Darkened the leather and started riveting the silver fittings on.

Finished the silver work today, all that is left is to make the belt loops, darken the leather and assemble the sheath(and final polishing and oiling).
Here is a picture of the "West Norse hoard":

I'm sorry for not posting pictures of the finished sax here is a quick picture, I'll take better ones when I finish the sheath:



It has been a rough week, with work (things taking WAY longer than I though they would and less time in the shop than I normally have), working nights at the family business(ever try to work all day till you are tired and then "go to work") and other unplanned time sinks.

Another slow day on the silver front, working on the rings.

Had a terrible time on the throat piece but finally got it to where it should be. Here are the mountings so far:

I still have the belt loop fittings, rings, and the edge clips to do.

Sorry for not posting over the weekend,
Here is Friday's progress (well the photogenic part anyway), this is the fitting that goes next to the mouth of the sheath.

Working on the silver sheath mounts (and accidentally deleted the pictures from memory card).

Here is the leather for the sheath after forming and trimming (the projections on the top will be trimmed down to match the silver ring holders):

Finished the grip this morning, re-polished part of the blade that I wasn't happy with(but now am), and formed the leather for the sheath. Now to start building a new website that I need to have finished by April, while the leather dries.

Finished the carving, darkened, and started oiling the grip:
It is hard to capture the effect that this darkening process produces, the wood takes on a translucent quality and the light plays in it different ways depending on the angle, changing it from very dark to lighter shades and highlighting the carving.
I need to give the grip a few more coats of linseed oil, and it will be finished.

On to the sheath.

More carving today, over/under definition, rounding, and started on the accent lines.
The beast on the right has all the lines carved, on the left beast you can see the pencil lines that will be cut in late.

Spent the day carving out the background on the grip.

Shaped, polished, and engraved the bolster today (and drew the carving design on the grip this evening after I took the picture).

Mounted the blade in the grip and casted on the silver alloy bolster.

Shaped the grip this evening and carved fenirir on the butt, the design is from a Manx cross and I added a bit more detail.

Cut out, inlet, and profiled the grip this morning.

Here is a test piece I did of the carving for the grip and of the Norse wood darkening method on the oak.

Tax day

No work got done today because I had do my taxes.

I could rant about how I hate taxes and how they are not fair, BUT I really love living here and as Corrie says, "think of it as the price of sunshine, palm tree, and peace." Well said.

Might make it to the shop later tonight for some materials testing for the grip of this sax.

Polished the blade today, on to the hilt tomorrow.

Sorry for the bad picture, I didn't have time to take a better one, the blade is actually straight on the back not bulged.

Heat treated the blade last night and gave it the final tempering cycle this morning.

Here is the day's progress:


I rough ground, and polished the blade so it is ready for HT tomorrow.