"Outlander' - Norse film objects

What I've Been Up To # 4

I was contacted about a week after I got home from the Goderich Celtic College and Festival by Ian Greg - a well known Halifax area set designer.

'Outlander' is a feature film being shot in Nova Scotia, with principle photography scheduled to start October 1. The story is set in Sweden circa the early Viking Age. Ian is in the process of building a small Norse village with about a dozen structures. Along with the chieftains hall and various other dwellings, there will be a blacksmith's shop. Ian has a reputation for attempting to get historical details as accurate as possible (given this IS the world of film!).

The plot of Outlander is best described as 'Beowulf meets Alien'. Add a science fiction twist to the ancient Saxon story of hero's and monsters. Make both the hero and the monster from a crash landed space ship. No technology other than what is local. Depending on how the story is treated, this could actually work quite well (but once again - this IS the world of film!)

This is a fan based plot overview :
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002060.html

I have been asked to provide a wide range of historically accurate cookware and tools. All the pieces are being created to 'replica' standards - the forms are based in most cases on known artifacts. Most pieces are heavily forged mild steel, with things like arc welds used and then surface dressed to hide them. There are a wide range of cook pots of various sizes and materials. I will be taking a bit of effort on the decorative cauldron hanger, as I can see it may end up in a number of film shots.

So - it looks like September is back to the Viking Age:
Labour Day - Iron Smelt with all VA equipment at the 'Baron's Howe' SCA event
Sept 15 & 17 - 'The Vikings Return', a presentation by DARC in Rhode Island
... and a pile of stuff to make for Outlander.

Norse Meat Spit - Period Fluxes?

Joel wrote:

> ... I was trying to reproduce a roasting spit artifact from the Lund
find.
> It looked in the picture like the pointy end was tripled back on itself
> and "apparently" forge welded. We tried this, and it worked quite
> well, producing a replica that looks just like the picture. Here's the
> question. Assuming Viking Age smiths could forge weld, what did they use
> for flux? Borax wasn't found in Scandinavia was it? Do you know how
> they did it? ...

As it happens I have to make up one of these same sword spits latter
this week. (This as part of a package of Viking Age domestic ware and
tools being ordered for a film under production - more on that in an
upcoming post here!)

The object under consideration is a type of Viking Age meat spit called
a 'sword spit' . The artifact is from Lund, Sweden and is dated to 1000
- 1050. Its total length is 111 cm. Roughly the front quarter (about 30
cm) is flattened to a long rectangular sectioned point. There are two
short prongs which bend forward at the base of the blade, which look to
be round profile and end in points. The remainder of the shaft is square
cross section, all twisted in one direction. The far end is equipped
with a ring held by a simple loop.

Viking to Crusader (Number 62 page 244) describes it as having " the
prongs being cut from the shaft and bent forward"
Viking Artifacts (Number 46 page 17 / 201) describes it " At the base
of the blade the outside edges are cut and bent to form prongs parallel
to it."
Both the books have images too small to see this kind of detail.

I can see maybe three ways of doing this:

1 - shaft and sword are one piece, two smaller rods welded on for the
prongs (a pain to wire on the small pieces while heating)

2) sword is flat stock, slit back at one end for prongs. Shaft is lap
welded on to this. The long shaft could also have a short slit made in
it (Imagine the blade with a short taper between the barbs > >- and a
matching V slit on the shaft. This is how I intend to do it by the way)

3) one thicker piece. Two diagonal slits made that get lifted away to
form the prongs. The blade is forged (slightly drawn out). Then the
length of the shaft is drawn out.

I have never been able to find a close up image of the artifact, or have
never seen it in person. (if YOU have I'd really appreciate a jpeg of
the thing - especially at the joint!)

One general comment; In the Viking Age, the source material would be
shorter and thicker 'currency bars'. These are typically about 5/8 to
3/4 square and about 12 - 18 inches long. I doubt a single one would
provide enough material for the Lund spit. For the Norse smith, the more
obvious way to work would be at the least to make the head from one bar
and the shaft from another. ( If I was REALLY doing a high end
reproduction I would try working down from the thicker stock!)

A second consideration - which is going to lead to your second question.
Remember that this would have been WROUGHT IRON (technically bloomery
iron) rather than our modern mild steel. This changes how you make a lot
of things, as the material has a distinctive grain to it from slag
occlusions during its smelting from ore. This would assist you in
determining the actual method used originally - if you had detailed
photos or the object to look at. Things like welds and joined pieces
show up pretty clearly on the artifacts.

This relates back to the welding. Period iron is to a certain extent
'self fluxing'. Often no extra flux is required to weld it. I have to
admit that I always use borax - even on the few times I have forged
welded antique wrought iron. (Which frankly has not been all that often,
as I save the material I do have for layered steel work primarily.) This
mainly on the better safe than sorry theory. Borax is what I have always
used - the cheaper washing soda variety.
You are correct that Borax was not available to northern Europe
historically. (This came up as a discussion topic just this week on
ARCHMETALS - but in the context of bronze casting and smelting.)

I have read and heard that traditional English smithing uses 'fine white
sand' for flux. This is a silica sand? I can't imagine the quartz sand
more typical here in Ontario would melt at forging temperatures. Again
one of the things thats on the (too long) list of things to try!

Hope some of this helps

Darrell

Where is He??

To my regular readers:

First - thanks for bothering!

I have been trying to get something up at least twice a week. Generally I've also been trying to keep to topics related to the Viking Age and Metalwork. As Steve commented after the Lebanon post, better to stay focussed and avoid the black pit of political commentary.

From August 5 through August 15 I was involved at the Celtic College and Festival at Goderich Ontario. This is an extremely intense 10 days. I always come home entrenched in the viewpoint of the artist and sympethetic to the Irish. Now have to quickly switch gears and get back to the Viking Age and museum related work.

There is a new feature film being shot in Nova Scotia. Its set in Sweden in the early Viking Age. They are creating a village set with about a dozen buildings, with principle photography starting about Oct 1. I was asked to provide a rush quote for a wide range of cookware, tools and other metal objects. Like usual, now its hurry up and wait. Will see how this works out.

Labour Day is our anual trek to Bonfield (near North Bay) Steve Mulhburger is an ancient friend who holds a camping event on this farm over that weekend. This year the theme is the Viking Age. DARC will be undertaking an iron smelt using all period equipment and what we have learned on historic method. One element to this smelt will be that we will be working inside a replica of House site J at L'Anse aux Meadows. In past years a cut out on the same measurements as found at LAM has been constructed, and we intend to base the smelter and positioning of equipment on the archaeology. Hopefully our smelt in the same arrangement of space may contribute to our understanding of what may have happened in Vinland circa 1000 AD.

After that project - a team from DARC will be traveling to Rhode Island for a weekend demonstration at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (of Brown University). Neil Peterson has constructed a large event web site featuring images of DARC team members. Worth a look at :

http://www.treheima.ca/temp/haffen06/vikings.html

Considering a Knife

Taken from a comment posted to NORSEFOLK:

I would suggest anyone considering a knife start with looking at the
BLADE - not the handle. You are purchasing a cutting tool are you not?

Blades that are ground from a bar will have a certain look to them.
Simple straight lines and flat faces. Often machine cut groves (which
are not commonly found on any historic knives - fullers are intended to
keep the weight down on swords). Modern taste is to a highly polished
surface - which is NOT going to be found on VA blades. No high speed
belt sanders or rubber abrasive disks!

Consider the material used for the blade. A higher carbon content means
a harder and more rigid blade. It will stay sharp longer - but at the
cost of brittleness. A small fine cutting or carving knife can be
effective when made of high carbon (like 1095). Its not what you want
with a heavy hacking tool or weapon. More flexibility is required with
extreme use, so something closer to a mid carbon spring steel (like
1045) is better.

This hardness can be controlled by the tempering process. Avoid blades
that are oven tempered. Zone tempering by eye - in the hands of someone
experienced - is the absolute best method to combine some flex to a
blade while retaining edge hardness.

Anyone serious about historic accuracy should avoid any kind of modern
alloy. Nickel based 'stainless steel' is VERY modern. Remember that any kind of plain carbon steel will RUST - if not properly taken care off. Acidic foods (onions) will discolour the blade with time, this dark grey is a natural patina. The blade must be wiped clean after every use. Between events the metal should be lightly oiled to protect it. I recommend a light machine or motor oil for tool knives and a vegetable oil for food preparation blades.

Also take a look at the range and distribution of artifact samples inside your historic period of interest. What I mean here is the modern tenancy to have everyone carry a honkin huge fighting knife. Most historic (Viking Age) blades are in the size range of 4 inches.
There is a clear distinction between woman's and mens knives in the Dark
Ages (yes - a generalization!). Typical mens
knives are small seax shapes. Typical womens knives are long slender
triangles with a single cutting edge. The large fighting knives are a
separate class (and I would suggest a man with a 12" fighting knife
along his back also has a 4" small seax in a belt hung pouch scabbard at
his front - for eating!).

Early period knives all seem to have these small rat tail tangs. Considering
the softer metal most are made from - this seems to be a bad design. But
there it is, you look to the samples. Generally I suggest people look
for a wider tang construction - as this is the constriction at the tang
from the blade is the weakest part of the knife.

Most Viking Age knives use a tube shaped handle. This explains the rod tang.
Regardless of the material in the handle, the most common attachment
method is to drill a hole in a solid block of material. The tang fits
through the block - and is peened over the opposite end to hold the
handle in place. Modern construction is to either rivet or most commonly
epoxy two slabs together for the handle.

The handle material may be wood or antler. Few samples survive. Those that do often have decorative carving on the surface.

Now, there may be a butt plate that fits over the handle before the tang
is peened over. This is done to act as a washer to hold the handle
solid. This piece may be decorated - but is more likely to be a simple disk.

There will not be any kind of guard.

Generally - the small tool knives seem to be carried by everyone - age
and sex regardless. The pouch style scabbard is also typical. I'd refer
anyone to the excellent documentation that exists for York. There is
also a Knives and Scabbards' volume on Medieval London that includes a
lot of VA materials. (There is supposed to be a huge number of knives
from Viking Dublin - but this has not been published yet - grrr!)

Too much stress is placed on fighting knives by modern re-enactors, to the exclusion of what the artifact evidence shows is most common.