Viking ship candle holder. I am very pleased with it. 

Very nice, Davor.  I like how the strips outline the hull.  My only issue is the Viking ships only had one spar (the cross piece on the mast that holds the sail), not two as you have done.  That kind of clangs esthetically for me but might not be an issue for other folk.  Other than that, really, really good.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thanks George. I know about the one spar, but it didn’t look good, to me at least. Because without the sail it is a lot of empty space.

Wow! That is really, really cool looking! My brain gears are turning now!

I love it Davor well done. The one feature that grates is the second spar. The mast being so far forward is easy to accept but the second spar is very much not Viking long ship.

They shipped the spar and rowed on river raids, so no spar and oars would be more authentic.

Sorry, as much as I like the piece I just can't get past the second spar.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks guys, maybe I'll make a smaller one with one spar.

Davor, actually, I would suggest that you could just make the mast a little bit shorter and place the single spar at a height which falls between the two you have done.  And, if possible place the mast more towands the middle of the hull.  Maybe you could have two boxes for tea lights, one before and one aft of the mast.

Also, could you please describe how you measured and formed the two strips forming the sides of the hull?  That strikes me a geometrically complicated.  Was it a fit and cut approach or did you have it all calculated out before hand?

G

It was fit and cut. First I made the big bend or I should say bow and tok a piece of cardboard just to see how to bend the ends, and that was also just a ruff estimate. And it was done cold, so I was able to manipulate it a lot easier with hands and hammer than holding it with the tongs.

Fit and cut is how long ships were built . . . sort to. I had to search a bit looking for a couple terms. "Clinker" built was what I was looking for but ran across this site and thought you might enjoy it. 

https://regia.org/research/ships/Ships1.htm

Now of course the voices are shouting ideas in my head. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Since all the Viking ships that have been recovered and restored had only one sail the mast would only have one spar. It would be easy to remove the lower one. When I showed it to Debi, she said it's gorgeous and the second spar (lower one) doesn't detract  from the over all look as far as she is concerned.

Now if it had been outfitted with 2 sails it would be a problem. Who knows some of the larger ocean going fighting Long Ships may have been outfitted with a top sail but haven't been found yet. After all it has been documented that the largest fighting Long Ships, carried a crew of up to one hundred trained warriors with 32 rowing benches so that would have 64 members at the oars at any given time.

The spar on Viking long boats was raised and lowered on a Staple(?) They furled or folded or(?) the sail  on the deck. 

IIRC some of the big, Norse cargo/trader ships had two single spar masts. The mast count is evident archeologically if the remains are reasonably complete, the stepping on the keelson and frame was one of the heaviest parts of the ship. The spars tend to = the number of staple thingies. The spares were stowed and are usually found together with the tools rather than with the remains of the masts.

Whether the spar was high or low on the mast would depend on the weather, you wouldn't have it high in a storm but would still want to be able to make way. I have no idea how they handled the sail itself when the spar was low but they must have secured it and still left sail for the wind.

There are also drawings of the long boat design ship going as far back as Mesopotamia, the Phoenicians leaving the most examples both artistically and historically. This type ship is as sophisticated as several thousand years of life and death use can make it. It seems even now experts have trouble explaining how the shallow keel keeps it from suffering leeway when tacking. 

Like most boys I was as into Vikings as dinosaurs and read everything in the library and like everything a lot more is known now than when I was a kid. I don't recall word one about what "Viking" meant. To go Viking meant going raiding, most Norse sailors and ships were traders and cargo haulers, traders making up the bulk of the explorers. Of course a trader might not be averse to doing a little Viking along the way home. Raiding on the way up a river made it hard to make it back down without having to fight your way through. Hmmm?

New studies, new sites, the reading gets better all the time, this is a good site.  https://regia.org/research/ships/Ships1.htm

Frosty The Lucky.

I went down the rabbit hole of viking ships, because of this debate. And if Viking ever made a two spar mast it would look like this. https://www.eldjarnbaat.no/index.php/byggeklipp?id=16

Cool.  It looks like the higher spar was hoisted up the mast first, before the lower spar rather than having them permanently fixed to the mast iike later tall ships where crewmen climb up to adjust the sails.

GNM

  I like your ship candle holder.  How many people have one of those lighting a fine dinner?

I like it as well

I would leave as it is

Nice work Davor. I like the look. Second spar doesn't hurt it in my opinion. 

Coming from someone who knows nothing about what viking ships historically looked like - I think this looks really cool. It's beautiful in daylight and gorgeous in candlelight.

There are some great videos on the Facebook page of the Vikingeskibsmuseet i Roskilde (Roskilde Viking Ship Museum) showing the construction, fitting out, and sailing of their various Viking vessels, from smaller rowboats to full-size ships. Because the timbers are all hand-hewn, one nice thing for us smiths is see how different axes were used for different parts of the process.

https://www.facebook.com/Vikingeskibsmuseet/videos_by

(I'm fairly sure you don't need an FB account to watch these, as they are all set to Public.) 

Thanks for the link John if only it wasn't over so quickly. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

Did you scroll down to all the videos below the comments? There are a few hundred more!

Oh yeah, I just wanted to watch the entire build. Unfortunately I had to get out and finish plowing show while the light was good. Right now there are only a couple few hours when the light isn't too flat for these tired old eyes to see detail in a white on white palette. I have the museum bookmarked so I can drool at my leisure.

Frosty The Lucky.

So I made a small one. Unfortunately the spar broke when I was widening the hole so it is welded and I should have made it a bit bigger. I like the big one more. But I do like this theme, maybe I'll explore different ship designs.

You're really getting good at this Davor. As much as I like the first one I like this one better.

Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice. Maybe add a sail of woven wire mesh, perhaps in brass or copper? 

  I was going to say a tattered piece of canvas or cloth would look good for a sail but forgot about the candle part...  I love your creativity.