Another Seax

Most of the knives from two posts down are in new homes, now.  I decided to offer them to folks in the local SCA in exchange for their Covid crafts.  Essentially, I'm trying to give folks a reason to make things.  I give them a knife, they have to send me something they made.

Right at the end of the trade, I got a contact from a very old friend who wanted any of them that I cared to send.  In this case, I wanted to send something special, so I made one just for him.

This is the blade as forged and still hot.  The length of the blade is about 7".

The "brut de forge" look is one I am really getting into, nowadays.  It leaves no place to hide shoddy smithwork.  I don't claim to be the best bladesmith you will ever encounter, but I do say that very few have more fun at it than I do!  I really like trying to push the extreme of how much knife I can get from a piece of the coil spring.  And forging to nearly finished dimensions is part of getting that maximum knife from minimum material.

Next, a picture of the handle glued up:

 And after shaping it, I oiled the wood.

The spacer between the antler bit and the birdseye maple is two layers of birch bark.

This knife is a cutter, but not a chopper.  I was taking some inspiration from the Aachen Seax, also known as the Hunting Knife of Charlemagne.  The handle is very comfortable on this one, too.  Once the oil cures, I'll wax it, then deliver it.