Composit Pattern-Welded Viking Sword

I did the research and development for the making of this sword with the help of the New Brunswick Arts Board who granted me an Emerging Artists Grant that helped me take the time to learn this challenging new sword forging technique.

the Blade construction is made of three billets of lamenated steel, this is a picture of the initial forge welding of the edge billet wich has twelve layers of alternating 1084 and L6 steel. when struck at high heat steel will form a molecular bond and fuse together.

Once the billet is welded, I draw it out using the hydrolic press and my 6 pound sledge hammer untill it is long and square. This is the edge billet that will have to wrap all the way around the two central billets, so it is roughly four feet long when I am done drawing it out.

the two central billets (pictured on the right of the above photo) are twisted to mirror each other, this is called an alternating twist pattern and was popular with Anglo-Saxon and Viking smiths from the Migration Era to the Viking Age. The edge billet is pictured at the left of the two twisted central billets. All the billets have been ground so that they will weld together well without forming scale inclusions.

this is a scetch to show you what the steel pattern looks like under the fire scale.

I have now wrapped the edge billet around the edge of the two central billets. It is secured with a steel collar that I forged into shape and then hammered in place; this holds the three billets together using tention. I have begun to forge weld the tip of the sword billet, so that all three billets will be fused together into one solid sword blade.

The blade has been succesfully forge welded together into a single piece of steel. I will now forge it to shape and begin the grinding and polishing process. then I will heat treat the blade to make it tough and durable. Once that is done I will finish polishing it and etch it to bring out the pattern created by this elaborated pattern welding process.

Here is the blade once I have done an initial etch to see how the pattern turned out. you can see the swirls in the pattern where the central billets are twisted to mirror each other.

In this picture you can see where the edge billet which is twelve layers of laminated steel wraps around the tip of the blade (around the two twist billets).

Now I have to contruct the hilt and scabbard and the fittings for them.

I construct the models for the fittings out of wax, then I make a wax 'tree' of sprews and incase it in plaster. I steem the wax models out so that they leave the cavity of the mold empty in the negative shape of them. Then I pour molten bronze into this mold and brake the mold away, revealing the bronze hilt and scabbard fittings(below)

Once I have broken the bronze castings out of the mold there is quite a bit of finishing to do, I have to remove flashing where the molton bronze flowed into tiny crackes in the plaster and I have to remove the fittings from the sprews which are the avenues that the bronze flowed down to fill the mold.

Once I have carved and coloured the wooden scabbard and gripp I have to fit the spacers of antler and leather and make sure that the bronze furniture fits together snugly on the blade.

Once I am satisfied that I have a presision fit I epoxi the fittings on and pean the tang to hold the hilt firmly in place.

On this piece I also skrimshawed Nordic Runes on the spacer above the guard before I finished the hilt assembly. the Runic inscription says Heimdall on one side and Bifrost on the other. Heimdall is the gate keeper of the Gods in the ancient Norse mythology, and Bifrost is the rainbow bridge that spans between Midguard the land of mortal humans and Asgard the land of the Gods.

The sword is now photographed and packed to be shipped off to Denmark where it's new owner is eagerly awating it.