Description
This is Axe a collaboration piece between Vojta Svetlik (AKA Brokksworks) and myself.
I Forged the axe and Vojta carved the knot work Dragons and silver scrolls.
Vojta is a talented young smith based in the Czech republic. He forges axes and Hammers and swords and is a very talented carver and specialises in silver on lay. He has skill beyond his years a lot of drive and I’m sure he will surpass the lot of us in skill before long. This is our first Major Collaboration together. There will certainly be more.
Feather was conceived in the mists of time….. Although the majority of axes from the historical record are Single edged,Feather is a double edged Battle axe. In general I take my inspiration from history to give practical context and engineering reality. However a lot of what I make comes from imagination and Fantasy. The books I read in my early teens and the art work on their covers formed images in mu mind that are still with me today. Those dreamy ideas of what an axe was, built around fantasy from the 1970’s and 1980’s. From the books of Tolkien, Gemmel, Eddings, Norman, Le Guin and many more. set in the lands of Middle Earth, Earthsea ,Gor and more. The adventures of Slaine from 2000AD.have always been an inspiration. Slaine was a hero of mine… a flawed, compromised, chaotic Irish Celtic Hero , out of control and at the mercy of cruel nature. I followed his adventures from the beginning, there is a lot of Slaine in this axe. All of these influences still bubble away in my sub conscious they meld with history and shape my makers reality.
Feather as a project was a way of tapping into these formative core ideas, compromised hero’s, fantastical objects, dark monsters to be fought. Heroic quests against dark magic.
It was a challenge convincing Vojta, a smith born in the 2000’s that these somewhat cheesy ideas and images from the 80’s were worth pursuing. but I stood by my guns and so feather was conceived. A dark scrolling Eldritch axe maybe the kind of object that would have put a bit of fear into its user as well as his enemy.
The axe was named Feather, it seems right that such a formidable piece should have a name like feather, the kind of nickname as hero would give his axe, the axe’s formal name would be Eldritch feather….
This is certainly the most complex axe I have forged, the scrolled Blades made from high layer Damascus steel were influenced by real woodworking axes from the 1700 and 1800’s. I took their forms into fantastical scrolled edges and co course Feather has not one blade but two. The 500 layer random pattern damascus edges are forge welded around a steel core. The Damascus steel has been hacked into and hammered along the edge to give lots of swirling dreamy movement in the Damascus patterns .the body of the axe being forge welded from 8 seperate pieces and the edges combining two 25 layer billets to give 500 layers of Damascus steel.
At the heart of the axe are two feather damascus Cabochon. the feather damascus is covered in a layer of 24carat gold using a technique called Kuem boo where the gold is burnished onto the hot steel and forms a permanent atomic bond with the steel, this thin layer of gold allows the texture of the damascus pattern to show through. The cabochon’s give a central focus to Feather and also give the axe its name.
There is a small lump of 24 Carat Gold inlayed into one face of the axe . I have punched my makers mark into it.
Vojta was let loose on the axe body to engrave fire breathing dragons on both side of the blade breathing tendrils of fire. Vojta engraved lines and then forged the metal cold to bring 3 dimensionality for the carving . He then carved writhing silver inlayed eldritch scrolls around the central Cabochon. The body of the axe was blued to contrast the bright silver and shining gold Feather.
The handle is oiled and burned ash and there is a copper bands coming down the handle sides , fixed with copper pins. The dragon tail butt cap is shaped like a dragon’s tail and at the tip is a point of silver…as you never know when a bit of silver may come in handy against dark enemies.
The axe is oil hardened and tempered and comes sharp.
I would be happy to to make leather sheathes for the axe blades or some kind of bracket or stand to hold the axe. Please enquire.
