It has been a very long time since Vikings roamed the land. Back in the late 8th to late 11th centuries these Norsemen were masters of hunting, raiding, and trading. But they could do almost none of these things without the proper tools, so it only made sense that their smithing techniques were just as renowned.
Using a traditional Viking method known as sheer steel, the guys at That Works (the same folks at Baltimore Knife and Sword who brought our favorite fictional weapons at MAN AT ARMS Reforged) have made a Viking Spear which would make the Norse gods proud:
Since there was no readily available steel back in the 8th century, the spear is made using a stack of short, heavy iron bars packed into a cylinder full of charcoal. This creates a rough sheer steel like the Vikings used to make their weapons and tools.
Making the spear and socket involves a lot of heating, hammering, and cooling to shape different metals into a viable weapon. Some highlights involve flattening the metal, beveling the weld seam, and rounding it to make the spear socket. For the spear core, the iron bars are wrapped together with iron clips and twisted to mix the steel.
There are two parts to the spear: the core and the wrap. While the core is made up of the twisted mix of sheer steel, the wrap is a similar but untwisted mix. Once the wrap is wrapped around the cooled core, both pieces are forge welded together.
The spear tip is connected to the socket and hammered further to give it its iconic shape and sharp edge. It then goes to the grinder for final shaping before it is heat-treated and tempered. Finally, it has one more pass at the grinder before it is polished to its final luster.
With silver and iron accents added as inlays along with some intricate file work, this spear looks like a pristine version of something you would dig up in an archaeological site.
It wouldn’t be a spear without a wooden shaft, so a handle is made from birch. Attach the spearhead and you have yourself an authentic (and deadly) Viking spear.
If you have money to burn, you can actually buy this very spear on the That Works shop for $3,500. Tempting, no?
Otherwise, you can find more blacksmithing goodness on the That Works YouTube channel. They have tons of metalworks, as well as re-creations of some of your favorite movie and show weapons.
