September 7, 20223 yr hello everyone. I was wondering if anyone here had a good source for viking age information. I am trying to build a viking age forge and need some blueprints.
September 7, 20223 yr http://www.warehamforge.ca/mobile/ http://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/quality-replica-anvils-va-iron-economy.html?m=1 TP has a good 1k bc demo setup. Google “Viking era” insert blacksmithing, anvils, iron making, hammers, bellows etc. bellows thralls are hard to come buy, I have a step son I will let you have, cheep… lit you are trying to be 100% correct start buy digging a knee deep hole to stand or sit in. Ground forges are a thing.
September 7, 20223 yr "The Mästermyr Find" by Greta Arwidsson and Gösta Berg is a great resource, as it details a Viking-age tool chest found in Sweden; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mästermyr_chest. John Switzer of Black Bear Forge has done a series of videos recreating some of the anvils and hammers found in the Mästermyr chest; the first of the series is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsixmP7KOLU.
September 7, 20223 yr May I commend to your attention the carvings on the Hylestad Stave Church dealing with the forging of Sigurd's sword by Regin the smith. Note that there are NO BLUEPRINTS as every viking era forge was built individually to the individual smith's needs. The basics are: A side blown ground forge or built up forge of masonry or turves burning charcoal, (coal was not used by smiths for another 500 years or so...) A bellows stone is a plus. Twin single action bellows blown alternatively, hence the need for a bellows thrall. Correctly alternating them means a check valve is not needed. Small stake anvil, mine is on the large size at 25#, note they were forging real wrought iron at white hot heat and very very soft and so smaller tooling was still quite effective! Ditto on looking at the Mastermyr Find for tongs, hammers, tooling... My Y1K anvil, based on one in the Roman museum in Bath, UK and documented pretty much to every century afterwards! Note that it is on it's side to show the mounting spike. Made by Steve Parker who was selling them at Quad State one year. (2008?)
September 7, 20223 yr I like 3/4” schedule 40 pipe, it’s right in the middle of the 3/4-1” in the historic record. There is some evidence of heavy copper tuyeres being used in bloomidary furnaces judging from the Loki soap stone hearth stone I would of i think the single wall style is most likely. anvils are the place where 6” of rail works well. their are some Asian hammers that look right but you may just have to make your own. 1-1/2 to 2# is what the record shows.
September 7, 20223 yr Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. If you put your general location in your profile we will be able to help better. Many answers are geography dependent. We don't know if you are in Lapland or Tasmania. Also, there may be smiths within visiting distance. There is nothing like one on one instruction or collaboration. As others have said, research the Mastermyr find, 2 single action bellows, small, square or rectangular anvil (wrought iron), charcoal fire, and almost all your material is wrought iron. Thralls/apprentices are a bonus and were common. Even a travelling smith would recruit local labor for bellows work, etc.. Look at the collection web sites for the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish National Museums for iron artifacts to get an idea fo what to make. Weapon and armor making was very specialized and was often imported for other places in Europe. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."
September 7, 20223 yr Yes a lot of the "Viking swords" were actually Frankish! There are some nice photos and drawing in "The Viking" Tre Tryckare, (AKA the "prune people viking book".) It's been a couple of decades; but the Smithsonian in Washington DC, USA had a nice display of viking era physical culture, Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. I got to go see it do to a business trip. They published a book on the exhibit by the same name that can be found used for under US$10 here in the USA.
September 8, 20223 yr The same exhibit was at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I made iron work for sale at the exhibit's gift shop, mainly penannulars and Thor's hammers and a few other things. They did not want to be selling any weapons. The exhibit book has some fine illustrations of iron artifacts. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."
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