segunda-feira, 9 de janeiro de 2017

Forn Hrafn - Single-edged Viking Sword

I remember that day as if it was this very morning. The fog was already vanishing away as the light of the summer could be seen rising red like embers from the Swan Road. But sadly that wouldn't be the only red vision of that day.

From the shore I was I saw a tiny black dot on the horizon. And shortly after I could identify a ship coming from the east. I blew the horn to warn my kinsmen, but at the time all the men of the village were ready for battle, with bows, axes and spears, staring at the long distant waters from ashore, there was not a single ship between us and the sun, but a whole fleet.

We had heard the stories of the Norsemen who raided Northumberland some years ago, but nobody would ever consider them to come so far South on the island. We were terribly mistaken.

Most of us had only the time to gather or bury what they had of precious and run, but the fame of those long ships being faster than our fishing boats proved to be true and before everybody was safe heading to Cantwarebuhr, the first of them was already landing on the sand and fierce men-like demons were spreading from the wood faced dragon while it's wings made of oars shrunk to it's body.

I ran, as the only decision I could make on that day, but with fear people cry, people scream and these sounds only made our persecutors more willing to find and reach us.

At some point I felt to the ground and when I looked back I saw a pregnant woman struggling to reach a wagon that was departing on the ill made road ahead. Upon a maple tree there was a raven waiting for it's breakfast, eager to prey upon my people as those men from foreign lands. And leading that wave of invaders I saw it. I saw him.

A great knife-like sword, made of black iron, with an unadorned hilt. Sturdy lines that only made it more grim than it should be. The man who wielded it obviously spent a lot of time in the seas, doing nothing more than checking the oars or the sails from time to time, but even so the blade wasn't polished. It had a wide fuller and was thick on it's back. It had a slight curve forward, and a very sharp point. It was clearly heavy and probably would break my shield in the first blow made with full strength of that strong arm. But what caught my eyes was the black oak belt bridge on the scabbard: a raven, as the one who was crying from upon that maple tree. Black, sitting, waiting for it's meal.

I ran again. The only reasonable decision I could make once again. I forgot about the pregnant woman and dropped my shield and my spear on the ground once I reached the wagon. I couldn't look back, but I could listen the cries, the fight and that pregnant woman screaming for help. I can hear them even now, many years after that red morning.

But there is something that stays on my mind more clear than anything else: the two ravens I saw that day. The flesh and feather one and the iron's.

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This is a very special sword for me, as it both ends and starts the year. This was the last blade I quenched at 2016 and the first piece I finished in 2017. So it is kinda different.

Forn Hrafn, or Old Raven is made to resemble a humble sword from the beginning of the ninth century Norway.

This sword was made by stock removal (not forging, guys) from a piece of 1070 steel. It is heavily inspired on C10560 from Kulturhistorisk Museum from Norway. As I didn't have access to more material about this find, I used some of it's measures and invented others.

As you can see on the pictures, it is not completely straight. The tang of some original single-edged viking swords have a slightly curve in relation to the blade and after looking at several examples, I think it was made on purpose, so the tip of the blade could be aligned with the tang. This would make them more useful for trusts. Also, the blade itself bent a little bit towards it's edge after the quench. Had it happen with a double-edged blade it would be discarded, but as some originals have this very same curve, I decided to keep on the project.

The blade tapers both in profile and distal to about 75-80% of the original width and thickness at 15cm from the tip.

The hilt was fire etched to look like forged and the blade was aged using salt water, vinegar and ferric chloride.

The scabbard is made of pine wood, covered outside and lined inside with natural wool cloth. The belt bridge is a piece of ancient bog oak, around 6000 years old, from Ukraine and is held in place by some glue and leather cord. The raven decoration is not made in any particular norse artistic style, but rather made to look like some naive work. This fits the whole piece as being product of unskilled or cheap work, as presumably were these type F viking swords.

The handle is also pinewood, wrapped with veg-tanned bovine leather.

Overall length: 93,0cm
Blade length: 78,5cm
Blade width: 5,5cm
Blade thickness at the guard: 0,5cm
PoB: 17,5cm
Lower guard width: 10,0cm
Length of the grip: 9,8cm
Weight: 1,390kg