[Scott Roush]

This non-commissioned blade is a result of spending a day at a Northern Minnesota historical rendezvous where I hung out at Ben Rial's medieval camp and handled an awesome long sword he recently completed. A lovely, lively blade!!! And I also hung out with some folks that have finally started a Viking re-enactment group which is very exciting for me. So.. I came home and forged this blade today. The short blade was inspired by a great thread that somebody started here at myArmoury regarding the existence of Viking short swords and the hilt was inspired by a museum specimen posted in a different thread by Peter Johnsson. It was a Type G with 60 cm blade.

So.. here is mine... forged from low MN 1075 at 25" blade length. The hilt components are shipwreck wrought iron. I plan to to do very little grinding on these and will leave a forged and etched finish. I may yet change their relative size however. And I'm still trying to decide how I will treat the grip.

I would love to hear any feedback on how this looks so far as it is my first Viking blade and will be my first attempt at a wide fuller.

[David Clark]

I think it looks very nice already, and I cannot wait to see the finished piece.
I am not too familiar with that style hilt, however. About what time is it set? I certainly seems to be a later style (just going on what I know), say 900-1000ad?

[Scott Roush]

Thank you David. Peter indicates 'late 8th to 9th century'. A very rare hilt style apparently. But I thought it fit my style very well.

More pictures later.. but I've ground the guard and pommel piece a bit thinner and will forge more curl bringing the spirals tighter to the blade.

[Scott Roush]

So while the blade is soaking in the kiln preparing for the quench.. I'm thinking of the grip. Can anybody share opinions on this? I'm trying to decide between a simple wood grip versus a leather/cord wrap.. or .. like some of my other swords a rawhide wrap with risers. And maybe some antler or metal spacers.

[Scott Roush]

Here is the blade getting the fullers ground in...

[Jean Thibodeau]

Starting to look good with the fuller.

[Benjamin Rial]

Hey lookin good there Scott! It was great to see you again and hope you can make it to fall camp in Oct.
What about leather/cord wrap with antler spacer? Or if you want some gorgeous black walnut let me know, I'll send you some.

[Tyler Keich]

This looks fantastic!
My two cents would be for an antler grip. I think that would look beautiful with this unique gem.

[Eric W. Norenberg]

How about bone for the grip? Maybe with a bronze or iron ring in the center? Probably not historically correct (more a migration period form I think) but it would look great with the wrought iron fittings and the blade, assuming the blade's finish is similar to your other swords. Bone and bronze age so well with use and a bit of grunge...

[Scott Roush]

Thanks a lot for the comments and grip ideas. My intuition tells me simple wood... but bone is compelling as well. But I will wait until I've decided on finish as I'm not completely sure I will antique the blade. I get a little bored with that sometimes! I'm leaning towards a hand rubbed coarse grit finish .. I like the idea of it looking draw-filed or stone ground.

[Paul Hansen]

That looks very promising!

I would also vote for a bone grip. With some nice subtle carving, perhaps?

[Scott Roush]

You guys want bone!? You got it. A 15,000 yr old bison bone. I was going to grip a Celtic blade with it but somebody made a snide remark about the Flintstones and I got all self conscious. But this time I will cut off the end. It will polish up much like fossilized walrus ivory. Just need to decide on whether or not to use some spacers.



Anyway... the heat treat went okay.. but I got more warp than usual due to heat stratification in a new top loading kiln I'm experimenting with. But it is a thin blade so I got it mostly worked out. I might need one more tempering cycle.

I'm also fighting the fullers. Quite a bit of messing around running between the flat platen and my wheel. But I'm learning a lot....

[Scott Roush]

Some more progress. The bone is cut down and the first spacer is about ready. Not sure if I will keep it shiny or patinate. I will have a similar spacer in front of the bone... but trying to decide if I will keep the same 'dimed' pattern or do some small runes.

Also... still working on the blade finish.. and still contemplating on how I will treat: coarse grit satin or antiqued.

And.. I will probably have to grind away the rest of my touchmark since it's already have gone. I hate that. Now I will have to etch it.

[Jeremy A. Hart]

For what my humble opinion is worth, I would give the spacers (they're copper, right?) a nice even patina, as the bone is already darker naturally, and will tone up even more with just air exposure, so bright copper might look off.

Personally, the idea of a few small runes on the guard spacer might be a nice touch. I could see a Northman smith etching his name there, or a warrior marking it as his. I'd keep it as short as feasible though, that small a piece could easily look crowded with too much on it. Though, if it were done right, a full set circling it might work too... Hard to say, but I think it would add a bit to the piece to have them there.

Great look to the guard and handle overall. Compliments the bone, and looks like the blade of a warrior out on the vik rather than a jarl or king sitting idle in his hall.

[Petr Florianek]

Hey Scott! looks nice
you can still make your touchmark stamped on the guard
runes are nice idea

[Scott Roush]

Thanks Petr...

Any votes on keeping the bone grip parallel sided as in the pic or tapering towards the pommel? I kinda like the 'blocky' look.. but wonder if it would flow more with a tapered shape. There is enough meat on the sides of the bison to do this...

[J.D. Crawford]

Thats a pretty impressive first Viking! Will there be a block between the upper guard and peen like some original type Gs?

I vote for patina on the spacer; the shiny copper clashes with the old bone. As far as the grip goes, I don't like the current parallel look, but a uniform taper works best with hammer grip, and I think this baby is only going to work with handshake grip. You don't want your fingers sliding in this position. You might consider a wasted grip, i.e., narrow at centre but flaring about both ends, keeping it fairly flat in crossection to work with handshake grip. i think this will grip well and look good.

[Scott Roush]

Thanks for the comments JD. Yeah.. I haven't shown the side profile of that grip material but it is indeed pretty shallow and flat. I will do some sketches of the wasted shape and see how it looks. Until I get the spacer behind the guard done I'm not yet quite sure how it will all look. I might even waste it and do a basic carving around the center.

Do you have any links to other Type G pictures? I only have the one I mentioned previously and it is very simple.. it only had the guard and the pommel. But I was planning a pyramidal peening block....

Hopefully some more progress tomorrow... Today I really got distracted building my electric heat treat sword kiln.

[Jean Thibodeau]

I think I prefer leaving the bone parallel as it is to keep most of the original surface of the bone and parallel seems better to my eye with the rest of the hilt furniture: A tapering grip sort of unbalances the symmetry of the very similar in size and shape guard and pommel. Tapering would be better only if the pommel was of a very different shape than the guard: I like the " H " shape of the entire handle.

Patina on the copper.

If antiqued I would do it mildly and give it the look of a well used blade that may have had some light surface rust over decades of use but always polished back to a satiny medium coarse finish before the rust could do any deep damage: There would be traces of the pitting or where rust has been removed

[Scott Roush]

Jean... That is exactly what I was thinking last night in regards to the blade finish. I have just the method to do as you suggest..

And thanks for the input on the bone shape... I was thinkering with some sketches.... and still come back to the over-all blocky look. It reminds of a sword hilt done by Jim Hrisoulas I saw some time ago. Blocky but elegant somehow.