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Owen Bush
Industry Professional
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 Posted: Tue 03 Feb, 2009 11:58 am Post subject: Viking spears |
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Dear all,
I am looking for some information on the dimensions of Viking spear Heads ,particularly the Pattern-welded spear head in the back of the book Swords of the Viking age .If any body could recommend a good book or any particularly good pattern-welded spear heads in British Museums. I would be most grateful for any pointers .
I want to Make some Replicas and am looking for original dimensions (ideally including weights)
also whilst we are at it, are there any existing spears from Viking graves with shafts intact ?
All the best Owen
forging soul into steel .
www.owenbush.co.uk the home of bushfire forge school of smithing .
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Douglas S
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Owen Bush
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Wed 04 Feb, 2009 12:28 am Post subject: |
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Thanks those are great links ,I am still looking for some dimmentions though .
forging soul into steel .
www.owenbush.co.uk the home of bushfire forge school of smithing .
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D. Bell
Location: New Zealand Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 73
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| Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2009 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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If you can, find a copy of M. J. Swanton's The Spearheads of the Anglo-Saxon Settlements. This book has numerous drawings to scale of Anglo-Saxon spearheads, although if I recall correctly it might focus on pre viking age England. You can also download a copy of De Norske Vikingesverd from here, this has some drawing of Norwegian viking age spearheads, which were to scale before the book was scanned.
As for the pattern-welded spear head in the back of Swords of the Viking Age, I would estimate that the blade is 20-25 cm long, but that's just a guess.
An armed society is a polite society.
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Luka Borscak
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Jean Le-Palud
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| Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2009 6:44 am Post subject: |
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Owen,
I just found this on the site of the swedish Historiska Museum (thanks to the link offered by Ville Vinje  )
Comparing the length of swords and spearheads I'd guess that the laters are around 40 cm long or even more.
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Jason Mather
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| Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2009 8:17 am Post subject: |
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Is it generally accepted that all viking spears and swords were pattern welded? Viking weaponmaking is pretty outside of my comfort zone but I might like to try forging a spear or two myself.......
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Gavin Kisebach
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| Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2009 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Is it generally accepted that all viking spears and swords were pattern welded? Viking weaponmaking is pretty outside of my comfort zone but I might like to try forging a spear or two myself...... |
By the latter part of the era there was little need for pattern welding, as the steel was better, and correspondingly few swords were pattern welded. It's a lot of unnecessary prom a practical standpoint, only us modern crazy types make it for fun.
There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them. ~ Emile Chartier
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Jason Mather
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| Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2009 10:39 am Post subject: |
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"By the latter part of the era there was little need for pattern welding, as the steel was better, and correspondingly few swords were pattern welded. It's a lot of unnecessary prom a practical standpoint, only us modern crazy types make it for fun."
That make sense. It also makes it much more likely that I will give it a try! All that is left is to find a later era piece to replicate, although it seems there is quite a bit of variance along a common theme with these spearheads.
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This is a standard topic