Viking Swords

mete

mete

Joined
Jun 10, 2003
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Coming soon to you TV !

Secrets of the Viking Sword

Oct 10, 2012 9pm

PBS NOVA
 
Yes, I was particularly amused at who Furrer's bellows pumping assistant was. It was a decent show although I thought it made far to much of trying to call a sword an "Uflebert" like it was a particular class of sword or something. Uflebert was a brand name, no different then Nike or Mercedes.
 
Have yet to find time to watch the show so I don't know if they cover this or not, but:

Perils of Fake Ulfberhts Revealed - from Guardian UK

Williams began to test the Ulfberht blades when a private collector brought one into the Wallace, and found they varied wildly. The tests at the NPL have proved that the inferior swords were forged in northern Europe from locally worked iron. But the genuine ones were made from ingots of crucible steel, which the Vikings brought back from furnaces thousands of miles away in modern Afghanistan and Iran.
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Sure, Ulfbehrt is a brand, but there likely was an Ulfbehrt in N Central Europe who had obtained a supply of crucible steel and forged enough superior blades that people began forging knockoffs.
 
SeaxyBeast said:
Have yet to find time to watch the show so I don't know if they cover this or not, but:

Perils of Fake Ulfberhts Revealed - from Guardian UK


Sure, Ulfbehrt is a brand, but there likely was an Ulfbehrt in N Central Europe who had obtained a supply of crucible steel and forged enough superior blades that people began forging knockoffs.
Click to expand...

Yes, they mentioned that as well. Nothing new under the sun. You could buy your "genuine" Ulfbert from that guy down on street corner that also has real bits of Thor's hammer with the "made in Cathay" sticker on them... :)
 
Just finished it and think it a very well put together documentary. Was pleased to see Richard Furrer and his forge. I have not met him, but I went to HS with his wife and I've ridden down that road behind the forge on my bike many times.

Just a beautiful blade he forged there.

Was also amused to see that the Windlass "Ulfberht," (which I have read is a decent handling blade- especially for the money), features the 'counterfeit' name rather than the one associated with the crucible steel version. ;)
 
Triton said:
Yes, I was particularly amused at who Furrer's bellows pumping assistant was. It was a decent show although I thought it made far to much of trying to call a sword an "Uflebert" like it was a particular class of sword or something. Uflebert was a brand name, no different then Nike or Mercedes.
Click to expand...

I should hire Kevin Cashen to be my shop assistant:)
 
Well, it was interesting, although I'm not sure how accurate it was. There is some debate as to which of the Ulfberhts are the real counterfeits. It seems some of the counterfeits appear older than the originals. By the way, it is interesting to note that several very high end smiths have chosen to reproduce the “counterfeits”

This is an interesting link:

http://jenny-rita.org/Annestamanus.pdf


Robert
 
thought i'd bump an existing thread instead of starting a new one. i want to ask the gents just how well-designed the frankish swords were, particularly the genuine ulfberhts. in terms of handling, cutting ability and other functions? are there sword makers here who replicate them for actual deployment besides and not just historical considerations?
 
I have yet to watch but I'm very intrigued by it I have a deep love for viking blades and culture. I'm newer to the forum but would like to share 2 of my Viking blades. I highly recommend th HT viking sword a great type X cutter with really nice blade geomentry. The smaller of the 2 is the Hanwei Tinker with custom handle and Wild boar bridge strap. The larger is a Gen 2 - 2hander a massive Sheild splitter indeed Based on Odin's ravens. I took a highatus fom swords and dicovered knifes and axes. To start balancing my modest collection.
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