i have just completed this reproduction of the Ballinderry find,silver plated fittings with sterling silver wire inlays,exact reproduction of the ulfberht inscription,masur birch and whalebone grip.
Ballinderry sword Specs

Blade Length 31 1/8"
Tang length 5 1/2"
Weight 3Lb 7oz
Point of Balance 6.5"
Width 2 3/8" at cross
1 1/2" at 6" from tip
thickness 5.2mm- 4.5mm at 3" from tip
big blade,devastating.

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Are your lights directed at the piece or away from it. Several of the shots seem to have some glare that obscures some detail of the piece. Its interesting regardless, I like the whale bone. Is it hard to come by?

Joe,i just use natural light for the pictures,and a 4megapix camera,i do have other shots if there is something you are unclear about.Whalebone is particularily hard to come by,the Whales seem very reluctant to hand it over :D I have got some on occasions from Kayaking around the Coast of the Island,old carcasses can be found.

Your Ballinderry repro is a beauty, Rob. The pommel appears to be constructed of two pieces - is it so?

Have you considered trying to create a blade with iron inlay?

Perhaps some different shots of the tip/last 3rd of the blade.

I am curious about the inlay on the blade (looks great by the way!) Did you twist wire and hot forge it into the blade? I would have expected the original to have been a pattern welded blade, but can understand not wanting to take the project that far even if the original was....

Jared,

Following Ian Peirce's book "Swords Of The Viking Age" the blade of the Ballinderry sword was NOT pattern-welded...
The exact sentence being : "The blade does not otherwise appear to be pattern-welded."

In fact Ulfberht blades are so usually not pattern-welded that Patrick Barta wrote me about a pattern-welded Ulfberth sword found at Olomouc as something totally unusual.

Rob-

Great work! The grip looks excellent with the whalebone. A very subtle touch. I'm curious; why was the "wire" cast around the bottom part of the pommel but inlaid on the upper part? Wouldn't it have been more accurate to inlay the bottom part as well? Mind you, I still LOVE this sword.....

Beautiful work Rob!
Glad to see it: always insiring to see inspired work like this.

Thanks for showing.
:D