The Golok is Dressed, the Companion is Next

Like a Glove

Reinforced and Ready for Stitches

Keeping Trim

The Weight On Your Shoulders

Coming Together

Put on a Facade

What Could This Be For?

A Change of Plans on the Back-End

Hmmm, so what will I do with those dee-rings, you ask?  Oh, you'll see.

A Bit of Local Color...

The Texture, Applied

The Background, Established

Raw and Rough-Cut

The Template

The Rundown

Now that the blades have safely arrived at my wasteland sanctuary, they have been revealed.  Now that you've seen the blades, you have a chance to learn a little bit about them from Storm Crow himself.  This is what he said:

"The blades were forged from the same piece of truck leaf spring.  They were filed to a cutting edge and given multiple heat treatments cycles utilizing hardening in vegetable oil and differential heat treatments, using slightly different methods for the two differently sized blades. The blades have both been thoroughly tested as the teaser pictures attest. Remember the really nice camp ax my student made a little while back? The golok does everything it can do and much more. Notice how you can trace an elongated sine wave down the length, from the butt of the handle through the cutting edge? That helps it chop as well as the ax, but it also splits, slices, delicately chops, drawknifes, and can even be used as a skew chisel with the fully sharpened forward edge. It also is light enough to work well against whippy brush and briars. The companion blade is the opposite of the golok in that it is a very slim, pointed blade. Its edge is about as sharp as I've gotten a blade, cleanly dry-shaving my arm hair and leaving a very smooth patch.

The blades are easy to maintain. A few strokes on a fine whet stone and no more than six strokes on a leather strop should return them to their original sharpness. The blades are forge finished, which, in addition to just plain looking primal, is incredibly durable as a finish. If it starts to rust or if you need to clean it after use, you can use 150 grit sandpaper and get it back to like-new condition in a few minutes.

The golok's handle is an integral socket. It is not intended for storage, but for incredible strength. The socket also does not transmit the shock of chopping into your hand the way it might if it was just a standard flat tang. It is very comfortable in use and does not slip or make your hand tired or numb. The end of the socket is plugged permanently with a piece of mesquite wood (which was what I was making in the teaser pics. That's right, I used the blade to make its own handle plug!), with a copper lanyard ring and a short horse hair tassel with copper beads and wire.

Both knives' handles are wrapped in hemp cord and sealed with orange shellac. The golok features double Turk's head knots of black leather lace at the ends of the handle, and the companion knife has hemp Turk's head knots. It has an integral lanyard hole and sports a matching horse hair tassel with beads and wire."

Look What the Cat Dragged In

These two blades mysteriously showed up at my door this afternoon.  Hmmm...I guess I'll have to get out the leather

Preparing the Hardware

 Hmm, these look nice, but they're a bit shiny and new-looking...

Ahhh, that's better!

This Requires A Certain...Finesse

Take a Bite

We Have To Amputate

Strong Under Stress

A Flair for the Dramatic

Partner in Crime

Put a Cap on It

Getting a Handle on Things

Situation in Transition

Get the Point?

Enter the Apocalypse

Noah (Wastelander) of Wasteland Leatherwork and James (Storm Crow) of Helm Forge have teamed up and ventured out onto the post-apocalyptic landscape together to create a one-of-a-kind kit that no zombie hunter, vault dweller, or road warrior should be without. James will be putting his forging talents to work as he hammers out a vicious chopping blade of high carbon spring steel, and Noah will be testing his skills as he constructs a carry system for the blade that only an apocalyptic survivor could envision. Stay up-to-date with the project as it progresses to see sneak peeks of the blade and carry system, and upon completion, the set will be raffled off!