Blade Patterns Intrinsic to Steel
Edged Weapons, a brief illustrated discussion
of patterns visible upon the surfaces of blades which arise from
the materials used and techniques employed, some for structure,
others for decoration.
Fun With Fimo by Dan Maragni (PDF
format, 173 kb) was the handout accompanying a lecture on using
hardenable clay to experiment with pattern development at the
New England Bladesmith's Guild Ashokan conference in 1997 and
includes examples pertinent to Viking Age swords.
De Norske Vikingsverd
(The Norwegian Viking Swords) by Jan Petersen (1919)
in a new translation by Kristen Noer. The most widely used classification
of the swords of the Viking Age was first presented in this work.
A few sections, reflecting progress to date, are available on-line.
A Record of European Arms
and Armour Through Seven Centuries by Sir Guy Francis
Laking (1919), the standard English language reference in the
field for many years. A few sections, reflecting progress to
date, are available on-line:
or
Serpent in the
Sword: Pattern-welding in Early Medieval Swords by Lee
A. Jones (also available in PDF format,
427 kb, by clicking
here), reviews the twisted rod structure of swords of the
Migration Period and Viking Age. Reprinted by permission from
the Catalogue of the Fourteenth Park Lane Arms Fair (1997).
Students
of Arms; a survey of arms and armour study in Great Britain from
the eighteenth century to the first World War: Chapter 6: Arms and Armour Study in Edwardian Britain
by Michael Lacy, being largely a biography of Sir Francis Guy
Laking and his contemporaries, from the forthcoming book.
Recommended
documents on or from other sites
Please see also the Swords
- Noncommercial section of the Links Page
From Rapier to Langsax: Sword Structure in the
British Isles in the Bronze and Iron Ages, by Niko Silvester
deals with the development of swords from their origins in the
Bronze Age through the close of the Viking Age and is a component
of the now closed Swordsmithy.
Russian Medieval Arms and Armor is an intriguing
subject as there is a blend of both Eastern and Western influences,
varying over time, which are well covered in this English language
summary and illustrated glossary from the Xenophon Group.
icon are in Adobe® PDF format.If you do not
already have Acrobat® Reader, you may download it free from
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