I spent most of last week at
NESM in a Viking dagger class with
J. Arthur Loose
Where I made this dagger. It's 9.5 " long and made in the style of viking blades where a core of multiple bars is wrapped in an edge. Here's a picture of the blade when the edge was prepared to weld, which pretty much explains what I'm talking about:
You can see the pattern of the core near the bottom. I was trying to do a pattern called the serpent in the steel, but things didn't work out right and what I ended up with looks more like Spaghetti or strings in the steel :-\
Being the anal-retentive detail freak I am, I was worried about a very thin line in the blade right on the main ridge. I was afraid a weld hadn't taken -- so I discovered a new use for my digital microscope! Weld inspection!
It was not a crack, but a dark line of weld inclusions with a few super tiny cavities where some flux must have gotten trapped. This cavity is actually in the middle of the picture above.
In any case - it was a great class and I learned a huge amount. Now I just need a hydraulic press and some time off...
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