I'm doing a collaboration with the very talented bladesmiths of the Mad Dwarf Workshop Andy Davis and David DelaGardelle. We're building a traditional Viking Blade called a Petersen Type Z sword. It's an 11th Century design that was mostly found around the Baltic region, but can be found in Norway and England as well. The gents at Mad Dwarf did the historical research.
The work breakdown is for the Mad Dwarf guys to do the handle/aesthetic design. I'll be drafting the blade geometry and forging/grinding/heat treating the blade. They will then create the fittings, handle, scabbard and carvings.
Here is the handle design courtesy of David DelaGardelle:
I really like the design.
As I said, my job is to produce the blade. Attached are some photos of the beginning of the "edge" billet. This will be the bar of straight laminate that wraps around the two twisted bars in the center.
For an overview of how these sorts of blades are forged, here is a link to a true master of this craft, Jake Powning, and one of his composite Viking blades: Powning Viking Blade.
We've decided to part with tradition/historical accuracy in one regard in that we're going with a higher layer count than one would have found on actual weapons of the period.
The billet pictured below started as 20 layers of 1095 and 15n20. It's been drawn out and stacked once into 5 layers (layer count = 100 now) and will be folded once more for an even 200 layers.
This increase in layers is purely an aesthetic preference on our parts. The twist billets in the middle will be of lower layer count to achieve the bold stars/twists one would expect on this type of blade.
At this point my intention is to make the blade to match these dimensions:
Overall length: 35" from tip to end of tang.
Blade Length: 30"
Blade width: 2.3" at base
I will post photos as things progress. I intend to take my time and make sure this blade is done really well. As a result I estimate it will take 30-45 days to complete the blade (that's assuming I don't screw something up and have to start over!).
Cheers,
--Dave
