Mountain King Forge

A little Billnas Bruk axe restored to working condition. It arrived with chips in the edge, grinder marks on the head, a loose fitting handle and no wedge. I ground away the marks on the head and polished them, then rubbed the bright steel with vinegar to add patina. The cutting edge was reprofiled with convex bevels via some wet grinding to protect the temper. The handle has been spokeshaved for a better fit, re wedged, oiled and buffed. It's ready.

Work in progress ~ a new dagger design with integral guard and bolster. Hand forged from Silver steel.

"Fargo" Work in progress. The first of three left handed Yakut type knives with integral bolsters forged from EN19T railway bolts. This one has an iron handle from the 1800's which reads "Wells unbreakable file handle size 1. Patent A.C. Wells & Co." Brass and copper shims and a 5.56mm Brass bullet case end cap complete the handle. Crafted with no electricity, forged almost to finish then filed and whetstoned.

My student - Alan, returned to show me what he had done with his knife, forged over the course of two days at my smithy as part of a bladesmithing class.. He used Walnut for the handle, then crafted and wet moulded his own leather sheath with basket weave stamped pattern and his name. What a beauty. So nice to see.

Invest in yourself. Learn some new skills with a one day bladesmithing class. One on one tuition, step by step guidance using only traditional techniques in the working forge museum. https://www.etsy.com/…/one-day-introduc tion-to-bladesmithing

Wolf's head hammer, work in progress. Hand forged from EN9 Steel, weighing approx 2 kilos.

An English cutler's type anvil or "Stiddy" arrived at the museum yesterday. Here it is paired with an English cutler's hammer. Weight is somewhere under 100 kilos, the body is wrought iron with a steel working face. Features include deliberately curved ends, a soft and a hard edge (meaning the angle of the corner), a bick and two large hardies.

This little Bavarian Anvil arrived today, full of crude hand forged charm. Estimated age is from the 16-1700's, if confirmed this will make it the oldest anvil in the Museum. Engraved with half moon stamps and leaves. Weight is 54 Kilos.

Alan completed a bladesmithing class with me over two days for his 70th birthday. He forged this giant Bowie Knife from a leaf spring, and his perfectionism made it a wonder to behold. You can find more information on my Blacksmithing and bladesmithing classes, here- http://mountainkingforge.com/blacksmithin g-classes/

Woodland knife Forged from spring steel, featuring sabre grind bevels, full tang handle with rolled edges encapsulating solid copper scales stamped with a flower, forged integral hook at the pommel end for ease of carry and solid steel rivets through the scales.

Three small hammers forged from cam shaft. The hammer is the King of the tools, by hammer and hand all tools for every other craft were created.

Iron Age inspired knife, forged from spring steel. Available now ~ https://www.etsy.com/…/iron-age-knife-h and-forged-from-spri…?

Ball Pein hammer head forged from a DROT cam shaft.

Another shot of the "Champion's Cudgel" The head weighs 9.7 Lbs

Tools of the Trade

Two heavy duty Mining themed hammers. Mining is the lifeblood of Blacksmithing and without it the latter wouldn't exist. The two are connected on a primordial level, the miner extracts ores and coal from the womb of the earth, the Blacksmith then smelts the ores to their purest form and gives them life and purpose. The Hammer on the left is named "Shunt", another word for Haul in Pit Terminology. It is an old 1800's Pick hammer with the spike cut off, mounted on a mining pick handle of a similar age. The hammer on the right is named "Gruber", from the Austrian/Bavarian "Grube" meaning mine or pit. The head is hand forged by me, the counterweight is a tungsten tipped rock drill bit found in a mine in Wales.