Description
This Feasting Seax is collaboration between Petr Florianek and myself. Petr is a good friend and talented Bladesmith he works from his workshop out side of Prague, he has a wonderful imagination and is a very thorough knowledge of historical forms as well as the fantastical. I really love our collaborations and they represent some of the best Work I’m involved in Making. Petr wanted to make a kitchen knife so I made this blade for him to handle.
In our collaborations Petr and myself think of our work together like the work of the Dark elves from Norse myth ( Dökkálfar) or possibly the Dwarves or elves from Middle earth. We are trying to make legendary pieces with the work of our hands that transcend the mundane and exist in the world of legends.
This is a Dwarven Feasting Seax, suited to the mundane tasks of preparing a feast in the tunnel or when out in the foothills. But really this is a seax for feasting, indulgent scoffing and the like.
The blade is patternwelded, there is wrought iron at the spine then there are barbed chevron bars, these are mosaic bars made from many teeth. Could they be the infamous Durin’s teeth pattern so famous in ancient times or possible a simpler variant of that. The edge bar is 300-layer random Damascus .
Dwarven Feasting can be a messy affair and a broad knife like this is useful for cutting slices of pie and pork, and portioning chicken. It’s a goo blade for cheese…all the cheese and perfect for slicing ham. The broad blade can scoop a bit pile of stuff plate ward and plough a furrow in mash or dare I say for tossing or pillaging a salad.
Petr made the handle from Holm Oak it is carved with knot work and chevron patterns to match the blade. The bolster is silver and bronze and there are silver studs to give a good grip and should things get slippery. The butt cap is bronze and the tang is riveted through the handle for sturdiness, as we all know a knife at a feast may well be used to drum a tune or two as the drinking gets under way.
The sheath is Oak tanned leather, there are chevrons carved onto it and a fierce face (who may well be hungry for some grub) mounted into scabbard mouth set with silver and Garnet eyes on the front of the scabbard and knot work on the back. A holding sheath is a good idea for a feasting Seax and saves the embarrassment from accidently cutting ones beard off whilst gesticulating during the rendition of a particularly wild tunnel tale.
