Big Franks

[Robert]

No, not talking about sausages here, these are newly finished fighting knives.
The shape is based on grave finds from Frankish burials. These are early seax. I experimented with the handles a bit. All blades are wittle tanged, this was the way these blades were commonly hafted. Late Roman have the tanges peened on a buttplate. The largest has a 11# blade. I also included a picture of an antler handled seax I did, this has a buttplate. There is no historical evidence for this type of seax, but I only found that out after shaping the blade :oops: . It was a good blade, so I went and finished it anyway. Will probably eventualy sell it to a non-reenactor

[fasta]

Hi Robert,

Do you have any dates for the blade shapes?

[M. Demetrius]

Very nice work. Smooth lines, and very flat metal. Do you use only a hand-held hammer?

[Robert]

These are early seax, so date around 500 AD. But large knives like this are found way earlier then that in a Germanic context as well. The droppoint seem to become dominent later on, not to be confused with the broken back type having a straight blade. This droppoint shape is clearly seen in the largest seax at the top. A lot of seax have paralel lines engraved down the spine of the blade, coming together in a point where the drop of the point starts. I may try that on one of these as well. But I still have two daggers I want to do, so that may take a while to get done. Too many projects

I use a hand held hammer and anvil, yes. The heating is done with a coal forge. The smooth finish is both achieved by carefull smithing, keeping the face of the hammer flat on the blade and by then filing and grinding the blade. One uses a rasp to get rid of the firescale and then an assortment of large files. These are as big as the knife! I use a grinding stone to correct the lines. Then there is the sanding, I use up to 180 grit max. That is because I do not like the mirror finish, these knives are meant to be used. As these knives are triangular in cross section, there is no secondary sharpening.

[M. Demetrius]

All blades are wittle tanged

I'm not familiar with that term. By that, do you mean the tang is burned into the handle, with perhaps a pilot hole drilled for guidance? Please explain. I really like the looks of these knives, and am very curious as to how they're made, specifically the assembly of the blade to the handle.

[Robert]

Yep, the whittle :oops: tang does not pas all the way through. As to burning, I suppose that is possible, I have tried it, but did not think it a great succes . I prefer gouging out a slit in the handle. When most of the gouging is done, it is possible to do the last bit by burning it in. To set it solid, one can use warmed ressin mixed with a bit of charcoal or ochre as a bonding agent. The bonding agent stops it from being very sticky after it cools. Great glue! But boneglue will work just as well, this is also applied hot (100 C)

[M. Demetrius]

Is the handle in two pieces glued together around the tang, then? I can't visualize how a gouge could cut a slit lengthwise in a handle's wood. Maybe I'm missing something (besides wits).

[Medicus matt]

Very nice work Robert.

On the subject of fitting the handles, for antler handles I soak the finished handle in water for a week and then tap it onto the whittle tang with a wooden mallet. The soaking softens up the core of the antler and it goes on quite easily as long as you don't rush it. Once the handle dries out again it's stuck on pretty fast. I used to burn them on but soaking results in fewer split handles and less time banging my head against the bench.

With wooden handles I drill a hole first, then either chisel or file the hole to about the right size and then either burn the tang in for a good tight fit if the handle is thick enough or file it out until it's slightly oversize and then set the tang in with resin.

[M. Demetrius]

Do you drill a hole through the tang to make the resin/glue bond across its axis, or is that unnecessary?

[Medicus matt]

Do you drill a hole through the tang to make the resin/glue bond across its axis, or is that unnecessary?

Unnecessary. I try to avoid gluing at all whenever possible. A good 'interference' fit is always more preferable.
Putting a hole through a tang weakens it, especially when it's a thin whittle/rat-tail tang.

[Robert]

With the Frank or Germanic blades, the way descibed is best, get the slit cut about right and then burn or fit with glue or ressin. There are no rattail tangs in that period, as far as I have seen so far, most are very beefy, wide tangs and go a long way into the rather long handles. The handles in the picture are that long because of the length of the period tangs.

[M. Demetrius]

So what do you mean, when you say "whittle tang"? Can you show a diagram or a photo? I'm confused. (Most folks would agree with that, I think. :lol: )

[Medicus matt]

So what do you mean, when you say "whittle tang"? Can you show a diagram or a photo? I'm confused. (Most folks would agree with that, I think. :lol: )

A whittle tang tapers from the shoulders of the blade to the end of the tang, a rat tail tang is very narrow along it's whole length, quite weak and not suitable for a heavy duty knife ( I use them when making small files and other light hand-tools).

These are whittle tangs.

[attachment=0:2bbhk4fi]<!-- ia0 eating_blades.jpg<!-- ia0 [/attachment:2bbhk4fi]

[Robert]

He Matt,

Those are nice blades. What kind of handle would you put on the middle one?

[M. Demetrius]

Thanks for the explanation. And yep, those are nice blades: good work!