Posted: Mon 20 Dec, 2004 12:32 pm Post subject: Beautiful Roman Stuff
I just ordered a large fibula from this gentleman, but his arms, shields and other pieces look fantastic, too. See the sample image below. I can't link you directly to his arms & armour replicas, but if you follow this link you'll see where to go.
Sweet Did the Romans really have pattern-welded blades though???
Hi Eric...
I have read that Roman sword blades were sometimes pattern-welded but it is hard to get a description or picture of what it would look like. My impression is that the pattern welding shown in the above picture is a little larger and more bold than Roman blades. For instance here is a picture of pattern welding on a very late Roman spatha found in the Illerup-ada bog find in Scandinavia...
ks Attachment: 98.68 KB Illerup Bog Spatha with Rivets and Inlay Two swords
Lit in Eden’s flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
Sweet Did the Romans really have pattern-welded blades though???
Patternwelding was not uncommon.
You find it on both Spatha blades and Gladii.
Some blades were made of steel folded many times (coming close to mono-steeel in nature).
Others were laminated iron and steel, yet others were more or less plain iron with very lowcarbon content.
There is a wide range of "quality" in these blades.
They are much more varied in shape and style than one might think when seeing what is generally avaliable in the replica market today.
One thing to remember about pattern welding is that it wasn't neccesarily a sign of high quality. That tends to be how we view it today in our mono-steel bladed world. However, in the ancient world pattern welding was simply a means to an end. It was the best method available that allowed the maker to take rather crapy materials and turn them into something usefull. So it wasn't really rare. It was just another means to an end."In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
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Did the Romans really have pattern-welded blades though???
