Geekery: Watch an Artist Hand Forge Beautiful Blades
Freerk Wieringa is a Dutch commission artist that makes gorgeous swords, daggers, and knives from steel. He’s nice enough to share the fascinating process behind creating his pieces on YouTube. The majority of what he makes is based in history (from Medieval bastard swords to Persian daggers), but he’s also built some video game/movie/tv replicas. These are some of his most recent projects…
Creating a San Mai blade involves working with three layers – the blade edge made of hard steel and iron/stainless sides that form a protective jacket over the blade which makes the overall knife more durable.
If you have more time here’s a step-by-step of forging a pattern welded viking sword and custom fabricating a scabbard with hand shaped leather work…