Posts: 14 Location: Turku, Finland
Sat 11 Oct, 2008 12:36 pm
Hi all,
This Finnish sword has been discussed in many topics. As I have studied this particular sword (among others) for my doctoral thesis, I present some details of it here.
First of all the hilt. All three parts are hollow bronze. According to its colour, the alloy is nearer to bronze than copper or brass, although no accurate analyses have been taken. The thickness of the wall of the pommel can be measured, and it is between 1 and 1.5 millimetres. There exists a radiograph of the hilt, which clearly shows that all parts are hollow, and that the tang goes all the way through the pommel, and is peened on top of it.
The overall weight of the sword is only 922 grams. Not only the hollow hilt is light, but also the blade. Although the greatest width of the blade is 5.8 cms, it is only 3.5 millimetres thick near the hilt, and tapers to circa 3 mm near the corroded tip. Of course these measures are taken from the recent condition of the blade, but still it is relatively well preserved, considering that the fuller can be clearly defined and measured. The fullers are also very wide, circa 3.3 centimeters near the hilt. The
balance point is about 14 centimeters from the lower guard, so the sword handles quite well.
It is interesting to note that the blade is inlayed. On the other side of the blade there are letters NIOIN with cross potents at the beginning and at the end of the inscription. The other side says NMIN, again between cross potents. It is speculated that both these letter combinations could be some variants of IN NOMINE DOMINI, but one never knows. The inlays seem to be not pattern-welded, but plain steel. Steel here means that the carbon content of the inlays seems to be a bit greater than that of the blade, or the surface of the fuller to be more precise. The inlays are visible both in radiographs and with bare eyes, although the lighting must be good. The inlays cannot be well seen in the exhibition of the National Museum of Finland, because the swords are displayed in very dim light there. Otherwise the blade looks like homogeneous steel, although laminating is a quite possible alternative.
-Mikko Moilanen
Attachment: 53.14 KB
A line drawing of the sword and the outlines of its inlays. [ Download ]