Nickel Silver Casting

We recently had a customer order a Mainz style roman sword with cast nickel silver fittings. We did a sand cast, melting down whatever nickel silver we had sitting around the house. Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy, you can't really see the smoke in the photos but you could barely see through it when we were working, especially after we threw the pennies in to balance out the zinc evaporation. The flame turned green, but for some reason it didn't show up on camera, you can still tell which picture it is (it was taken when it had mostly stopped smoking) because there is white carcinogenic smoke everywhere.
Enjoy!

smoking furnace (after pennies)


crucible in the furnace


the pour


the mold being a little on fire, oops...



the piece after we finished


same thing from the bottom

We'll put up more pictures when the sword is finished.

Various things

So if you were wondering why we hadn't updated lately, this is more or less why. First, we've got the Japanese blades that are heat treated and have the clay scrubbed off, but not polished. second, we have the japanese blades at various stages of being polished, but still need to be finished or have the fittings attached. There are more, but I didn't have the memory in the camera to take pictures of all of them. These are all custom orders, we're not just making them to make them. I've also included a close up of one of the newer blades that we're still polishing. Its only at 600 grit oilstone right now (so polishing is about a third done) and the new quenching process combined with the new clay we're using, the hamon really pops out, even before the polish is complete. We're really happy about that. This isn't one of those 1050 katanas, either. this is a 1086 M blade, so the hamon being that pronounced is just gorgeous, getting something that high carbon to show that much contrast is incredibly difficult.
There's also a picture of the "Roman WIP bench" which is basically a stack of Fullum, Pompeii and Mainz style swords in various stages of finishing. most of the blades are done being polished, and most of the rough work is done on the fittings, scabbards still need to be fitted, leatherwork needs to be done etc. We're also working on a few pugios on a new pattern (our old one is historically correct, but we found a new style that is also historically evidenced that we like a little better) that aren't pictured, as well as a number of spear heads.
There is a picture of the damascus ozark fighting bowie as well, it has now been annealed, next is heat treat, we're planning to fit it with a stabilized maple burl handle and hand forged guard and fittings. The blade is random pattern damascus, 1095, 52N100, and O1, if memory serves. Its going to be gorgeous.
In addition to all the blades pictured, we're in the middle of restoring an 18th century cavalry saber, finishing european swords, two sgian dubhs, three seaxes, a number of unpictured katanas, wakazashis and tantos, and starting work on a oakeshotte type 4 migration period ring hilt sword, with a hilt patterned off of the ones at the Vendel, Nydam, and Sutton Hoo finds.
long story short: we've been real busy. Oh, did I mention we're having a knife making class and had to fabricate 3 gas forges for it? cause yeah, we're working on that too.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and stuff,
-liam

Roman sword

This is a custom order for a Roman Pompeii style sword Mark finished recently. Finished a little while ago, but I've been pretty busy so the blog hasn't been getting updated much. sorry about that.
-Liam

new sword

A lens blade, which bears remarkable similarity to viking and dark ages germanic blades, just opened up because the buyer could no longer afford it. As a result, a new sword using that blade will be in the works shortly. The blade, which is 31 inches long and two inches wide, will have a fuller added (about 1.5 inches wide, give or take) and be fitted in the style of a very late migration period ring hilt sword. This sword is based off of numerous examples, including blades from t he Nydam, Sutton-Hoo, Vendel and Valsgaard finds, and, being designed as a transitional sword between the migration and viking periods, will also incorporate viking elements. A ring-hilt sword is an evolution of the german spatha, which was the adaptation of the pompeii style sword carried by the roman auxilliaries in germany towards the end of the roman empire. the ring hilt was a hilt with a ring built into the pommel into which a ring could be inserted that had a strap meant to go around the wrist. This strap helped the bearer to not lose their blade in battle, the tremendous length and weight in these weapons, which were wielded single handed, had a tendency to fly from the grip, which in battle wasn't necessarily the best thing for the bearer.

here is the basic schematic for the grip and guard, subject to change. the fittings will be brass, boxwood or purpleheart, and bone.

21 July 2009

Today I did some finish work on a bowie. I fitted the handle, did the fine polishing, added a nickel silver ferrule on the back, and peened the tang over to hold it together. It is about 10" in the blade, 5 in the handle, with nickel silver bolster and backplate, hand forged 5160 cross guard (wire brush finish) and a polished horn handle. The blade is also 5160 to make a very durable and versatile blade. You may notice the part of the blade not beveled to a cutting edge looks a little bumpy. Normally, I do a satin finish on knives, but on this bowie i decided to only partially polish it to leave the "rustic" finish and show the hammer marks, which seems to be in fashion lately.
I also did the main body of the polishing on a lateen style blade, which is an early medieval style of blade with a raised center-line, hollow-ground. It was tricky to keep the blade shape, but it was successful. Should be finished in the next week, and sent out to the customer. All in all, a very productive day. Sorry about the haphazard picture placement, I haven't quite got the hang of the layout yet.
-Mark

A brief introduction to Morrow's Blades

Mark Morrow is a smith with over 35 years of experience forging steel. Mark has extensive experience in bladesmithing, blacksmithing, tool making, armor, casting, even leather and wood work. He began crafting knives at the age of 13 out of junk steel, broken saw blades, leaf springs, anything he could get his hands on. Eventually he built a forge, started making his own tools, building bigger and better forges and adding to his shop.
Mark branched out into decorative ironwork, which he still does, but concentrates on historic and custom blades and weapons. Mark creates all sorts of blades and weapons, from European to Frontier, Roman to Japanese, and everything in between. He has even created blades from fantasy cult classics like the He-man sword from Masters of the Universe, fully functional and combat ready .
Mark has martial arts experience appropriate to the weapons he crafts, operating under the philosophy that to make a sword you need to know how it is used. Mark makes every blade combat ready, capable of withstanding any use the historic blade would undergo, unlike many modern replicas, which simply do not hold up.

If you're wondering why this blog is written in the third person, it is because Mark can't be pulled away from his work long enough to type this out. The art of bladesmithing is Mark's business, hobby, passion and life. Luckily, I've gotten him to agree to take pictures of his work, in progress and finished, and share it here for the benefit of those whom, like myself, can't forge a flawless katana. Yet.

If you'd like to check out some of his work, visit his website, it may be under maintenance at the moment, I'll try to get some pictures on here as soon as possible.

www.swordsmith.net

Enjoy,
-Liam