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 Adobe Systems'
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