[Mark Moore]

Check out the newest Viking sword, in *bronze*, from Deepeeka. Now available at KOA in the 'new additions' section. Pretty sweet, and a reeeally nice scabbard! www.kultofathena.com ....McM

[Matthew Amt]

I'm guessing you mean the one with the bronze *hilt*--

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...ing+Sword+

Didn't think they had gone so far as to make any Viking weapon with a bronze *blade*...

Matthew

[Mark Moore]

Yeah.. ...Guess I should have been more specific. But a step in the right direction for Deepeeka. ....McM

[Nathan Robinson]

It's so heavy and has the wrong blade cross-section. The bronze grip is weird, too. So much potential there, but at the end of the day, it's a big miss for me.

[Mark Moore]

Well, I didn't say it was a show-stopper triumph of perfection.. ...But it IS kinda cool for a Deepeeka. Watch it be back-ordered within 3 days...if that long. Same goes for the 'tri-lobe' Viking. They can barely keep 'em in stock, so *somebody* is buying them. After seeing the *substantial* bare tangs and fat peens on some of these, I've threatened to get one myself. Probably not THIS one, but maybe. Ryan WILL sharpen them, if you special order it. I think they normally charge about $40 for a Deepeeka *unsharpened* blade. It WILL be a strong secondary bevel though. They won't touch a blunt. ....McM

[Mark Moore]

There we go...Title correction made. ....McM

[Dan Howard]

[J.D. Crawford]

This is a knock-off of the Del Tin Bronze Hilt Viking Sword - DT2102, which is larger, looks nicer, but to be fair is even heavier and apparently does not handle very well. There's a review here: http://myArmoury.com/review_dt2102.html

If I remember correctly, the original museum piece has a solid silver handle, or maybe some other metal plated with silver.

[Roger Hooper]

Note that the blade thickness increases down the blade - not a good thing for a cutting sword. The inappropriate flattened diamond cross section is a sin of which, sadly, a number of makers are guilty.

[Lin Robinson]

They made a similar sword for years. The blade was massive and not authentic. The grip was also much larger than the genuine article and had to be if you were to pick the sword up with any ease at all. It also used to be much cheaper, as I recall.

[Mark Moore]

I agree with all of the above. The blade is ALL wrong, and the price is waaay more than it's worth. I do like the hilt and scabbard though. But you've gotta admit...that scabbard is a great improvement over standard Deepeeka offerings. With a correct blade and a MUCH more 'user friendly' price tag, I *might* have considered it. Meh.... .....McM

[J.D. Crawford]

I must say that I find their new Norwegian viking sword-scabbard combo to be rather handsome for the price. Unfortunately this sword is also nearly a pound overweight.

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...king+Sword

Compare to this similar Valiant product:

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...e+Hjalmarr

[Mark Moore]

The guard and pommel on the Deepeeka looks absolutely massive. Look at the small photo of the hand holding the grip...HUGE! That's where a vast amount of the weight is. Talk about overkill! Either that, or someone at KOA has very tiny hands! ....McM

[William Swiger]

I had the Del Tin version and it was a beast. Nice decorative sword though. I have been looking at the Hurum Viking Sword Deepeeka offers as I have not seen another production sword with that hilt.

[Paul Mullins]

[Lin Robinson]

Carvings on the Osberg ship burial’s wooden wagon “…show well-groomed warriors with combed hair and neatly plaited mustaches and beards. Fashionable Viking men seemed to have worn their hair long, with a fringe at the front and short, or shaved, at the back. Beards were worn long or short, but were kept neatly clipped and the hair shaved at the lower neck. “ The writer goes on to describe grave finds of all sorts of grooming tools which seem to indicate these descriptions are accurate and Vikings cared about how they looked.

Another quote: “Other eyewitness accounts indicate that Viking men were not only vain, but also leaders of fashion. The Spanish Arab writer Al-Tartushi, visiting Denmark’s Hedeby, noted that both men and women wore eye-makeup; and in an anonymous Old English letter, a man warns his brother not to give in to ‘Danish fashion with a shaved neck and blinded eyes’ (blinded eyes probably means a fringe in this instance). Shades of “Floki!”

None of this, which comes from a book by Ben Hubbard, a “coffee table book” which has a surprising amount of good information in the text, indicates that Vikings shaved their heads and had tattooed pates, but we cannot save for sure that they did not.