Niels Provos

Our experiments in creating crucible steel with a composition similar to ancient Wootz steel are continuing. In this video, we show the process of making a Wootz ingot and our first successful forging of the ingot into a bar. Our crucibles are charged with wrought iron from wagon tires, pulverized charcoal, some O1 tool steel, calcium carbonate and glass. Watch the video for all the details.

or How I failed to get the whole story

I am lying on the bed with a stomach bug when the phone is ringing. It says 544 Unknown Name. The following is an abbreviated recollection of the phone call.

Woman: Hello. This is a computer support call. Are you the owner of a Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer?

Me: Thanks for calling.

Woman: Are you the owner of a Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer.

Me: Yes, I own the computer I am using.

Woman: Can you look at your keyboard. In the left bottom corner do you have a key that says CTRL.

Me: I turned off the computer. Do you want me to turn it back on.

Woman: Yes, turn the computer back on. Let me know when it is ready.

Me: OK. I pressed the power button. It says it’s booting.

Deliberate pause for dramatic accent. I wait about 30 seconds. During the whole phone call, I managed to turn the computer off at least 5 times.

Me: It says user name now. What shall I do?

Woman: What is your user name and password.

Our first experiments with creating crucible steel. The video shows the first run in which we melt wrought iron at 3000F. The ultimate goal is to create crucible steel with high carbon content that can be forged into swords.

Here are some pictures of my recent forge rebuild. When I originally started to look into refractory concrete as an option, I noticed that there were not a lot of articles on the web describing the process of casting a forge shell from refractory concrete. While many of the steps are pretty straightforward and do not significantly differ from using regular concrete, some people might still find my experience with using Kast-O-Lite 30 LI useful. My need for a new forge arose after some extended forge welding and bloom consolidation caused the roof of my previous forge to cave in. After thinking of different ways to construct a new forge, I decided to go with refractory concrete as it can take more abuse than the kaowool based solution I had employed previously. Kast-O-Lite 30 LI seemed like it fit the bill with a maximum use temperature of 3000F which is not something I am likely to reach unless I am over boiling iron. For general forging, Kast-O-Lite 26 would have been better suited as it provides better heat insulation but I had the 30 LI concrete available. Here is an outline of the process:

The construction used five pieces of concrete: Two sides, one roof, and two pegs. Where the pieces met, I had to split the angle, so used 22.5 degrees on each side of the different pieces. The end result was going to be a shell that would support itself. The first step was creating the forms from 2x4 and some wooden boards. The forge itself is about 13in long, and about 9in high. To get the angles, I used a bandsaw with a swiveling table that I could dial to 22.5 degrees. The measurements that determines the spacing of the pieces were all done on the outside and piece of 2x4 was attached to the board with wood screws. Here is how they looked like.

While visiting Germany this year, I was on a quest to find Viking-age swords as a source of inspiration for future work. The first trip took me to Nürnberg where I visited the Germanisches Nationalmuseum which had an amazing weapons collection including two amazing carolingian swords - here is a picture of one of them:


Afterwards, I stopped at Rothenburg ob der Tauber and were completely amazed by the Reichsstadtmuseum which featured the Hermann Baumann collection of historic weapons and armor including this interesting pommel of a Viking-age sword from Danmark dated to the 9th/10th century:


The last part of the trip was to Haithabu where not only the museum was a great experience but also the concurrently happing Viking market with over twenty long boats from Northern Europe. One of the sword pommels I saw there was the following:


I had also hoped to catch a performance of the Wikinger Puppentheater Ygdrasil but unfortunately they did not perform during that weekend.

The Serpent in the Sword project is slowly progressing. I have posted a couple more videos documenting the process. In part 2, the bevels of the sword are forged, the geometry is established on a belt sander and the sword is finally heat treated. In part 3, the sword fittings are made, e.g. the lower and upper guard as well as the pommel and wooden hilt. If things go right, the sword will be finished just in time to my visit to Germany in July. The Viking museum in Haithabu has a special event in which 20 Viking ships will sail to its harbor. There is also the new Viking Puppet Theater which should be fun to watch. It's called "Wikinger Puppentheater Ygdrasil" and has it's premiere in April at the museum in Haithabu.

Inspired by "The Serpent in the Sword" from Lee A Jones, I embarked on the quest of forging a pattern-welded double-edged sword that has a visual serpent at its core. The video shows my progress over about 7 days of work. Pattern-welding in addition to structural benefits is also visually very attractive. The sword in this video is constructed from a total of seven bars. Two edge bars, two twisted bars and three bars for the serpent. The whole process while using modern tools is very similar to the one that anglo-saxon or viking-age blacksmiths might have employed. Each step in created a pattern-welded sword is explained and narrated in the video above.

In my quest to forge another double-edged viking-age sword, I have been experimenting with a serpent pattern. As part of my experimentation, I forged the the seax shown in the picture. It's over all length is 21.5 in, with a 16.5 in long blade and 5in long handle. It's a 7 bar construction. The cutting edge and back are W1. The two twisted bars are 11-layers of 15n20 and 1095. The serpent itself is an 11-layer straight laminate of 15n20 and 1095 backed by two bars of mild steel. As the picture shows the pattern came out quite nicely and the overall shape of the blade is quite pleasing. The next project is going to take the serpent pattern to a double-edged sword. We will see how that goes.

The video shows forging a pattern-welded Viking-age sword consisting of a 5-bar construction based on dimensions from a find in Norway. The video shows squaring up the rods and how I bundle the five bars (3 twisted core and 2 edge) into a sword-like object and then forge weld it. Instead of employing a wrap around edge, I am cutting a V into the tip that is forge-welded back together.