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steels in viking swords

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jason udall	09/06/2014 15:28:22
2032 forum posts 41 photos	This prompted by comment on steels available to victorians...in another thread..about threads... I recently watched a video on youtube about the almost mythical VULTHBERT Sword... These swords seem to be made from crucible steel rather than wrought iron.. Crucible steel was apparently not made in Europe in that time but was imported from the middle east. To mark ( well that was reason given) the qualityof this sword the word +WULFBERT+ was inlaid ..before much of the forging of the blade .this steel inlay was of a lower quality.. Ok so far. Now it seems of about 75 blades found marked some 5 are marked +wulber+t and the rest are as above.. There seems some debate over the meaning of the word but it would seem to be a proper noun..and the +xxxx form would have been used by a Christian abbot.. Best of all it appears that not all wulfbert were to the highest standard and some used local steel... A case of dark ages counterfeit. ... Funny the "good" ones are the ones with +WULFBER+T.. mark......
Neil Wyatt	09/06/2014 15:41:19
19226 forum posts 749 photos 86 articles	More here: LINK Neil
jason udall	09/06/2014 16:43:54
2032 forum posts 41 photos	Much more...still not bad from memory .. Still fascinating that the misspelt+ XXXXX R+T ( to our eyes) form is "genuine"..rather than the +XXXXXXRT+ form
Neil Wyatt	09/06/2014 20:07:56
19226 forum posts 749 photos 86 articles	All fascinating. I'd love to dig one of those up! Neil
Neil Lickfold	09/06/2014 20:36:30
1025 forum posts 204 photos	It just goes to show what can be achieved with what appears to be very a very primitive method. I was very impressed by the quality of material that they made , considering what was used. No doubt , as time goes on, we will rediscover a lot of things. Neil
jason udall	09/06/2014 23:15:08
2032 forum posts 41 photos	The tunes you can play on the properties of steel are almost magical...like the transition temp also being the curie temp...like the distinctive colours in oxides yielding usefully different tempers....
John Olsen	10/06/2014 05:59:03
1294 forum posts 108 photos 1 articles	Neil's Wikipedia link refers to the steel originating in India. For those unfamiliar with Viking travels, they routinely traded with Constantinople via the Russian rivers, and in fact provided a bodyguard for the Emperor. The Eastern Empire would have been trading with India via Arabia so it would not have been too hard for steel to make its way from India to Scandinavia. I believe it was produced as round blanks which were widely traded. These swords were possibly the inspiration for the magic swords so popular in folk stories. On the other hand, when steel swords took over from bronze, they would have seemed magic too. (Clarkes law...any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.) John
Neil Wyatt	10/06/2014 08:38:03
19226 forum posts 749 photos 86 articles	I am always astounded by the extent of trade in the ancient world. At the time of the Pyramids and Stonehenge there was trade between the UK and the Middle East. Neil

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