miscellaneous commission work

"S t i n g ,   C a.  1 9 1 6"

Job:      Just For Fun

Date:    August 2002

Overview: OK, here is the story. As a young pup I found a rusty old bayonet in a scrap pile in my neighbor's yard. He had no attachment to it and gave it to me.  It was missing the handle grips and the hilt was loose, so it just sat in a box of junk in my closet for years.  After becoming a blacksmith, I came across the bayonet one day, and decided to take it into the shop and see what could be done to it.  I sandblasted it, and was able to read the mark on the blade -- it is a Springfield Armory US M1905 bayonet, a type used in World War One.  I made new grips for it out of 1/2" thick plate, forged a new hilt (that has no historical accuracy whatsoever...I made it big for kicks) and sharpened and polished it.  The result (to me at least) reminds me of the sword "Sting" from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books.  Perhaps that is being a bit ambitious, but it does have a nice balance to it, and is rather diminutive. Anyway, stuff like this is why it is fun to be a blacksmith.

b a c k