getting handles on them. I am thinking of going with a stacked wood, Scandinavian or Finnish style which will compliment the blade shapes nicely. I have a few scraps of quality hardwood that I can glue up in layers and then shape to add some extra interest and color to the final knife. I am also planning to use brass sheet in between some of the wood pieces and at the guard area for durability. After the knives are complete I will make a sheath for each as well, Finnish style also. I will of course post the final products.
Here a few more shots of the blades…
The smaller of the two hidden tang, Scandinavian style sheath knives I am building.
A long, straight blade I am working up into a Scandinavian style sheath knife.
The blade and tang area of the short hidden tang blade.
Close up of the longer blade.
As usual, thanks for stopping by and have fun!
Fish or Fowl or Both?
This is the head of the Heron Kainon created at the forge last week.
Kainon gave this fish a happy grin.
This guy has an unintentional grumpy expression, we love him anyway!
Kainon made some amazing sculptural pieces last week at the Zilker Park Forge. He started with the Heron Hook and then went on and made a couple of groovy fish also. I was very impressed by his ability to design and build these without any kind of drawing or reference material. I think he has a very exciting career ahead of him!
We had some fun with the fish…
Kainon's fish have a little chat.
Thanks for stopping by and have fun!
The three sculptural pieces Kainon finished at the forge.
Wire Damascus Neck Knife
A nice curved blacksmith knife which will end up in a neck sheath.
I picked up a long piece of wire rope at the local wire rope supply shop, D and A Wire and Rope. They had a few four or five foot scraps lying around and when I came in and asked about purchasing some for making knives they were more than happy to help me out. I will be bringing them a little sample of the metal once I get it polished and etched. This little blade is made from the welded billet I made from one of the pieces of cable. The trick is getting all the individual wires to bind together and weld, once you have accomplished that the metal will be workable like any other steel. The blade will need to be polished to a gloss and then etched with acid to bring out the pattern. I will be posting the final look shortly.
The blade is only partly polished at this stage, it will need to be acid etched to reveal the pattern.
A close shot of the wire rope and the resulting blade made from it.
I formed the blade from steel made by welding this wire rope.
As usual, thanks for stopping by and have fun!
Bushes Beware!
Small version of a bushknife I am going to forge.
I completed this scale model for a large blade I want to make out of 5160 recently. I have no idea what kind of steel it is unfortunately, it’s something I found near the forge and started hammering away at. I went ahead and shaped and sharpened it anyway, it will hold a decent edge and it balances very nicely at this size. My intention is to use this as a model for the full size blade, it will be about twenty inches long I think. I don’t plan to make a sheath for the small one and I am still thinking about how to deal with the large one. I may end up using some Kydex or something else rigid as I think a leather sheath may be too wimpy. Another option would be to do a leather wrap around a wood sheath for a more sturdy solution. At any rate, I will post the results as usual.
The cut out and ring at the butt of the bushknife.
The texture of the old steel I used to make this small size test bushknife.
Small test version of a massive knife I will forge from 5160.
I will be writing a post about the chisels and punches the Bush Knife is sitting on in a day or so, I still have a few more to make and finish. See you then and thanks for dropping by!
The Christmas Knives
A selection of the knives and sheaths I had in progress for Christmas.
I completed three blades and sheaths as gifts this Christmas. They comprised a selection of styles; a small, ebony handled bird and trout type blade, a large, general purpose camp knife, also ebony handled, and a skeleton blade with a ring tailed handle. I had a great time making the blades and then practiced my leather crafting on creating matching sheaths. Overall the results were good, the recipients were thrilled and I was pleased with the quality of the final pieces. I hope to be able to start selling custom knives in the near future, and these were a step in the right direction.
The large camp knife was the last one I worked on and I was particularly pleased with it. The photos can’t do it justice. When you pick it up it has a fantastic balance and the ebony handle has a wonderful silky feel. I made the guard and tail-piece from brass sheet stock to match the brass pins holding the wood to the tang. The shape of the blade is a fairly standard straight camp style, I debated the length for a bit but was very happy with the final size in contrast with the handle. I have only been bladesmithing for a few months but I am feeling very confident with the work I am doing. I still need more experience with tempering and sharpening, but I feel my design and fabrication skills are pretty solid. I have started several more blades in the past week and I will get them posted shortly. They are still in the forging phase, but I should have them ready for handles soon.
Here a some more shots of the blades and sheaths and thanks for stopping by!
The front of the Ebony Bird and Trout knife sheath in progress.
The sheath for the Ring Tail Knife with the blade inserted.
The back of the Ring Tail Knife sheath with the blade displayed above.
The "W" mark on the back of the small Ebony Bird and Trout knife.
Overall view of the completed Ebony Handled Knife.
A close-up of the custom made guard and beautiful ebony wood handle.
The finished blade texture for the Ebony Handled Knife.
The custom guard from the other side.
Holding the knife, it has a great balance and the handle feels wonderful.
Kainon Makes A Dagger…Errrr, A Short Sword….Ummm, Actually, It’s A Long Sword!
Kainon shaping his new project, a long sword that began life as a dagger.
Kainon began by saying he wanted to make a double-edged dagger. He grabbed a large piece of steel and started heating it. After he shaped the tip for a while he stated maybe he would make a short sword instead. Perhaps a gladius. Based on the size of the steel and the shape of the tip, he and I thought that might be a good idea. We continued to banter ideas back and forth, Kainon kept heating and hammering, the gladius kept getting longer and longer. Finally, much later in the day, Kainon announced his decision, a long sword. I had to laugh, he has wanted to do a long sword since we began working at the forge, but Robert kept discouraging him. It is a daunting project, Robert said, don’t enter into it lightly, you will really be challenging yourself. Apparently, all Robert’s cautions were for nought, Kainon made an end run and started his project. Now we are all committed to getting it done, I will post the work in progress as we go along.
The full length of the blade of Kainon's sword.
The blade edge is peened in this pattern to strengthen the edge.
The sword in the forge preparing for another round of hammering.
Kainon straightens the sword periodically to keep the work even and consistent.
Ring A Ding Ding…
Two coils of rings before being cut.
I made a batch of rings the other day at the forge so I would have a few in stock for my items as I complete them. I had good success with them this time. I got nice, round rings without a big hassle. I think my technique has improved and my method of using a pipe as a jig has proved very reliable. I just heat the stock, wrap it around the pipe that I have clamped in a leg vise and use pliers to pull the stock into position. Then I can remove the coil from the pipe, reheat, and wrap again and again until I have the entire piece of stock wrapped around the pipe. Once the coil is cool I can clamp it into a machinist’s vise and hacksaw the rings apart.
A batch of small Spiral fobs for presents this year.
These Spiral Pendants have the extra small rings I made by wrapping the thin round stock I have around the 3/8ths inch rod stock I use for other projects. I really love the way these little guys turned out, I gave some as Christmas gifts to friends and family.
These are the rings after being cut apart with a hacksaw.
These are the large diameter rings I made for belts and sheathes.
These smaller diameter rings are for keychains and pendants.
I will probably attempt to make my own D-rings soon, I would like to use them for belts and bag closures. I just need to get a pipe cut in half and that should do the job for a jig. I will need to get a proper metal saw to do that though, I doubt a hacksaw is going to be up to the task. I can hardly see myself slaving away for hours attempting it anyway. I find that the hand-made rings really set off the spiral well, I am very happy with the results and the extra work is totally worth the trouble.
As usual, thanks for stopping by and enjoy!
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