Description
This is a 29″ Random pattern, Damascus bladed sword inspired by the Suontaka sword found in Finland in a burial from the 11th century, although the sword is likely from much earlier. It is an iconic sword and much copied. I wanted this version which is a collaboration with the Czech Historical Craftsman Jan Bana (storrvara) to be a homage on the original , not an exact copy. We wanted to make something that was a bit finer than the original taking the carving as far as it would go.
The Bronze guard, handle and pommel are made by Jan Bana.
Jan is a Czech Craftsman and does the finest wax carving I have come across. I trained under him last year as part of my QEST scholarship. Jan’s work is Meticulous beyond belief. I wanted Jan to make these sword fittings to his highest abilities and he has surpassed himself. The knot work is undercut to bring depth to it. The pommel guard and handle were carved in wax and then cast in Tin bronze (also known as ancient Bronze). Jan put over 100 hours (ten days) into lovingly carving the knot work.
The fittings are cast hollow to keep the weight down, this sword weighs 2lb anmd 10oz with a point of balance 5.5 inches from the guard.
The blade has a broad fuller and a pointed spatulas tip.
I chose to make a 450 layer random pattern Damascus blade for this sword. The blade is forged from 450 layers of steel that have been forge welded together and folded. This Damascus has been heavily laddered on the edges by hammering along the edge with a sharp hammer to create an undulating pattern along the edge of blade. The blade shows some amazing chaoyancy along the edge. This is extenuated by the broad fullering in the blade. The individual hammer blows that went into forging the blade influence the blade pattern, no two pieces are ever the same , each blade telling the story of its making.
I have a set of Silver castings in this pattern coming from Jan in April, they we will be gold plating the low spots and I will be pairing it with a complex patternwelded blade. I am happy to make up a version of this sword in Monosteel or complex patternweld please enquire. I would be happy to make a scabbard for this sword it would look amazing with some bronze throat and cape fittings carved to match the Hilt!
