Ulfberht blade, ready for hilting, looking for home -- myArmoury.com

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

I have been working away at getting pattern welded inlay to turn out looking good. I am getting pretty decent and have a blade that has a few inclusion where the weld was not 100%. The weld flaws are not horribly significant, and the blade is structurally sound so I've decided to offer it up for sale at a reduced price from what I would normally charge.

Blade Steel : L6
Pattern Welded Wire : L6/W2, 9 layers, twisted

58 Little pieces of twisted pattern welded wire were welded into the blade blank simultaneously.

If you are interested in just the blade, $1,750
If you are interested in basic, undecorated fittings, leather wrapped handle, $2200
Other options please inquire.

The blade tip to shoulders - 31.75"
length of tang material - 5.25"
point of balance - 10" forward of shoulders
weight - 1lb. 11oz.

Any questions please feel free to inquire.

Thanks!
Michael Pikula

Dustin R. Reagan

Wow! that is some of the cleanest welded inlay i've seen! The patterning of the inlay wire, as well as the evenness of the letters themselves is amazing. There's very little warping/stretching. Could you go into a little detail on your process? Did you weld the inlay before or after fullering the blade (forged or ground/scraped?).

Thanks,
Dustin

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

Thank you Dustin,

I am still working on getting my process down and am learning more with each attempt. I will make a post with my learning process and how I went about it when I get the results I need.

The welding of the lettering was done prior to forging the fuller.

Scott S. · Posted: Tue 27 Jul, 2010 6:45 am Post subject:

Had you lived in the Dark Ages, I imagine Ulfberht would have hired you on the spot. No interview or references necessary. Happy

A. Kotlyarevsky · Posted: Tue 27 Jul, 2010 8:02 am Post subject:

Since I am no expert on dark age blades, would a 10" POB been common on bare blades like this? Once the blade is hilted, I would assume that would drive the POB much farther back towards the pommel. What would have been a common POB for a finished version? Is my series of questions about the POB completely uncalled for?

Also, beautiful sword, really a work of art. Makes me want to learn as much as I can about swords of this period. Which, if a sword has any purpose in the modern day, I would think inspiring curiosity would be one such purpose.

Matthew Stagmer · Industry Professional

Nice work my friend. I have been wanting to do some of this work but I dont have the guts to turn on the wleding forge in this heat.

Keep it up!

Jeremy V. Krause · Posted: Tue 27 Jul, 2010 10:25 am Post subject:

That's great Michael,

Your execution is excellent. I really like the lacing pattern side. I think the ulfbehrt may actually be a bit TOO neat when compared to original inlay of this type. II would have done a "v" instead of a "u" but that just a preference..

You show a real mastery of this skill and I love seeing how these iron inlays turn out.

THanks for sharing.

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

Thank you for all the comments!

At A. Kotlyarevsky, I don't know what the point of balance would be typical, I included it as a base measurement to help show about how the mass is distributed for someone who might be interested in acquiring the piece. I think that once a hilt is assembled and fitted it will bring the point closer to the hand.

At Jeremy V. Krause, Thank you, the customer that I am working on this project for also agrees that the lettering is a bit too neat when compared to originals, better too neat then too sloppy! But in my next attempt, #4, I should be able to mix it up a little and get even more of an organic placement of the inlay. Switching the U to a V is also a good suggestion, I will take it under consideration when laying out the next blank.

Ozsváth Árpád-István · Posted: Thu 29 Jul, 2010 2:26 am Post subject:

According to my calculations, if you add a 150 g guard and a 250 g pommel you will end up with a PoB at 14,5 cms (5.7") and a total mass around 1,2 kg (2 pounds 10 ounces). That would make a nice heavy-cutting sword.

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

Thanks for the calculations, I usually start making the hilt components to what visually feel right, and then mount the fittings and move the sword around to see how it feels. After this I start dialing in my weight and balance, most of the time adjusting the fittings a little bit is enough to get the sword to come alive.

On a side note, if the blade doesn't end up selling as a bare blade, or as a commission, I will be hilting the blade up anyway since it deserves to be finished. I was thinking of Type S fittings, what do you guys think? If desired I can do updates showing the hilting of the blade if there is interest in my version of the process.

Chris Lampe · Posted: Thu 29 Jul, 2010 10:35 am Post subject:

That's a beautiful blade and I would definately enjoy seeing the hilting process if you do it.

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Thu 29 Jul, 2010 12:21 pm Post subject:

Impressive work as usual. Wink

B. Stark · Industry Professional

Type K, X or Y, you couldn't go wrong with any of those three. The latter two I nice being that they lack the earlier two piece pommel construction (not that I'm sure daunts you, but you know how it is). The Ballinderry sword sports an early 'ULFBERHT' blade. So a type K hilt does have provenance. If I hade the dockets I'd take it off your hands and do it myself....

Ozsváth Árpád-István · Posted: Thu 29 Jul, 2010 8:06 pm Post subject:

I found a thread about this:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...p;start=22
...or, you can do something wild, like Peter Johnsson's Custom 13th Century Type X Sword:
http://www.myArmoury.com/review_pj_bj.html
Personally I like that solution, but your tang seems to be short for a wheel pommel.

Scott Hrouda · Posted: Thu 29 Jul, 2010 9:00 pm Post subject:

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

I certainly have a full plate at the moment but will be working on getting some fittings rolling for this blade when I can group it with the fittings for another blade. I am leaning toward one like the example that I am attaching... I enjoy the "bubbly/organic" feel that the fittings have, and think it would look pretty good if pulled off just right. I still have yet to draw out the inlay pattern, however getting the general shape and fit will be the first stage, then cutting grooves and covering the surface with copper, then doing the silver inlay. But just wanted to throw the concept out.

Kirk Lee Spencer · Posted: Fri 30 Jul, 2010 8:19 am Post subject:

Hey Michael...

I like it!

Here are some other perpective shots of the Bengtsarvet Haradsarvet Sword

It is in the Historical Museum Stockholm, Sweden

take care

ks

Richard Furrer · Industry Professional

Kirk,
Did you take those photos?
Ric

Kirk Lee Spencer · Posted: Wed 04 Aug, 2010 2:44 pm Post subject:

Hey Ric...

No... Wish I had! That is one of my dreams. To spend my life in the dusty depots of museums cataloguing sword finds.

This is part of a montage I put together from several images. I usually put the source of the image in the file name. So if it is not there I probably collected the images a long time ago before I started coding the source in the file name, or they were gleaned off a blog or forum without source info. All I have is the museum code in the file name. Sorry...

If anybody knows the source of the images let me know and I can add it to the file name.

take care...

ks

Michael Pikula · Industry Professional

I would like to bump this post and mention that the blade is still available and still looking for a home. I haven't had the time to invest in making fittings for the blade on my time as of yet.

Thanks,
Michael