A great sequence of videos showing the making of a pattern welded Viking sword. Unfortunately it's in French (which I don't speak) but the videos speak for themselves:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gregdelaunay?feature=watch

The finished sword can be seen here:

http://www.elfic.fr/scrimpages/epee-viking.htm

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Splendid work. Thanks for sharing Matt!

Being french I can fully appreciate the quality of the commentaries: they are remarkably clear yet very informative and detailed. In short that's one of the most thorough video I've seen on the subject and I picked up at least half a dozen techniques I will definitely put to good use in the future.

I'm always surprised when I discover french artisans. Having made most of my sword education here on English speaking forums, I know little about what's going on in the motherland (I knew about Gael Fabre and fellow MA member Fabrice Cognot, but that's about it).

I've picked a bunch of additional pictures from Grégory Delaunay's website, definitely worth a look.

Some vids have english subtitles, such as the one below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBAXgcNxBKk&am...Ax4yrs6BUO

I especially like when the smith arranged to use the local bakery to temper the blade because his oven was too small :)

Forging a serpent in the sword.

From a different swordsmith but still some amazing videos showing the process of forging a pattern welded blade with a serpent core.

Part 1

Part 2