Falcata

Anders Högström, Falcata - Blade length: 54cm / 21 1/4”, Overall: 68cm / 26 3/4” - "The Falcata Futurica", is Anders rendition of the Iberian Falcata. Anders made a sketch of the blade...sent it to Joel Davis (who did the damscus) for him to follow and add his magic to, this being his most complicated piece of steel to date. This is their only collaboration and a one-off project.; Anders does not do repros, he make what looks like it could fit into a timeline but with the question of …where? In this case a sword with a highly complex as well as beautiful blade, a bronze handle that would be a material of tradition and inserts/details of G10… Anders is sure they wouldn’t have used ebony or buffalo horn if the choice back than was that of today or tomorrow. - Since there is so much action in the steel and the blade being large, it was evident from the get go that the handle portion needed to be complex but also simplistic, clean in looks and lines but also carry its own as fas as construction goes- bronze was a given. The stand, satin finished curly/figured Sapeli / Sapele with a contrasting portion of Wenge with great topography and character along with domed copper buttons - which adds a little color and warmth to the whole of the creation.; The handle parts was carved in wax by Anders and cast in house. No milling machines, cnc, lathes or the like was used- Anders works free hand and mostly with files and hand-held rotary tools. - Damascus: Upon receiving the template blade profile from Anders Hogstrom of Sweden, Joel Davis got to work at his forging studio in Minnesota designing the most complicated pattern he could. The blade is composed of eight bars of selectively twisted and bookmatched complex mosaic W-theory damascus. The two parent billets weighed in at 12 pounds each. The metallurgical breakdown is as follows: 70% Carpenter tech Stentor grade high carbon O2, 25% Uddeholm high carbon 15N20 and the silver lines in the core components were salvaged from the manufacture of exhaust nozzles of fighter jets. Following the multiple weeks of forge welding, patterning and profiling, the blade was heat treated, fully hardened and tempered to the desired mechanical properties. Joel free-hand ground the top and bottom bevels and mune detail on the spine full hard with ceramic belts. Both the main edge and top have been sharpened with surgical precision. If the falcata futurica is held vertically by just the handle and the blade is rapped with a few knuckles, it will ring like a tuning fork. The vibrational harmonics of the blade are astonishing. Joel sites that this project was a true honor to execute masterfully with Anders Hogstrom. - Photography by Mitchell D Cohen Photography