Additional Pictures

Here are some Viking swords as displayed in the Stockholm, Sveden, museum:


Link to text	Source: Stockholm, Sveden, museum; photographed by ? in 2004

The swords are still there (May 2015) but so badly illuminated that picture taking is well-nigh impossible. At least the second from the right shows an interesting pattern welded structure shown here.

Here is a "Viking" sword with a precious hilt displayed in Nürnberg; Germany. The Vikings, however, came never close to Nürnberg. That sword was actually found in the Rhine close to Mannheim (South Germany) and is dated to the 9th century.
It is thus for sure not a Viking sword but a Frankish sword. Nürnberg is actually right in the heart of the German / Bavarian district now called "Franken".


Link to text	Source: Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg, Germany	More pictures

Here is a structure picture of a chisel, made around 600 AD in what is now Switzerland.


Hypereutectoid steel from a 550 - 650 AD "Swiss" chisel
Link to text	Source: Christian Degrigny, Marianne Senn: Final report "Methodology to study and analyse the microstructures and corrosion forms of ancient and historic metals: application to metallographic samples from Swiss collections", MIFAC-Métal, Degrigny, Senn, June 2012; p.120

The pictures shown is rather similar to the pictures given for wootz steel or the "Stuttgart Ulfbehrt sword", supposedly made from wootz steel.
The chisel consists of eutectoid to hypereutectoid steel (0.8 wt % -1 wt % carbon) that is rather clean otherwise. Slag is not obvious in the picture shown above nor in the other pictures shown in the publication; the investigators report "few slag inclusions".

A Viking sickle (plus handle and and a pair of scissors).


Link to text	Source: Moesgaard museum

Another sword with "ornaments", this time made by inlaying brass; a rather unusual technique, The sword was or is in the Nijmegen museum. Its history is a bit unclear, it was probably dug up during construction a long time ago. Ypey guesses that the swrod was forged around 1100±, possibly after 1150.