Search the Community

Folks, A new sword find has been made in Norway. And there is a mystery concerning it. Check it out here. https://partner.sciencenorway.no/archaeology-ntnu-viking-age/viking-sword-found-in-grave-in-central-norway/1733656 Happy reading. SLAG.

As of late I have been really interested in "Viking" age life and tools. As a part of this I have decided to convert all my traditional hand woodworking tools to viking age equivalents. I wanted to start to do this by forging these tools in a age appropriate way and since I am newer to smithin' I do not have many tools for that either so I thought I would make the tools for blacksmithing first. But the first thing I need to forge I don't have the proper tools make, and that is the stump anvil. I wonder if anyone here knows where I could buy one or anyone that has a power hammer that I could contact for a commission? Here are some pictures off the web to give you an idea:

Took a Viking Era Blacksmithing class taught by Mr. Elmer Roush a few weeks ago. Great class! We went over mammen pattern axes, spears, arrowheads, and some other pattern axes. I was able to forge a large spear (my favorite exercise from the class), a mammen pattern axe, a mess of arrowheads (none of which I was super proud of, need more practice with those), and I managed to squeak in a tomahawk on the last day for fun! Great class, great facilities at John C. Campbell Folk School, great FOOD, and a truly inspiring, down to earth, helpful instructor and assistant. I can't wait to go back and learn more from Elmer. I've never forged a spear before but I think I truly enjoyed forging the spear more than I do axes, tomahawks, knives, or whatever. What a fun process! The spear, hawk, and axe are all A36 with 1095 welded cutting edges and bits. The arrowheads are all mild. Thanks for looking! Moderators, I put this in historical based on the title, my apologies if it is improperly located!

October 10th 2012 NOVA "Secrets of the the Viking Sword" Documentary 9PM/8Central some photos here: http://www.doorcount...s.com/NOVA.html In the Summer and Fall of last year I had the pleasure to be involved in the production of a TV documentary program focussed on the Viking Sword. The program was produced for NOVA (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/) though the work of National Geographic and Pangloss Films (http://www.panglossfilms.com/). In October of 2011 Pangloss Films came to my shop and documented the making of a special sword based on the research of Dr. Alan William's of "The Wallace Collection" in London (http://www.wallacecollection.org/). Several years ago Dr. William's began a study of Ulfberht inlayed sword blades and discovered that the blade which carried a signature of a certain type appeared to have no slag. His work can be seen in several articles and his new book "The Sword and the Crucible" ISBN 9789004227835. I had the pleasure of spending a few weeks with Dr. Alan Williams in North India back in 2007 and can tell you he is an extremely insightful archeo-metallurgist. The program will discuss the importance of Dr. Williams' find, a particular blade housed at the National Museum of Denmark (http://natmus.dk/) as well as illustrate the manufacture and larger context of these cultural artifacts (My bit). We did the work in a charcoal forge with leather bellows on a stake anvil....more or less. Some of the smelting processes of manufacture are based on the research of Dr. Ann Feuerbach , currently at Hofstra University, and I await her book on the subject which she is currently authoring. For my part I enlisted a bellows and hammer man in the form of Kevin Cashen of Matherton Forge in Michigan (http://www.cashenblades.com/). Kevin and I have been friends for many years and in addition to being a deep well regarding European blades and a talented craftsman...I simply enjoy him being around. Kevin was a huge help to me for the film shoot as it is always a good thing to have someone around with his skills and depth of knowledge, but he preferred to be a bit more off camera than on. Thank you Kevin! Following the filming Kevin and I went to Arms and Armor in Minneapolis (http://www.armor.com/ ) and saw Chris Poor and Craig Jonson and were given a very good tour and handling session of the Oakeshott Collection.http://www.oakeshott.org/ In this project I was part of a greater whole and I believe this may be a defining watershed for the public to see what is possible by modern smiths. Peter Yost of Pangloss Films has produced may award winning features for TV and I look forward to seeing this program he has crafted. As to the sword I made? You will have to wait till the premier October 10th to see it. I will say it is the first of its kind in 1,000 years. Yours, Richard Furrer www.doorcountyforgeworks.com

Finally got around to posting it, here it is my first knife not perfect but i cut my self on it so it works. I forged it from a rail road spike quenched it in motor oil and did detail work with belt sander and file.

Hey Guys, have been out in the shop today and came back with these three little Items: This ring brooch: This leaf key ring And last but not least my first attempt on the viking mead-bottle corkscrew I´d be glad to hear your opinion about that stuff. Kind Regards - Daniel

Thought it was tim to introduce myself. I live in Trondheim, Norway, and I´ve been doing balcksmithing for the past ten years or so, some periods more than others. Now i have finaly have a smal shop in my garage, where i can work on my projects. I do mainly knives, and reproduction arowheads, axes and other tools from viking and medieval time. In daytime i am an archaeologist, and i wrote my MA thesis about blacksmithing tools and techniques in the viking period in Norway. So you could say this is my speciality in blacksmithing also, using smithing as a way to gain knowledge about the craftmanship of the long time gone smiths of the viking and medieval times. Later this year i wil start a series of test forgings to replicate the techniques used for creating axes in the transition from the migration period to the viking period. The shaftholes in the migrational period seems to be made by punching and drifting, while in the viking period they seems to be made by folding around a mandril shaped like the shafthole. I wil start by studying some of the original axes at the museum here, propably doing x-ray and taking exact measurements. Later i wil try to replicate the observations in the forge. I have hung around iforgeiron for a while, and have found lots of great information. The acumulated knowledge here is huge! I hope I also my contribute to this huge pond of blacksmithing knowledge. I have attached a picture of my shop, and a picture of a viking age rattle i just made for my youngest son. Sincerly Raymond Sauvage

Hi fellows, after so many people gave me so many useful tips on my last post about a Viking-ring-brooch I forged things came really clear to me. Today I forged a new one regarding all the new knowledge I gathered. This is what came out: Thank you guys again for sophisticating me. I´d be glad to hear your opinion about it. - Daniel