If Viking have access to modern steel?

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shqxk

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Back in the day when the Viking and those legendary ancient warrior like Samurai or Spartan still using hand held weapon to cut off their enemies's head. If they have an access to these days modern alloy and HT equipment, which steel and HT protocol they going choose for their axe and sword ?

Just a fun topic tho :D
 
Most likely something simple - anything from 1050 to 1075, 1084, 5160, 15N20, or whatever else was available. Their decision would primarily be driven by price and availability, so long as performance was decent. I'd imagine they'd view the steel and the weapons produced from them as tools, and spend more time thinking about how they could use them than worrying about what kind of super steel they might be missing out on.

That said, I'd guess the rich and elite would use something like 3V/4V, Z-Tuff, damascus/pattern welded, or any kind of fancy stainless. I'd expect high-toughness steels would be preferred, as relatively brittle steels with high wear resistance are better for smaller knives rather than large chopping weapons / tools. M390, Elmax, S35VN, and any other "super steel" from the modern world would largely be limited to small, personal knives much the same way they are in the real world.
 
i honestly do not think an m390 steel wakazashi would take off a head any faster than the original steel made of iron sand did :)
 
The Vikings would use whatever steel the locals had whom they conquered. So if they rampaged over Colorado they would have quite a selection from the burning buildings of Spyderco. S30V?
Or rustproof LC200N?! The ones pillaging through Idaho would obviously snatch up all the 420HC Bos!! Hopefully they would instead invade and ransack New Jersey or Rhode Island.
 
If they had access to modern steels they would be little different than modern swordsmiths and would use the same steels they are using. Many Japanese bladesmiths still use traditional materials and methods due in large part to culture. American/European swordsmiths tend to use available steels. The number of swordsmiths in general is pretty small.
 
I sort of chuckle when I get these type questions. It is sort of like saying, "Would Thomas Jefferson have used a computer if it was available?" Since it wasn't available, any answer is correct. (The correct answer is - Of course he would! :) )

If considering the question as a somewhat serious swordsmithing query:
They would have used any of the now available carbon steels suitable for swords. My best guess would be 1075 or 1084. For pattern welded blades, they might have used 15N20 or O-1 for the contrast. The Vikings and other groughs 1000 years back made blades for real use, and while all the current discussions of the super steels are fun, nobody really uses swords made from them.

I think what they would have loved the most would be the ability to have large bars of damascus/steel and other supplies delivered by Amazon in a day or two.
 
I think they would watch Forged in Fire: Knife or Death intently and see what steel the winners are using and do the same thing. I think they'd want the same characteristics that we would want if we were lopping heads off and slashing shields, they'd want a tough blade that holds a great edge.
 
Human nature has not changed since we stumbled/walked out of the fog of time. What we want now is much the same as they wanted then; the best we could acquire, afford, or steal.
Would Daniel Boone have loved to have had a Sako with a 3x9 variable, darned straight he would, and ancient swordsmen whose lives depended on their tools would have been no different, wanting the best and making do with what they had at hand.
 
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