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Vidirhrafn - Willowraven
weight of sword - 1lb:10.3oz / 747g
overall length - 29.5 inches / 75cm
blade length - 24.25 inches/ 61.5cm
hilt length - 5.5inches / 14cm
distal taper - 6mm at hilt tapering to 2.5mm before tip
point of balance - 14cm / 5.5 inches from hilt
point of percussion - 12 inches / 30cm from tip
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| Here are the billets which I will forge into the composite pattern
welded sword. The billet on the left will be cut up and stacked and
forge welded until I have 800 layers of steel and will then be forged
out into what will become the edge billet of the sword. The billet on the right is one of three 9 layer billets which will be twisted in an alternating interrupted twist pattern and will become the pattern welded body of the sword blade. |
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| Here the 9 layer billets have been precisely twisted into the pattern I want and the 800 layer edge billet has been forged out to match the core billets. As this is going to be a single edged sword the edge billet does not wrap around the center billets. |
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| While I was forging the billets for this sword one of them burned me and left a perfect willow leaf mark on my forearm. |
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| Several days later, I found a young wounded raven near my forge,
he had lost a battle with about fifty nest protecting crows. He let
me carry him on my arm to my forge, and stayed there for about an
hour, but sucumbed to his injuries in my arms on the way to the vets. I desided to name this sword after him and the burn it gave me. Thus Willowraven - or in Viking Vidirhrafn |
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The scabbard for this blade is carved of curly yellow birch hartwood.
and I am carving a dragon head chape for it out of hard wax, wich
I will cast into bronze. I made a good fit by tracing the outline of the tip on a block of wax, cutting it out and then melting wax around the chape. I then carved away the excess wax until it started to resemble the shape I wanted. |
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| I have carved the mouth and nose and am starting on the spiral bellow the ear. |
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| Carved in the teeth and drawing in the eye. |
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| I melted a ball of hard wax where the eye will be and I will now carve it down to the shape I want. |
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| I have begun the outline where the decorative twist will be carved. |
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| coming close to completion. |
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| I drilled a hole through the tip of the scabbard and the chape and carved a pin with a decorative head to fasten the chape securely to the scabbard. |
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| The scabbard throat depicts the viking gods and goddesses, Odin is in the center flanked by Freya and Frigga, There is also Thor his wife Sif, Loki, the trickster, Tyr, Frey and Idunna. The colourfull stories of these gods and there exploits can be read in the Norse myths. |
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| The back of the scabbard with a suspension bracket. |
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| The throat is sprewed and gated and placed in it's sprew cap ready
to have a mold made of it. I make the mold by placing a steel cylinder over the wax model, and poring a liquid investment solution over the model. Once the investment hardens into a mold, I remove the rubber sprew cap, and melt the wax model out of the mold, leaving an empty cavity the exact shape of the model. I then pour molten bronze into the space, and once it cools I will have a bronze scabbard throat. |
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| Here is the chape ready to have a mold made of it. |
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| Here is the pattern on the blade after a rough polish and etch. Before I assemble the hilt I will do a proper polish and a final etch. |
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| Dec.9 Just finished casting. before casting I heat the mold up
to 900 degrees Fahrenheit this makes sure all the wax is melted out
and also keeps the bronze from cooling to quickly once I have poured
it into the mold. In this photo I am taking the 900 degree mold out of the kiln and am going to place it in the vacuum chamber for casting. |
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| The mold walls are perforated to allow the vacuum to suck through the mold material and create suction in the mold cavity. |
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| I carefully slide the mold into the chamber. the mold has a steel flange that fits over a heat resistant rubber O ring to create a vacuum seal. |
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| Now I am removing the crucible from my electric kiln. the bronze is 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. I find this to be a good pouring temperature, any hotter and it will corrode the mold material and create a sandy finish on the bronzes. |
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| I have turned the vacuum chamber on, so the hole in the top of the mold will suck the bronze in as soon as I block it by poring the liquid bronze in the sprew cap. |
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| Pouring the bronze. |
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| The mold is full. I now place the crusible back in the kiln and quickly turn off the vacuum chamber, to keep the bronze from eating into the mold. |
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| I have now removed the mold from the vacuum chamber and am allowing it to cool to a black heat at which point I will quench it in water and remove the bronze from the mold. |
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| Here is the lower guard right after casting. |
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| Here is the chape fresh from casting. |
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| This is the scabbard throat once it has been cast in bronze. Now I will have to cut the sprews and gates off with a jewelers saw and polish and finish the bronze. |
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| This is the artifact that inspired the chape on this scabbard. I took a picture of it at the British Museum this spring (March2009). This is a very beautifull and fierce artifact, I expect I'll use it as an inspiration again. |
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| The throat on the scabbard for this piece was inspired by these drinking horn mounts from the British Museum, I started out doing something that was very similar to these artifacts, but it turns out they where just the launching pad, and I went off into somewhere a bit more mythical with specific gods and goddesses inspired by other viking age artifacts. |
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| Here I have removed the sprews from the bronzes and begun the polishing process. you can see on the lower guard that the blade fits into a slot so the guard acts as a partial sleeve over the shoulders of the blade. |
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| Once the fittings have been polished it is time to patina them. To get the colour I want I use liver of sulphur (also called sulfurated potash) dissolved in warm water. |
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| I have darkened the chape and highlighted certain areas for contrast. |
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| I selectively darkened the scabbard throat to accentuate the faces. |
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| Once I have darkened the parts of the throat that I wanted to, I polish the faces with steel wool, and bring them to a bronze luster. |
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| Now that I have the fittings ready it is time to do a final polish on the blade. Starting at 80 grit sand paper I will polish it to 600 grit before etching in ferric chloride (FeCl3) to bring out the pattern. |
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| I had a beautiful piece of ancient oak that my friend Don Fogg gave me, it was taken from the rib of a submerged viking ship. I'd been saving it for a special occasion, and I decided that it would be the right material for this sword grip. I designed a grip pattern, and began the process of making the grip by drilling holes from both ends of the piece of wood and then burning an exact hole with a steel model of the swords tang. |
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| The grip has been fitted and shaped and is ready for me to apply the design. |
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| I draw the design on the grip with a white pencil. |
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| Then I cut the lines in with a scue chisel. |
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| I then carve out the background. |
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| Once the background is carved out I round the edges of the carving and carve in the over under pattern with a strait chisel. |
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| Finally I carve in the grace lines with a v shaped chisel. and do the final polish. |
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| Once both sides of the grip are carved and polished I am ready to do the final assembly of the hilt and glue it in place. I use a long clamp to make sure everything stays tight while the glue sets. |
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| Once the glue is set I rivet the tang over, to hold everything securely in place. The final step in the assembly is to attach the pommel through the two rivet holes and peen the pommel rivets. once I have oiled the grip I am ready to photograph. |
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