Another Lost Weapon Found.

Thread Starter

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,928
Max, oh yes....saw that. From what I can tell, most of that era swords, have the consistency of a dried leaf.

And they were found buried or in structures.

This one was found resting in the outdoor environment.

Look at the shape of this thing. You could chop with it.

Would love to see the grain.
 

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killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
Many of the Ulfberht swords are found in Norway, which is interesting, but this sword is dated at 1200 years old, placing it around 817 A.D and the Ulfberht sword's earliest estimated between the 9th and 11th century.

kv
 

SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
Many of the Ulfberht swords are found in Norway, which is interesting, but this sword is dated at 1200 years old, placing it around 817 A.D and the Ulfberht sword's earliest estimated between the 9th and 11th century.

kv
9th century = 800's, so this sword is in the earlier estimate of the Ulfberht swords. Almost definitely the same metallurgical technology. Bookkeeping and record keeping weren't all that great back then.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
9th century = 800's, so this sword is in the earlier estimate of the Ulfberht swords. Almost definitely the same metallurgical technology. Bookkeeping and record keeping weren't all that great back then.
Based on the article it leaves heads scratching, they haven't done any analysis on the sword yet or I didn't read the article correctly, which wouldn't surprise me.

kv
 

Thread Starter

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,928
I think they get buck fever when they find something. They announce the finding before doing much analyses, "hoping for new insight".

Metallurgy was probably pretty secret back then. It probably always has been.
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
Carbon and it's effect on the hardness of iron, was only just being guessed at by this point in history.
The effects of sulfur and other 1% level impurities on the metal remained mysterious. The low amount of these elements and their outsized effect on the final product made metallurgy more like magic than manufacture. You just never knew the type of impurities present from batch to batch and among ores from different regions.
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
Damascus or Wootz steel dates back 300 B.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/29/science/the-mystery-of-damascus-steel-appears-solved.html

A critical factor, Dr. Wadsworth said, appears to have been that the wootz was processed at temperatures as high as 2,300 degrees. After being held there for days, it was cooled to room temperature over a day or so. It was then shipped to the Middle East for relatively low-temperature fabrication.

This moderate heat preserved enough carbide (in which three atoms of iron are mated to one of carbon) to give the blades great strength, yet not enough to make them brittle. The large carbide grains gave the blades their typical watery pattern.
kv
 
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