Then I asked for input from the kobolds, who made their choice here, and who also gave generously here and here.

The mace is done—ready to ship to its proud new owner. As promised, I did my best to document the build in the video below. I also did my best to incorporate as many of your suggestions as possible.

Sorry about the blur in the beginning; my autofocus went a little wonky.

During the build I learned that if I’m going to make more of these, I need to build a jig to hold the flanges in place for welding. The heat from the welding made it impossible to keep the flanges lined up evenly—even though I tack welded them before doing the final welds.

The floor is open for questions! Anything from nontechnical through type of welding wire, wire feed speed, and heat settings are fair game.

You can also see the video on the YouTube site.

All told we raised $580 to help Ernie get back on his feet. I’m in contact with his brother, Luke, who has set up a fund to handle donations, and that’s where the contributions from the warrens are headed. What a great community this is! I’m proud to be a part of it. You guys rock hard.

The next order of business is to announce the winners . . .

The US winner is none other than Tim Werner of the great state of Oregon, also known as TimsterMon in the KP forums. Congratulations, Tim! The mace will soon be built and yours!

The non-US winner is Zander from the London D&D Meetup. Congratulations, Zander! The Mjolnir pendant will be on its way to you shortly!

I’ll begin video documenting the mace build this week for a Real Steel real soon.

Thank you, Kobolds!

Although we’re friends on Facebook, I’ve never met Ernie in person. But that doesn’t matter. Ernie is a member of our community. Let’s use this project to help him out.

I’ll stick to the plan and document a build for the mace the kobolds selected. (The mace pictured here is what a flanged mace looks like in general; it is not the final Real Steel mace.) The mace will then be raffled, and the proceeds given to the fund will be used to help Ernie get back on his feet.

Chances are $10 a piece. Please send a PayPal gift to todd(at)toddblades(dot)com for however many chances you’d like with a note that says “For Ernie” in it. It’s important that you specify it’s a gift because PayPal will waive their usual fees and all the money will go to Ernie.

We’ll stop taking donations on April 3, 2013. I’ll make up a ticket for each $10 you donate (more is better ), and I’ll get my son to draw the winner. Shipping this internationally will be next to impossible, so although anyone can give to this fund, I can ship the mace only to an address in the United States. If a non-US resident wins the first draw, I’ll send you a forged Mjolnir pendant from my current Kickstarter. Then we’ll draw tickets until we pull a winner that can receive the mace (in other words, the first person with a USA address). If a mace-eligible winner is pulled first, that person wins the mace, and THEN we’ll pull tickets until we get the first non-US winner, who will receive a Mjolnir pendant.

Let the giving begin! And thanks in advance for supporting a member of our gaming community!

If you have any questions about this, please post them in the comments area. We’d also appreciate it if you spread the word of this endeavor!

Update: PLEASE include in your PayPal note to me whether you are “US” or “Non US” so we can organize the drawing.

Further, original graphic art will be created using pencil and/or pen and ink by the project graphic artist, David Gdula. David and Todd will collaborate so the graphic art represents the style and feel of the finished metal work.

So, what’s involved in this particular Kickstarter? Take a look at more of the details provided by the project smith: Todd!

Forged Steel Pendants

Mjolnir pendants have been popular in the Scandinavian, Norse, Celtic, and Baltic countries for centuries. I will forge these myself.

Full-Sized Mjolnir

Up to three will be made depending on backing. I have obtained three antique sledge hammer heads. Two are 8 pounds and one is 11 pounds. I estimate the two smaller heads to be 50-75 years old and the larger to be about 100 years or more. All three have been exposed to the elements and will require a considerable amount of cleanup and reworking. I deliberately set about finding antique tools rather than buying new steel to make the hammers. In my opinion, giving new life to these old tools makes this project much more interesting.

After the final designs have been imagined by the two of us, and after we have committed them to paper, I will forge, grind, blue, engrave, etch, carve, and inlay as needed. Hardwood will be selected for the handles, which will be carved and which may have inlay and pewter according to the final design. I will create these, as well.

The results we have at the end of this post are not what I expected, but kobolds are sneaky and unpredictable by nature. And the winner is…

[Ahem. You probably guessed part of it by the image chosen for this update! Without further ado....]

The steel-hafted flanged mace is the simplest of all the choices, and is essentially a cut and weld project. So to spice this up a little, I’ll consider any input submitted as comments here. The only restriction is that the project has to maintain its identity as a steel-hafted flanged mace. That’s what the kobolds voted for and that’s what they’ll get.

So this time I’ll make sure I create what the kobolds ask for. Here are some projects I’d like to try. Simply vote for the one you’d most like to see. And if you like, add some suggestions about where you’d like to see the project go. Whichever weapon receives the most votes gets made, and I’ll video document the whole thing from start to finish; forging, grinding, heat treating, hafting, and testing—you will see it all.

Pilum

The standard Roman javelin, a pilum or two were issued to every legionnaire. About six ft. long with a three-ft. long wooden haft and the remainder being of iron (I’ll use steel), a pilum came in heavy and light models.

There is evidence that a clever design trick was built into each weapon to prevent its reuse by the enemy. The iron tip was hardened, but the rest of the iron shaft was left soft enough so that it would bend when it struck a target—usually an enemy shield. The enemy soldier would then have to discard the shield or struggle to remove the pilum, with neither being a good choice in melee. In either case, the pilum and the shield became useless.

I will demonstrate a throw, though maybe not with a legionnaire’s practice.

Gunstock Spontoon

Native Americans invented this devastating melee weapon after observing Europeans using their muskets as clubs in close combat after firing the single shot. A spontoon blade was affixed to a gunstock-shaped hardwood club.

Flanged Mace

And last, the choice of evil clerics since 1974: A hopped-up club capable of defeating armor, the head of the flanged mace has heavy steel flanges radiating from the center. Because flanged maces are sometimes made with a wooden haft, sometimes all steel, please state your preference if you vote for this one. I will use modern flux core welding to assemble this weapon if it’s selected.

What’s It Gonna Be, Kobolds?

Post your vote and any relevant comments. I’ll start work as soon as comments close. This poll will close down on Monday, February 4, 2013, by noon Pacific, so be sure to vote before then!

The tetsu-ken, or tekkan, is a little-known swordlike weapon from feudal Japan. The originals were mostly wakizashi-sized and appeared to be a wakizashi, but were made of iron rather than steel and had no edge.

Why a “Sword” without an Edge?

The rulers of feudal Japan vigorously enforced laws preventing the carrying of swords by all but the samurai class. Wealthy merchants and farmers often carried tetsu-ken as a substitute for swords, and this was either allowed or overlooked by the government. In 1876 when the Meiji government initiated the Haitorei Edict, also called the “Sword Abolishment Act,” the Samurai class began to carry them also.

Why a Sword at All?

I see two obvious reasons why the weapon was shaped like a sword. The first is a practical matter: it handles like sword. Being made of un-hardenable iron, they would need to be a little thicker and therefore a little heavier than a steel wakizashi, but the balance and handling would essentially be the same. The second reason would be that a “swordlike object” is more of a status symbol than an iron bar.

Why’d I Make One?

This was a custom order. I have a regular customer who is as interested in practicing with obscure weapons as I am in making them. The order was for a katana-sized and fully functional tetsu-ken within some specified parameters of length, weight, and sori (curvature). A wrapped guard-less tsuka (handle) with a forge finish and specific false edge geometry were also specified after we discussed intended usage and expected capabilities.

How’d I Make It?

We decided that 5160 was the best steel for the job due to its extreme toughness. I ground a sonobe (pre-form) from 0.25” stock, and then forged the bevels. Forging the bevels creates more curvature, so I had to correct and straighten as the forging proceeded. I left more curvature than was ultimately needed because during the heat treatment I’d be quenching in oil, and oil quenches reduce curvature.

I quenched the piece several times throughout the forging. This is the first part of heat treating and is called thermal cycling. It serves to keep the grain size small and relieves stresses caused by forging, which is critical to a properly heat-treated blade. The next step in heat treating is normalizing, which is accomplished by heating the blade to critical temperature and allowing it to cool at ambient temperature until it regains its magnetism—three times. Each time the steel is heated to a slightly lower temperature before being allowed to cool. After the third heat, the blade was placed in a “hot box”—mine is a steel garbage can filled with wood ashes. I preheat two large pieces of scrap steel that go into the wood ash with the blade, forcing the blade to cool very slowly. The two normalizing heating and cooling cycles serve to further refine the grain, and the last heat and slow cooling, called annealing, softens the steel to its minimum hardness. It takes about eight hours for a large blade to cool in the hot box.

After annealing, I ground the “edge” and cleaned up the profile a little. Next came the final steps in heat treatment—hardening and tempering. Something I didn’t mention earlier is that my small propane forge I use for heating metal for forging was not large enough to heat the entire tetsu-ken for heat treatment. Here’s a link to a WIP (work in progress) of how I built the drum forge I used for the heat treatment. There also is a short video embedded in this article showing the forge running. For hardening, the entire blade is heated to critical temperature and then quickly quenched in oil designed for this purpose. I then check the blade for hardness with a file, making sure the entire blade hardened. The blade was then put in my propane grill at 500° F for a couple cycles to temper.

Next was a quick clean up with a Scotch-Brite belt, and then leather underlay and bat menuki were installed on the handle followed by the wrap and epoxy. I soak the wrap in two part epoxy to hold it in place because without the traditional fittings it will start moving around over time.

How Does It Work?

Nicely! It handles just like a katana of its size and weight, and it hits hard. The final weight was around 2.4 lbs., which is a little heavier than a typical katana, but was necessary. A sword that cuts through a target isn’t subjected to as much force as a blunt weapon that strikes a target without passing through it. That extra meat gives the tetsu-ken the strength to absorb those forces without being damaged.

How Would I Use It in Game?

This opens up some possibilities for classes that are prohibited from using edged weapons. I don’t see why a cleric couldn’t use this. It will fit well in an Oriental Adventures style game, but why not use a similarly constructed bastard sword, Viking longsword, or langseax?

Bladesmith Todd Gdula’s brick-smashing moon hammer video is one of the high points of his Real Steel series here at KQ.com. Now that brick-smashing power can be yours — and you’ll be giving to a worthy cause.

Todd has generously donated one of his moon hammers for auction at eBay, with all  proceeds after shipping costs (USA only) going to help Christina Stiles get to Gen Con. He says these typically go for $125 and bidding is currently at $20.

If you win, be sure and send us a photo of you holding your mighty hammer aloft in triumph.

Check out the video of the moon hammer in action…