In this picture taken from the side of the blade opposite that depicted in the adjoining close-ups, the four bands of pattern-welding forming the central face of the blade may be discerned on the left and in the center of the picture, each having both straight and twisted areas, in addition to the non-patterned steel of the two edges. On the right a stress crack runs perpendicular to the long axis of the blade through all four bands of pattern-welding, but spares the edges. A finer crack is seen in the pattern-welded bands on the opposite face of the blade (not shown). Whether this crack was a battle failure, deliberate mutilation associated with bending before inhumation (with straightening in modern times) or artifactual damage when the blade was recovered is not known. In the upper band to the right of the crack a zone of pattern characteristic of a plane through the center of a twisted rod may be noted (for further explanation of how patterns are formed, see the on-line document on pattern-welding).