Interesting NOVA episode, Secrets of the Viking Sword

prime77 · #1

I watched the other night and really enjoyed it and thought some of you guys might find it interesting. Here it is online.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2284159044/

defenestrate · #2

Ew, Goldman Sachs ad.

That's okay - I love hearing about swords forged from bog iron, so looking forward to this!

Sequimite · #3

Just like there seemed to be endless tribes coming out of the Asian steppes, successive tribes came south out of Scandinavia: Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Jutes. They displaced the Celts primarily and later came into conflict with Rome and Eastern tribes. The Scandinavian tribes conquered almost all of Europe and eventually defeated Rome. In the Viking era one sea captain was given part of France, Normandy. The Normans (northmen) again conquered England. Viking also conquered most of Eastern Europe and Russia. They traded with the Muslim empire acquiring vast fortunes in the slave trade in particular. As they settled down in the east they gave up paganism and adopted Greek Orthodox Christianity. As tribal areas became affiliated with either Greek Orthodoxy or Islam, those areas where vodka was favored became Greek Orthodox and those areas where Opium or Hashish were favored became Muslim. Despite a long peaceful affiliation with Islam and war with Constantinople, Vikings loved vodka and Muslims cannot drink alcohol.

DeathBySnooSnoo · #4

I saw this the other night and thought that it was pretty interesting and cool to see. Apparently if you go to the smith's site you can order that type of steel from him.

defenestrate · #5

That is very cool! I'd heard some about the original source of some of the steel, but never seen something that close to the original made straight from a crucible/ingot. I want an +ULFBERH+T now!

DeathBySnooSnoo · #6

defenestrate wrote:I want an +ULFBERH+T now!

You and me both!

Pinetreebbs · #7

defenestrate wrote:That is very cool! I'd heard some about the original source of some of the steel, but never seen something that close to the original made straight from a crucible/ingot. I want an +ULFBERH+T now!

A knife blade would be cool.

defenestrate · #8

I think I could appreciate an Ulberht-inspired knife, if it were done right.

tonydahose · #9

very cool video, thanks! next time i go to door county i am going to see if i can stop by that guy's shop

Sequimite · #10

Thanks for the link, very interesting show.

prime77 · #11

One of the things I found interesting is that even back then there were people who made inferior copies of someone else work.

tonydahose · #12

i have friends in europe that the link wont work for them. how do you get around that again?

Evil D · #13

That was awesome. I envy that guy's skill to make such a masterpiece. I was a little let down at the end though, i wanted to see the finished piece put to work.

Divo · #14

tonydahose wrote:i have friends in europe that the link wont work for them. how do you get around that again?

Using a proxy . . . to find out that too slow. :p
Because I live in Europe and could not use this link either, I downloaded the vid on Usenet.
The one I downloaded is 1080p and is almost 6,4 GB
But I saw smaller ones too. Will look if I can upload it later this evening.

Divo · #15

Files on wetransfer. Download without tricks.
Links only valid for 2 weeks (till 3 november, 2012)

NOVA.S40E01.Secrets.of.the.Viking.Sword.HDTV.x264.zip (412MB)
(Resolution 720 x 404)
http://wtrns.fr/E45MOWn448uvqaq

NOVA.S40E01.Secrets.of.the.Viking.Sword.720p.HDTV.x264.zip (1.3GB)
(Resolution 1280 x 720)
http://wtrns.fr/7m0reMNZeFt310

tonydahose · #16

thanks much!

Ed Schempp · #17

Ric Furrer has been researching and recreating crucible steels for many years. I think that he studied every archaeological dig along the silk road. I have a lot of respect for him. 10-12 years ago I was listening to Sat morning NPR radio and heard talk about a sword, a dragon slaying sword. One group of scholars developed a data base on all mythological encounters between man and dragon, to develop a modern dragon slaying sword. The sword had to be harder than most and corrosion resistant. Ric made a San Mai sword. The clad on the sword was stainless steel to resist the acidic blood, the core was crucible steel, and the piece was case hardened to Rockwell C scale 69. The sword was named the C69. I got in contact with Ric at that time and we have been friends ever since. Ric has been doing cool stuff for a long time. Ric and Beths oldest son is named Thor, who better to do this work...Take Care...Ed

Evil D · #18

The thing i really found interesting about this video was when the guy was talking about how katanas are really good swords but they're exaggerated, and he does the same cut with an unsharpened medieval sword as he does the sharpened katana. It really shows how important edge and grind geometry is.