We had the joy of merchanting in the easy bake oven that was EK50. It was a lovely event, especially when you choose to bring a forge with you. In the course of our first day there I had the unmitigated pleasure of running into my good friend Duke Rurik. He was in turn showing the King of Aethelmearc around the merchant area. The king was looking for an anniversary gift for his wife; which was the following day. I know royalty can be busy and things can fall through the cracks.
His Grace brought the King to my booth and he asked me if I could make a small blade for his wife, the Queen of Aethelmearc.
EK50 was a bit of a question mark for us and we did not know what to expect, so we brought a little of everything except knife making materials or tools. We figure to do mostly blacksmithing and some commissions (which we did a number of) nothing to make a fine blade nor the tools to make one. However not being one to say no to royalty, and the idea of a knife as an anniversary gift made my heart go pitter patter, I said yes of course!
The design we decided on was a small scramasax. I knew he needed it by the next afternoon. We agreed on a price and I got to work. This was about four in the afternoon on Friday. The only steel I had to work with was a high carbon railroad spike I brought just in case I had time to start on a spike knife.
I also brought no grinders except for our angle grinder we use to cut steel with.
So i spent the next three hours hammering this spike down to the size blade shown in the picture. I normalized it and let it sit until the morning. On the way back to our hotel I stopped at Lowes and picked up some grinding wheels and sand paper to finish the knife in the morning . I also picked up a small bucket and some vegetable oil so I could quench harden the knife.
The next morning I oil quenched the knife and hand sanded the finish with various grits of sand paper. The one positive was that the king wanted to put his own handle on the knife so all I had to do was finish the blade. I used the angle grinder to put in a rough edge and then 400, 800, and 1200 grit to hone the edge sharp, I stropped it on my shop apron and the thing was ready jut as he came to get it.
I believe he liked it based on his smile and many thanks. It was definitely a fun and slightly stressful project.
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