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Astalo β Weapon closeups
Published: 2010-09-26 18:59:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 55094; Favourites: 816; Downloads: 779
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Description
Almost all my historical style axes, maces, flails and polearms in same photo montage:1. Hand axe from medieval battlefields. (Forged from old ball-peen hammer & flat steels.)
2. Slavic Bulawa mace. (Made from tractor lift arm ball and steel tube etc.)
3. Native American spiked tomahawk (Forged from old mason's hammer.)
4. Mix between medieval Goedendag mace and studded war club.
5. Long war flail very similar to the models what foot soldiers use in medieval Europe. (I use huge bearing balls on that thing..)
6. Two handed Dane axe from the viking period.
7. Simple ball mace where i took ideas from medieval England & Russia etc. (Made from tractor lift arm ball and steel tube etc.)
8. 76 cm long horseman's axe from medieval europe. (Forged from old claw hammer, but langets are from normal flat steel.)
9. Francisca throwing axe from 500-900 century Europe.
10. Flanged mace what they use in medieval battlefieds. (Maybe a little bit too big and heavy compared to authentic models..)
11. One handed Skeggox axe from the viking period.
12. Morning star flail. (At least that rusty cast iron ball is way too huge and heavy compared to authentic morgensterns..) Spikes are made from old bolts.
13. Voulge pole-weapon from medieval Europe. (Blade part is forged from old leaf spring.)
14. Executioner's axe made from old rusty broad axe what i found in the forest broken to two pieces.
15. Medieval hunting spear.
16. Bardiche, traditional infantry polearm from eastern Europe. (Blade is made from old half broken "plow disc".)
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Comments: 173
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How long does it take you on average to make one of your creations?
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Simple objects like forged nails or wall hooks take about 5-15 minutes to make, but more complicated metal works can take many days. For example about two days for making some basic axe with wooden shaft.
There is few personal pieces where i used over a week for finishing the whole project. (For example that clockwork hand mechanism.)
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Have you ever watched a TV show called Forged in Fire, where a person has 6 hours to make a knife, ax, or some other edged weapon from different items? They can be parts from a lawnmower, a car, ball bearing, tools, or flat stock. Quite an interesting show.Β It is amazing what they can make in 6 hours.
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I have not seen "Forged in fire", but when people talk about that tv show in different blacksmith forums, there is usually quite a lot of critic from it.
www.bladeforums.com/threads/thβ¦
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From what I saw a lot of the complaining was they only had 3 hours to make a knife. But in actuality they had 6, and sometimes even 7 hours. 3 hours to forge and temper the blade, and 3 to finish it with a handle and sharpening it ( and sometimes a hand guard).Β The real challenge was the 2 finalists had 5 days in their own forge to create a weapon from history that they are given to create. That is when the real talent shines.
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I think that real talent comes with quality of the finished piece and not how fast you can make it.
There was a rumour that they have asked also some already famous knifesmiths like Petr "Gullinbursti" Florianek for the show, but him and some other guys have refused because of that hasty time limit. Professional craftsmen are usually quite proud folk and don't want to make rushed projects, and i kinda understand mr Florianek, because if you want to maintain top rate always in your art, you can't be too hasty in the making.
Five days is of course better time for more complex weapon projects. Actual blade forging part is always quite fast, but the finishing & polishing phase can take a lot of time if you want to make it good and proper.
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I couldn't agree more. But it has one positive, it gives good publicity to the winners, plus $10,000.Β And actually, some of the knives made there looked pretty good.Β
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Ok. I try to check that show in some day. It sounded much more interesting when you said that finalists can use also their own workshops for last projects. Blacksmiths have often some special tools, jigs and self taught methods for different things so you can learn all kind of trade secrets when you see their own personal spaces.
That's why i like to watch a lot of different blacksmith youtubers, like Freerk Wieringa, Niels Provos, Alec Steele, Joey van der Steeg, brotherbanzai, TorbjΓΆrn Γ
hman & "Man at arms" guys in the AWE me channel. Also michaelcthulhu makes interesting fantasy weapons, but he is more like a welder than actual blacksmith.
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Yes, and they throw you a loop sometimes. Say they give you a challenge of producing a King Arthur Broad Sword in your home forge as a finalist?.Who has a forge big enough to handle such a piece? Or an oil bath tank to put it in for tempering? It can be quite a challenge and be able to pass the test they subject your blade to. It's one thing to produce a pretty blade, but it has to function much like an actual battle weapon had to. Goes to show you what kind of skill a blade smith in olden times had without the power hammers and grinding belts of today.
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Yeah. Sword making was more time consuming work back in the days, but only smaller workshops made them merely with simple hand tools.
Electric belt grinders are quite late invention, but there has been watermill powered trip hammers or knife grinding wheels since the ancient roman times. Mechanised forging techniques kinda get lost after the falling of Rome, but hydropower trip hammers reappeared in medieval Europe by the 12th century and have been quite common sight in famous blade making areas like Toledo since then.
333 Year old HΓ€fla Hammermill "trip hammer" comes to life after a decade: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCrlp_β¦
hydrodynamic grinding wheels: www.bladeforums.com/threads/thβ¦
Also first mechanical drill presses or forging machines were invented before modern times, but their power source was mostly some gears, springs, counterweights, flywheels and users own strenght.
Hand crank drill presses: www.anvilfire.com/anvils/af_miβ¦
Treadle hammers: www.spaco.org/othertreadle.htm
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Interesting. I didn't know power hammers were that old. Learn something new every day.
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And before early power hammers there was at least some "strikers" for helping the bigger forging projects with large sledgehammers. www.iforgeiron.com/topic/9147-β¦
There you can see how the striker work with blacksmith: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKckTβ¦
I know few colleagues who still use their apperentices for striking work even if they own proper power hammers. I also tested that striking job in my vocational college days, but really hated it, because using 6-8 kg sledgehammers for hand forging is more exhausting that some gym workout.
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A fine collection! I also appreciate the honesty shown in regards to authenticity.
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Thanks for the compliments.
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May I ask for the ball diameters for 2, 7 and 12? Thank you!
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Diameter of the number two is 55 mm andΒ seven is 56 mm. I modificated them from old used "tractor lift arm balls" www.google.fi/search?q=tractorβ¦
Number 12 spike ball flail was made from some cast iron ball found in junkyard. Base diameter of the ball is about 75 mm or almost 12 cm between the spike points, so it's way more larger and heavier than any real historical flail weights.
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Awesome! And by the way, I do not think you are too far off, I have personally seen similar kinda flails in England that were about same size and even larger (maybe ball was hollow, in some cases wooden as well), plus I have a couple photos of them from museums (found on the internet) which seem to roughly fit your size. One I think is in Berlin Museum (not sure!), the other is in Castle Bran in Romania. So I think you are still fairly accurate and would be able to technically use it as they did in history, but perhaps not on foot, but better on horseback. So you wont have to swing it around too much and dont get too tired quickly, cause the speed while being mounted does half the job for you. But it may also be the chance that the examples I mentioned are meant to be 2-handed and the real poles just weren't preserved, so there is that possibility as well.
May I ask what you would charge for these products? You can PM me with the info if thats better for you.
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Thanks for the offer, but i'm not that intererest for making any kind of business in Deviant Art, and don't have made weapon related commission that often even in my my local circles.. For example all of these are only some personal hobby projects.
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Thanks for adding them to your favourites.
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I love your collection, I will be looking through your collection here, I hope it has grown!
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Very nice to hear it and thanks for adding me to your watchlist.
I have not made any new weapons in last few years, but there is maybe some new knifes or other small things coming in next spring.
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Impressive work. I especially like 16, as I work with plow disc steel quite a bit myself.Β
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Thanks.. Your axe sure looked very interesting.
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This is awesome. Your ability to reforge some of these is truly impressive.
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Nice to hear it and thanks also for the faves and watch.
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You're welcome.
And thank you for the llama
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Thanks for adding it and also some of my other weapon pictures to your favourites.
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I forged most of the axes, but some other pieces are welded together from old farm tools, but i had to forge new parts also for them. (There was clear description under that photo montage..)
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thanks for reply and sorry about that...
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Thanks for the compliments.
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Thanks for adding them to your favourites.
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Only a small part of my collection.
Thanks for adding this and one of my throwing weapon pictures to your favourites.
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I'm a fan of maces and flails, and you have astonishing good ones.
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