Viking Knife (Make-It-Medieval)

This is the second edition of the MIM-I, a collaboration between myself and Jake Makes. I'm probably going to say this at the beginning of every I'dible.

What's the point of the series? To make Medieval/fantasy/Tolkien/viking projects (MIM-I stands for Make It Medieval-Ish, in case you were wondering).

So I made a Viking Seax. 'Seax' is an Old English word for 'knife', although it's generally associated with this type of knife shape. Thank you, Wikipedia.

I made this seax from wood (pine board, actually), and used my favorite paint method to make it look like metal.

First edition of the MIM-I is HERE, so go drown your boredom in that, where I build a WARHAMMER. You have to put it in Caps, see.

Just gonna say something here; this is a prop. It is not meant for anything but for decorative use.

Anyway, let's go build it!

I have a bunch of pine board, currently. So I used that, although if I could choose again, I'd definitely pick a heavier hardwood. Why? Pine board is a softwood. Which means it's also processed, meaning it's got all its sap and moisture drawn from it, making it very, very light, although I'm not using this for anything except decoration, so it didn't really matter either way.

I cut out the design with a handsaw--MIM-I is all about simple tools--and then 'refined' the frame with a rasp. I made the design with a 'tang', so that it would a realistic design to the knife.

So the blade is ridiculously thick, it looks like half a brick. Because I don't care three-hundred-year-old banjos about precision, I used my drawknife to thin it out, keeping the 'tang' (the part that fits in the handle) as thick as I could. I switched between the drawknife, rasp, and a bit of the power sander to grind out the shape.

Looking back on it, I could've done without the sander, but I had it, so I decided to use it.

I made the blade thinner towards the point and blade, which really helped in making it an accurate prop.

I also used my chisels (I used the v-shaped one) to put a 'fuller' along the blade. A fuller is an ancient and nifty design that was put on knives and swords to make them lighter, without reducing their size. Seriously, if you made a sword out of solid steel, it'd be like wielding a baseball bat. (I actually did this step after I painted, because I forgot all about it, so there's no pictures. My bad)

Once you've got the blade figured out, it's time for the hilt and pommel.

I drew the general design onto (more!) pine board. Make sure you make the hilt thick enough, because you're going to drill a hole through it to fit the tang through.

I cut it out with a handsaw (how familiar...), sanded it smooth, and drew the outline of the tang onto it. After drilling a hole with a drill (a classic tool anyone should have), I used chisels (definitely useful), and finished shaping it. Soon enough, the hilt could slide easily onto the tang of the knife.

The pommel was pretty simple; if you look closely, it's basically just a wooden dowel, cut down the grain, than across to make a rectangular-shape. With a rounded top. I really don't know how else to explain it.

Once you've got a design you like, glue them together. Wood glue is fine, if you're patient enough. Use wood filler to fill and holes or gaps in the hilt.

Making wood look like metal is an awesome thing to know, so let me give you the basics;

Give the blade two coats of metallic Rustoleum silver. Make sure it's dry. If you don't, you might have to repaint the whole thing.

Then give it some black paint. I used dark metallic (also Rustoleum) and wiped it with a paper towel while it was wet. Use a variety of smearing, blotching and rubbing to get it how you like it.

The hilt and pommel were painted metallic gold, so there's no need for extra treatment.

Fourth pic; I wrapped the handle with leather and used these really cool pins to hold it in place. I really liked the contrast between the black, gold and wrought metal colors.

Thar we are!! Finished!!

Like I said before, I wish I'd used a heavier wood, but the knife looks fantastic just how it is.

Huge thanks for those 14 subscribers again, you guys rock. Thanks for following the MIM-I, and yes, I do intend on publishing normal I'dibles along with these MIM-I projects. Thanks again for reading.

Peace out, Brokk.

P.S; Jake, your turn.