Teaching, not forging:
*** Please note that clicking on any image will give you an expanded view. *****
Well, it’s been about 2 weeks between blogs and I am wondering if that is about the rate I should be shooting for. The trouble with that is, I seem to forget what I did 2 weeks ago. Fortunately, I try and take pictures to remind myself. Last weekend saw very little actual production from Grimm. Instead, I opened my forge to others. I taught 2 young gentles the arts of the blacksmith and one old fart the same. Aria and Kaleb of Stierback came over for more lessons in blacksmithing, each creating a wall hook to learn the basics. This was their 2nd lesson and they seem to be getting a hang of it. I did not get pictures of there final product, but the were both happy with the work and I was happy with their progress.
Lord Ronan also joined us for the day. He was here to work on the handle of a knife he purchased for the SCA. We are changing it from a railroad spike knife to a more medieval look. The plan is to draw out the tang to make a hidden tang knife. He worked on turning the wood for the handle and forging the tang down to the right size for the handle. This is him working on the Lathe:
I piddled around the shop not doing much. 2 people in the forge at a time is the max it can handle. Aria and Kaleb were working there first, then ronan and I stepped up. He in drawing the tang and I worked some more on the hinges for Lord Christof’s chest.
Finally, some good forge time:
Saturday (2/29/20) found Grimm with some free time to get into the forge. It also found him with nothing pressing to make. (yes there are a dozen projects that I should be making, but I am not ready to start them) Soooo…..Its hammer time (in more ways then 1). An attempt to recreate a hammer head from the Mastermyr tool chest.
Making a Blacksmith’s Hammer from the Mastermyr Find
The chest is similar in design to the one I made for our pennsic camp. I have always been fascinated by the objects inside as well. This is my first attempt to recreate some of the tools. (please note, this is not the documentation on the hammer just what i was doing and thinking. The documentation will be written later). to start, here is a photo dump from my research:
And here is a photo dump of the work in progress:
Back to work, not much to show though.
This week we had archery at Grimmsfield on Sunday. Spring cleaning and a practice. Atlantia is now in 1st in the open bow division of the SCA wide IKAC. Monday was given to mundane life. Tuesday, however, i made it back to the forge. I was planning on finishing Lord Chris’s hinges and clasp and finishing Mistress Lorelei’s shovel blade, but Lady Gunnora was planning on getting her equestrian gear ready for the season. I did get a chance to re-work the shovel blade, but not to work on the hinges. I did however, manage to get the spear point i forged for her shafted and then created a weight for the back of the spear as a counterbalance. This involved forging more of the 1 in round bar and was not exactly something to show off. It did however work! Lady Gunnora now has a ring lance with a Grimmsfield forged point and counterbalance. This makes me happy. Now to make one that I can be proud of. Sorry, no pictures. It was just working. Hopefully, i can grab some pics of the lane soon.