Hi Yall,
Wuz looking around and saw sum pics of a damascus Viking sword by Depeeka, they look cool but are they any good? Are they like an MRL sword or an Albion sword???
Thanx in advance
Z[/u]

I have not handled the Deepeeka Damascus swords, but I have handled other Deepeeka swords. Deepeeka swords in general tend to be pretty much "bottom of the barrel" in the production sword world in terms of overall quality. They tend to be overweight, and usually have a "clunky" blade-heavy feel. Some do look good, and would be good for display, costume, or reenactment (so long as there is no "combat" involved).
I am doubly concerned over the "damascus" blades; cheap damascus tends to have issues such as carbon migration that basically weakens the blade; plus, cheap third-world damascus also tends to be poorly tempered, in my experience (the two issues may be related, I don't know).

I think MRL's Windlass swords would be superior in most ways to Deepeeka swords.
Deepeeka swords are in no way comparable to Albion swords. They are pretty much polar opposites in terms of quality.

Save your money.

Deepeeka is cac for the most part. For a little more, you can get into Windlass/MRL, better Hanwei, or the newer CF/AT Valiant stuff. And, for a little more than that, you can get into a gently used Del Tin or entry level Squire Albion.

i have the albion hersir, but it isn't very accurate. most viking swords were damascus and had decoration, the decoration thing doesn't bother me too much but the mono-steel blade does. I would like a better one like a Patrick Barta or a Vince Evans but haven't the time or money, $1500 would be my absolute max.
the cas/hanwei godfred is not historical at all
the MRL i don't know about I've been burned by MRL before
the cas/hanwei trodenhiem is so obviously a one peice pommel and doesn't even look that great.
ive never seen a depeeka in person but it looked good, guess thats out too...
who else is there?

SO damascus and pattern welded arn't the same thing :eek: I appolagize for my ignorance. I have the albion hersir and it is nice but I wanted sumthing with a pattern welded blade, there isn't anything of albion quality but with a pattern welded blade? I don't have the time or money to go full custom.

so wud this sword be damascus or pattern welded?
http://www.templ.net/pics-weapons/124-viking_...hilt-v.jpg

Not all Viking swords were pattern-welded and not all had inlaid hilt decoration. It varied by era and area. Check out Ian Peirce's Swords of the Viking Age, it shows both.

Good pattern-welding is pretty much something you have to get in a custom job.

Some use the terms pattern-welding and damascus interchangebly. Some reserve "damascus" for things like wootz (a crucible steel).

Zach, Damascene blades are pattern welded, but like Chad pointed out, Damascene blades often utilized wootz steel, and often the pattern of the blade was made in such a way that it resembled a ladder, which was referred to as "Mohammad's Ladder". Here is a link to some Eastern Damascus Pattern welded blades....the second blade pic shows Mohammad's Ladder

http://www.persianmirror.com/community/writer...Swords.cfm

It should also be noted that in the later Viking age, good steel was being produced so there was no need for pattern welding. Many later blades were made this way....though they did lack the beautiful figure of the former blades!

Cheers,
R.