The design lends itself to it, but it’s the same thing as with a baseball bat.

The big support for the India theory that I’ve heard is that India used the crucible method of steel production routinely.

Indian/Middle Eastern sources: But there would be isotopic markers that would confirm that origin?

For 3., I’d add “cost” and “difficulty” to the list of possible reasons for disappearance. With the decline of the Viking Age and a shift in how battles are fought, it might not make sense to stick with a costly and elaborate forging process, and techniques can be lost if their practitioners think their successors can…

This sounds like the thread to ask - is the Chicken Sword real?

But full reach across exposed flesh, like a neck or arm, in a dark, smoky and confused melee is a perfectly adequate use of the sword, presuming you have time and room to swing it.

Nice!

It sounds crazy, but just like a baseball bat.

Bog iron isn’t super pure. But if you figure it has to be heated and/or worked, a lot, to get most of the impurities out, and the source of that heat was say animal dung or peat, you’d potetially have a lot of available carbon to work with.

Maybe it’s Aettertangi! (Do you listen to the Saga Thing podcast?)

The only thing I need to say about all of this is that you don’t want to strike with the tip of the sword.

I doubt that the normal Viking had real Helmets, especially made of Iron. That was more for the “rich” people. Goes for everything made Iron. A normal Viking didnt have such things. First it would hinder him, like you said and second it was way to expensive for people that lived a maybe bit better pirate life. Maybe…

Good for you and all others like you that keep this sport/art form alive. I can’t imagine it myself, it hurts my arms just thinking about wielding a sword around. Probably all demonstrations I’ve seen are mostly weapon hitting weapon, and no doubt the skill lies in actually hitting your mark, but how long could a 1 vs…

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Well done. :)

In the case of the Vikings, it might also have been that when they stopped raiding there was less demand for those top-notch weapons, which is why the knowledge didn’t get passed on. (Or am I going off bad history?)

i bet bog iron has a lot to do with the quality of the crucible steel produced

Actually, it’s not so much Agni, The Fire God, as it is Vishwakarma- he is the Hindu equivalent of Hephaestus and Vulcan. Till today, every new tool, vehicle, machine is consecrated by praying to him.

Plus 1 from Minnesota where we have a huge Viking statue runestone but no magic swords....

I learned the same. In renfaire.... When you see 2-3 inches from the end of sword skittering on the ground.... yeah, the tip is not a good place to strike with.

2. I remember watching a doc on this and they suggested the steel came from Asia through trade routes. Something about the ovens used were able to get much hotter to purify the steel.