Axes & Straight Blades . Tools
Experimenting with Axe Socket Forging
On January 11, 2015 by jaustinOne of my longest standing goals as a professional blacksmith has been to forge socketed wood working axes in the traditions of northern European examples. In my opinion these axes are quite possibly the most beautiful tools in the world. The forge welding in these axes is complex and requires a strategy, tool-set and control
Axes & Straight Blades
A New Pair of Axes
On September 26, 2014 by jaustinThis pair of axes is ready to go to a good customer in the South East. He asked for a somewhat “matched” set to mount together so I picked out 2 pieces of similar size and heft which complimented each other from a small batch of axes I was working on. He wanted a finish
Axes & Straight Blades
New DVD Tutorial Now (finally) Available!
On September 6, 2014 by jaustinAt long last the DVD Tutorial entitled “Forging a Viking-Age Broad Axe / Traditional Asymmetric Wrap” is finished and ready to ship! A joint project with film maker Anna Geyer, this DVD has been over a year in the making. It is 62 minutes long, professionally produced, and covers in great detail the process of
Axes & Straight Blades . Metallurgy
From Beach Sand to Blade
On July 23, 2014 by jaustinMy friend Jeff Pringle has been using his own method to smelt magnetite sand from the beach into high-carbon steel for years. About a week ago we used a slightly new approach to make a small “biscuit” of very sound metal which was large enough to yield two knife blades. Here are some pictures of
Axes & Straight Blades
Steel Bits for an Antique Adze and Two New Axes
On July 23, 2014 by jaustinA friend brought me an adze forged from wrought iron that had surfaced on the agricultural land that his family has owned since 1845. He asked me to re-steel it so, …after overcoming my reluctance to risk a historical artifact on my first attempt at re-steeling, I set a piece of 1075 onto it. I