This is a pattern welded Longseax. And my favorite camping knife. I made this in 2015.
The blade is made of a coil spring, tin-snips and tongs. The handle is made from mahogany and white-tailed deer antler. The scabbard is made from spruce and buffalo leather.
Seax is pronounced like sax. The E is mostly but not completely silent.
It is loosely based on the "Seax of Beagnoth."Â Which is a 10th century Anglo-Saxon blade.
The Seax is the cultural weapon of the Saxons. Though it was quickly adopted by nearly every dark age European culture. Unlike most knives, the cutting edge is nearly flat. This makes it an excellent knife for brush work as it hits with a lot of force, but a poor choice for skinning as the point is more likely to go through the hide.
Nearly everyone in the dark ages would have carried a blade of some sort, for a combination of self defence, function and status. And a long Seax was frequently employed as a poor man's sword.
When used as a weapon, the blade is predominantly swung. The point of balance and the flat edge make it hit with a lot of force. However, the offline point and lack of a guard make it poor for thrusting.
As metal armor became more and more common, seaxes fell out of use and were replaced by more thrust-centric daggers, until by around 1100 they were no longer common.
The pattern in this blade is only visible in the right light. The photo on the right has a visible section highlighted.
Weight, 11 ounces without scabbard. 1 pound with scabbard. The length including handle is 16 inches.
The seax upon which this is roughly based.