Back to the Seax

[Jeff Pringle]

Despite the fact that this blade was vertically quenched into warm water without any clay coating, it?s a hamon ? the hardened steel just would not etch. The spots above the ?line? (it?s kinda too wild to be a line) are random patches of hardened steel midst the soft.

This is really annoying to me, ?cause I spent years trying to get fancy Japanese-style ?temper? lines while using (I figured out later) inappropriate steels and quenchants, and now I?m not trying at all and they are showing up all over the place. This is what you get when you go back to simple, shallow-hardening steels and water, I guess.

I can?t decide if it?s really cool or really ugly ? could be both. I though it would disappear in the etch, but it just got more obvious. Next one will get a different finish if I get another volunteer hamon.

The first blade has a monosteel edge of 1070 (which acts like (is?) a deeper hardening steel than the 1095/1018 Damascus on the other one) and was quenched in oil, so it?s not so afflicted by spots.

p.s. Looking forward to seeing your Grettir's Seax project, JAL!

[J.Arthur Loose]

I bet you could selectively sand the edge material and get it to mostly (visually) go away. Structurally, it's a good thing, and I'd guess some originals could have had similar things going on...

I had that *exact* issue with 1018 / 1095 damascus, which is why I asked. What I finally figured out was that there was an inevitable carbon migration; and that 1095, which is already shallow hardening due to the lack of manganese, became even shallower when reduced to .60 or so. I got blades with hard edges and soft spines in full vertical quenches, mostly because the thin edges cooled quickly enough while the thick spines did not, but was unhappy with the lack of control with regard to exactly where it happened and how it showed up in the etch. All the other 10XX steels have plently of manganese, so I found I was better off trading less carbon for more manganese and going to 1084 or 1070. I suspect that a lot of Migration/Viking damascus that was high/low carbon had alloying elements like phosphorus or silicon (maybe even nickel,) that slowed down the carbon migration.

I did once get an interesting effect by making a blade with a 1095 / 1018 spine and a 1084 edge. The damascus spine completely missed the curve in the quench and the 1084 hardened great, with no ill effects upon the etch. It did turn a perfectly straight blade into a katana-bowie though! It's "Bill's Bowie," in my knife portfolio in the Bowies & Hunters section.

[Dodd]

Wow! I never expected a responce. This is fantastic!
So many questions come to mind, but I think I'll save that until later.
Thanks so much, this is really quite inspiring.

Sincerely;
- Andrew Dodd

[sjaqua]

Wow! it is seriously cool to see more smiths working on the migration era patterns. I think we are also seeing a new age for the Seax profile blade. Jeff, I think your work on these two pieces is outstanding. I know they are not the destination you are looking for on this project, but they sure make for some wonderful side trips.

Andrew, you just keep on asking questions. The people on these forums are some of the most sharing folks, that I have ever run across. I started this knife making gig, five years ago and I am very grateful for the help I have found here.

[Roger Gregory]

There is some fantastic information exchange going on here and serious encouragement amongst the Seax-aholics

Those pictures of Jeff's work are a reminder what a fantastic shape the seax is, as well as what nice work Jeff has been doing. I want to see more....

Roger

[hammerdownnow]

The Seax is one of the legendary patterns that struck fear in the hearts of those who opposed it. Another is the Roman short sword. Which came first, the short sword or the seax?

[sjaqua]

The migration era, from which the most examples of the seax profile blades comes from, overlaps the end of the roman period and beyond. In fact it is the fall of rome that has the greatest impact on the migrating nations, that redraws the map of europe.

The Gladius Hispanna(sp?) is firmly in place by the 1st and 2nd century AD. Where as the hight of the viking period is during the 8th and 9th centurys.

So while many of the migration era forms predate the viking era, taking into account that the iron age spread slowely to northern europe (most spread by the romans), I feel safe in saying that the roman gladius predates the seax by a goodly amount of time

[Don Halter]

"I think we are also seeing a new age for the Seax profile blade."

Ya know...all these clip point bowie guys are really saxons at heart!


I was hoping to have enough stock together to get a table at the Spirit of Steel Show. I'm not going to swing it, though. I was wanting to enter the cutting contest using a traditional seax (traditional, plus required thong and handle pins). Maybe even dress up in some maille. I bet I'd at least get plenty of pics taken and some free publicity

[J.Arthur Loose]

The Seax, for many of us, is an ancestral blade.

The continental Saxons are named after it, as are the Anglo-Saxons.

By reforging the Seax & traditional pattern welding we are rekindling interest in history, mythology, and a world-view untainted by the worker/consumer mentality & cheap materialism that is the spirit of our age...

A New Age for the Seax indeed!