Sun rises over spruce ridged hills through morning mist, hummocks and trees cast long shadows. Leaves hold the light like lanterns or translucent hands, their veins showing.
It’s been fire weather lately, my chimney trails a white plume, the Jøtul in my shop is back to work, and so am I.
I’ve been traveling again. Coming home to silver branches and leaves like elf gold makes me appreciate where I live. I love traveling and seeing new places, I’ve been to New York, Los Angeles, and London all within the last six months, and each place is fascinating and strange and beautiful. But coming home is good — starting a fire in the stove, getting my hands dirty with wood and wax and metal, even better.
Here is a gallery of process images of the wizard dagger I’m working on, click on the image for a closer look.
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- test carving before I tool the scabbard
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- tooled scabbard
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- I drill out the wax for the scabbard throat
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- shaping the inside of the scabbard throat
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- scabbard throat carved in wax
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- upper guard carved in wax
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- ebony for the grip
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- drilled
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- corners removed
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- rounded
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- ready to fit to the blade
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- ebony cut and fit to the tang
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- cutting and shaping black horn risers
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- fitting and shaping the risers
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- once the horn is polished it is lustrous black, but translucent
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- I trace the pomel on a block of wax
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- rough carved
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- shaping the pomel with a rasp
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- close to the shape I want
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- the pomel is shaped
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- I carved an alcove for a reliquary
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- the beginning of a skull carved in wax
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- I fit the skull in the reliquary alcove
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- ready to cast into metal
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- the wax models sprued and ready to cast
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- cleaning the metal fittings
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- bronze pomel and silver skull, just after casting
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- the skull fits
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Wonderful Thank you for sharing those pictures and for sharing your ART.
Love the work keep it up
At last I get to see that scabbard up close! This is going to be another stunner!
Very nice. By the way, do know what the writing on your Jøtul says? Can not make out the letters, but I guess it’s in Norwegian.
Cheers
Thanks Pasi, I don’t know what the writing says. I had a Norwegian friend read it to me once, but that was so long ago that I’ve forgotten 🙂
Love the work, Jake! You’ve a rare talent I’m envious of. I am only fresh to the smith work myself. Seeing your work here reminds me that I have a LONG way to go. Hey: How do I order a custom piece from you?
Big fan, great stuff.
Hey Jake,
The inscriptions on your Jøtul says roughly:
“As the evening grows late and the day ends I bank my fire. God will it that my fire never die out.”
So its a prayer for the process of burying hot coals in ashes to make it last till the next morning.
(I´m neither native English or Norweigan so there might be some inaccuracies in the translation.)
Thanks Rikard, good to know!