From thought to fire in steel
 

Pantyfanatic has been after me for a year now to start this thread,so we will see how it goes. For those that don't know me I've been blacksmithing for over 10 yrs making what some say are prettys ,and sharp and pointies..The first 2pics are where it all starts.

candle holder

This last summer we went to S Dakota to the Crazy Horse monument.

Lord Snow you might like these.

I am seriously crazy for iron. The candle holders are so beautiful. Sexiest thread ever.

The candle holders are so beautiful.

Thank you


Sexiest thread ever


I don't know about that I've seen pics of you!

I keep trying to get other people to build me a forge, but no one is willing to. LOL. Not sure if it's because of cost or if it's because they don't trust me with hammers, fire, and subsequently............make sharp, pointy objects.

I do like the look of those axes though. Especially the twisted shaft.

Lord Snow, have you thought of flint and bone? No fire but the coolest of knives and axes. Commercial black glass does wonders too.

Workmanship is fantastic jay-t. Thank you for sharing your work with us. That Indian shield is amazing. Loved it all.

Forgot to mention, great stuff jay-t. I hope you can't hear the envy in my typing. LOL

Pretties, indeed.

Jay-T i have to agree with everyone who posted before me..... great stuff and i too love the candle holders!!

Thinking back to my childhood, growing up watching westerns with my Dad, (or 'cowboys' as he would say), the blacksmith was always a big muscular hunk of a guy.... usually sweaty and just plain sexy!! mmmmmm.... is that you too Jay-T? ;) :D




Glad you kept after him to post this PF. :)

Oldfart, it's kind of hard to use flint, bone, and obsidian for stage combat weapons.

Not at all LS, it just lacks the clash and clang.

Kind of the point though really. Impressive looking moves with the unmistakable ring of steel.

Thinking back to my childhood, growing up watching westerns with my Dad, (or 'cowboys' as he would say), the blacksmith was always a big muscular hunk of a guy.... usually sweaty and just plain sexy!! mmmmmm.... is that you too Jay-T? ;) :D

Muscular? nope just average size
sweaty and sexy you bet! at least the wife thinks so lol!

These are a couple of the sharp and pointies we make.
Every March I have a master knife and sword maker come from the frozen north and stay with us until mid June.We set up at a couple of Renn Faires for 6 weeks .

mmmmm.... thanks for that image Jay-T. Lucky wife. :)

A claymore in process

I like the look of that claymore. What are the dimensions on it?

Whats a claymore ?

Either (in this case), a huge, heavy longsword made for the purpose of opening cans (that is, actually penetrating late medieval/early renaissance body armor). Nasty anti-elitist personnel weapon.

Or, a directional land mine named after the sword. The mine is bascially a brick of plastic explosive, backed by a steel plate, and fronted by a large number of steel pellets. Nasty anti-personnel weapon.

Which ones?

The claymore sword wasn't just anti-armor. It was anti-cavalry. The blade is usually exceptionally long and heavy, so that when the horses charged they could either set it up to spear the horse's chest or swing it and take out the horse's front legs.

As an anti-cavalry device, it was inferior to pikestaffs and other "standoff" weapons.

True, but it was more versatile than the pikes/spears. The shaft of a spear would snap under the crashing weight of the horse and rider. Whereas the sword, if swung, would be able to continue the fight.

Not if you have a horse sitting on you. The word is "standoff". Many pikes were just sharpened saplings, cheap and disposable.

Still have the chance to get run over and landed on by a horse with a pike. Horse can jump you know. Since the claymore is more maneuverable than a pike which would have to be braced into the ground, if the horse jumps you still have the option of hamstringing it, or going for the rider instead. The force of the blow versus the momentum of the horse would easily knock the heavily armored rider off. He wouldn't be able to get up very fast since his armor would be an extra 150-200 pounds, so he'd be easily taken care of.

Though I think we might have to concede that this is a difference of opinion and just simply agree to disagree.

Damn, this was just getting heated (and fun).

We'll wait for the next opportunity.

Poor horses!!!

Not necessarily. Often, the horses were smarter than the riders, and would balk at charging well-disciplined infantry who looked like they might be armed with pikes.

See, the tactics were such that the pikes would sometimes be hidden in what ever ground cover was available and raised (and braced, like jay-t said) at the last moment as the cavalry charged. Of course, probably just as often the pikes would be presented at the beginning of a battle, as a *deterrent* to such a charge.

In either case, if the cavalry (of varying, but usually much more heavily armored than infantry) really wanted to continue the charge, they would often have to force the horse to do so.

There has never been a case, to my knowledge when medieval cavalry got the best of well-disciplined infantry: i. e. infantry that stood their ground and formation throughout the battle.

However, the well-disciplined part is the kicker: the reputation and reality of medieval knights were such that, infantry, even in a controlled formation at the beginning of a battle, would break and run. In which case, the cavalry has it all over the infantry. Hence, the need for a claymore for the (realitively rich) infantryman: it gave him a somewhat better chance in a one-on-one fight with a better armored cavalryman.

The rich part wasn't always true. With it's heavy use and many varying degrees of large swords, oft times weaponry was retrieved by those that survived. I agree with GG in the well trained aspect. Most times the opposing force for the knights were whatever rabble decided to try a civil war or a more barbaric culture, and subsequently were more interested in their own survival than continuing the fight. Which means they broke and ran and were trampled.

To drift off the topic slightly, we get to the argument that a longbowman was better than a arquebus firer in terms of accuracy and rate of fire. A similar circumstance when the Brits met the Amerindians and Oz Aborigines.

I get a lot of requests for fork and spoons at the faires for dinner with the king and queen

lovelies

Interesting take on the fork.

Is that a historical item copied?

Yes, I have a friend that goes to Denmark every other year to tour the mesueams looking for artifacts we can reproduce.We also work with a history professor whose expertise is the Viking era.He goes every year to Scandivia for the reinactments of Vikings .
If you would like I will post some tidbits of history of blacksmithing thru the ages.

Oldfart, I can't argue with you on that one. I don't know anything about bowmen, except the English longbow. Unless you want to start with the much more modern day Olympic archery, which I just so happen to be formally (and formerly) trained in.

Nah, not many olympic archers at Crecy or Agincourt.

Please.