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willofthewisp —
Ax, view3
Published: 2005-03-21 06:59:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 20157; Favourites: 611; Downloads: 282
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Description
These three pictures are of differnt views of a large inlaid ax, made of steel, and ashwood, and decorated with silver. The patterns on the head were made by carving out channels in the steel, and then cutting them to a dovetail crossection, so that they are wider at the bottom than at the top. I then drew out silver wire to a thickness that would just fit into the channels. Fitting each piece of wire into position, I drove the silver into the channels, so as to cause it to spread out into the dovetail, and become perminantly atached. After all the pattern was so worked I filed and sanded the surface and hafted the ax with a handel I carved from an ash log. The designs are inspired by the inlay work of northern Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries.Related content
Comments: 282
It's very, very beautiful!
Precious.... **
-Wulfhaer
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O_O oh my God! It's so AMAZING!!
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Thanks, This one is the third attempt, and the one that I feel really works. The first just didn't come out well enough for me to call it a success, and the second was beautiful, but didn't feel right. This one moves as if it is a part of me.
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Thanks, It is here with me in my painting studio.
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Welcome.
I'm happy for you if you think this one is a part of you...it's a good news...
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It's so beautiful...and not just because one of my alter-egos has an axe fetish. I love the interwoven feel of the design, and the geometry.
~pause~
SO VERY PRETTY!
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Thanks. -grin/blush-
I made a set of tools just for the project. It is the third attempt and the one I feel is successful. The first was technicly not so great. The second was beautiful to look at, but felt wrong, sort of akward. It sold, and has sold a couple times since then. It has held its value, though it is starting to show some wear with use. This one took months, but in the end it just came together as if it had a life of its own.
Thanks again
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Thanks, and thanks for the fave.
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Thats so much the coolest thing I've seen in a very long time.
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Thanks.
Now I'm working on area inlay, where I inlay a broad area, and then engrave, or carve shallow relief on the inlayed metal. No images yet, sorry. There is another guy on da who has done some inlay. I think he is in Poland or the Baltic Countries or somewhere like that.
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I also made some area inlays but I don't have any images either.
All you're metal works are very impressive !
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Thanks. I have been working on thick field inlay that I can carve in low relief. I will post when I have images.
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Stunning! I remember an actual artefact from one kings grave from danmark whith was very similar to this axe. I admire how even lines you managed to make. I made a sword handguard and pommel with same techinique last year and i can almost feel how many hours you spent with chisel and hammer... wonderful.
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It kept me in the studio for quite some time. In fact this was one where I would work for a few days, untill my hands hurt, put it aside for a few weeks, then come back to it, and repeate. It is the third of these that I attempted and the one that I think I really got right. The first just didn't work well, and though the second looked beautiful the balance was wrong. This one feels right in the hands, and swings with little effort, but strikes with brutal impact. I really tryed to internalize the form of this sort of interlace, without imitating any actual objects, and I think that on that account this one also came off well.
Thanks.
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my god. Such intecresy and talent!
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Not so much as you might think; it is fairly large, but I did nearly wear out the set of tools I made to do the work.
Cheers.
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taking a pause in my own metal work (rings usually) I came across this. Very well done. A true craftmans piece.
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Thanks, and best of luck on the books.
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Awesome (love Norse knotwork)! 
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Thanks. How do I go about submitting it. I took a look at the page, and I see a lot of familliar avatars.
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Just send a note to the club itself asking to join and give them the full-view link of the pic you wish to submit (either one of your axe pics, or both).
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Thanks. I think I will, though probably not untill I get back form being on the road for a bit.
Cheers.
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FABOULUS !!!!!!!! Great artist job !!!!
Obradov
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Thanks.
Your little viking house isn't so bad either.
All the best.
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The inlay is very nice, I've been meaning to do that eventually, but I need to get some more tools. I believe the technique you described is call damascene. very nice
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The term "damascene" is actually fairly loos, but usually means a patterning of ferrous metals, either through folding, or welding and twisting and rewelding bars of differing alloys, or through the smelting of specific ores that produce a water like surface when the metalis finished. The word is derived from "Damascus" the capitol of what is now Syria. Though none of the above metalsmithing processes were done there, it was the trading city where many such metal products were bought and sold.
As for tooling, I only made three tools specific to this job, and all were small hammer driven cutting tools. I made all three about four or five inches in length, and out of W1 tool steel, 3/16" in diameter.
The first was shaped like a lozenge graver, but tappered toward both ends, and ground to about a 30 or 35 degree angle from perpendicular. I also honed a foot on the bottom of about three or four degrees to keep it from ploughing in too deeply. I hardened it as well as the others in the usuall way for W1 that is to be used on steel. With this tool I cut the V shaped grooves to rough out the design.
The second tool I made much the same as the first, but shaped like a flat graver instead of a lozenge, and just a bit narrrower than the lines were intended to be. I made the foot on this one a bit more pronounced for fear of really cutting too deep, and also to reduce the chipping of the cutting edge. Had I to do the project over I would make this tool longer, as it took far more wear than the others. With this tool I made the channels have a flat bottom, and opened them to the desired width.
The final tool was just a little chisel with arounded tip, with the cutting edge ground to a differnt angle on each side, not unlike a tiny and rather blunt wood chisel. With this tool I undercut the edges of the channels, widening the bottom. This also pushed the channel walls up a bit so that when I drove the wire in they clenched back down on it for a firmer grip on the silver.
All of the other tools I used were quite common things like ball peen hammers, and wire cutters. If you are wanting to get started I would recommend doing some sort of practice piece in soft iron, or in brass, as they cut much easier than steel. Also I would suggest using .999 silver instead of sterling for this task, as it is soft, and fills the channels easly.
Have fun with it.
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I'm not sure of the derivation, technically the term used today is pattern welded. The reason that some people call pattern welded steels damascus is actually because of its resemblance to damascus steel which is actually wootz. Wootz is cool stuff. Basically it was a supersaturated steel with way more carbon than is could normally contain in the form of carbides. Personally I've yet to make or work wootz, though I know a few people who have. Hell on the anvils, you have to work it cold (number one reason I don't work it) if you heat it up too much, the carbon comes out of solution, and thats a mess. Interesting that we call pattern welded steel everything that it is not eh?
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*awe* I... you... this is..... *drools*
Had I money, and a credit card sir, I would probably buy something from you.
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Well I'm not 18 quite yet, so not for a while. Once I did though I would probably buy something from you. Especially if you ever did a really ornate knife/dagger, or an impressive sword.
*Sigh* I wish I had a sword.
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I don't do a lot of knoves and swords; too many others doing that. I much preferr areas that arn't really being explored. I do occationally take on the odd special project though.
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I know what you mean by the orignality thing. Sometimes if I'm writing fantasy I feel like I'm just regurgitating what some other author has already said. Oh well. Onward!
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I look for honesty of expression even more than originallity. It is quite possible to make something that is quite original, and still sucks. I've don that before, and wound up ripping it apart for scrap.
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"When the artist is happy, the piece is perfect."
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Wow Wow Wow, I didn't think us humans could still make such things
I should delete my crude language and go relearn my first
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Oh and by the way we can sill make such things we simply have to take the time and do it.
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Thanks. On another thread I have been discussing the whole visual art vs. text thing, and I do think that as useful as written things can be the visual is much more direct, and powerful a means of expression.
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yes I agree -
"...visual is much more direct, and powerful a means of expression"
but
I communicate here (crudely) with typed words and also crudely with my work- [link]
and
I'm not an artist.
-I'm being torn apart by my desire to walk between art and science toward a sustainable human future on this spinning rock to which we cling
.
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In the end there may not be all that much difference; both are essentially creative, and on the whole non-verbal, or at least that is how I approach both subjects. Further I think that the issue of sustainability is key to the business understanding creative persuits. Artists tend to think in terms of perminent vs. ephemerial, but I think this is the wrong question to ask. Clearly a work on paper is less perminent than one on stone, but it is only a matter of degrees. I think the real question is "is it transitory or sustainable?" We must remember that there is nothing inhearently wrong with something that is transitory so long as we know it to be so, and we are using it to move toward something more sustainable. The trick is to make something that becomes part of the human pattern so that the art is looken after long after we are gone, and in a way that is sustainable. I once made a cup for a group of people in an isolated place, it is silver, and has come back to me once for repairs. In the time since I made it has come to represent the regon in which they live, and its image is now a simbol with which they identify and a motif that is used to orniment all sorts of things. It is a very humbling thing, but I think that in this case I have created a sustainable bit of artwork, because even after I am gone the people there will take care of this object. And it is not just in artwork that think this is relivant. I keep a garden, where I grow much of my food. The garden is quite ephemerial, in that it is alwayse changing, but gardening is sustainable, and keeps happening year after year, and when I am gone people will still need to eat, and I hope will still plant gardens here. I'm afraid this is not the most articulate expression of this point, but I also think you will understand.
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