The Art of Sword Forging - Revision history

Vjmanzo at 08:15, 23 June 2017

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Npetilli: /* Section 2: Deliverable */

2017-06-22T18:30:15Z

‎Section 2: Deliverable

Npetilli: /* Time Period */

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‎Time Period

Npetilli: /* Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword */

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‎Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword

Npetilli: /* Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword */

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‎Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword

Npetilli: /* Inscriptions */

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‎Inscriptions

Npetilli: /* Blade Patterns */

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‎Blade Patterns

Npetilli: /* Blade Patterns */

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‎Blade Patterns

Npetilli: /* Art in Medieval Sword Forging */

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‎Art in Medieval Sword Forging

Npetilli: /* Section 2: Deliverable */

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‎Section 2: Deliverable

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 |data2 = Forge of Avalon, Glastonbury
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 For the Deliverable, I created a sword using some medieval sword forging techniques, such as drawing and cornering. By Comparing my Sword to those in ''The Illustrated Directory of Swords & Sabres'' by Harvey J. S. Withers, my sword is most like a European knightly sword from c.1350. Since creating art on a sword takes a more skilled blacksmith I decided to simple forge a sword to get an idea of how difficult creating the art along with the sword must have been. The Sword was made at a four-day workshop offered by the Forge of Avalon on Glastonbury. The class was taught by Richard, the owner of the forge. In order to participate in the class, we needed safety glasses, heat resistant work gloves (not welding gauntlets), nonflammable clothes, and sturdy shoes. The next section will go into how the sword was made.
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 ==Process of sword forging==

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 ==Time Period==
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-I am defining a Medieval sword to mean any sword crafted in Europe between 500 and 1400 AD. During this time period, swords would be mainly used for fighting as seen by the fact that the shape of the blade depends on the fighting style native to that area. They also would have be used in the Crusades.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref> The majority of swords where made to be functional as opposed to be artistic. The swords did have art on them designed to be functional in the forms of engravings meant to give the blades magical power or blessings from various deities.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref> Designs in the blades did come about from trying to mimic Damascus steel, steel made from wootz, an iron ore from India, and crafted in Damascus, a trade center from that time period, because of its highly functional qualities.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref>
+I am defining a Medieval sword to mean any sword crafted in Europe between 500 and 1400 AD. During this time period, swords would be mainly used for fighting as seen by the fact that the shape of the blade depends on the fighting style native to that area. They also would have be used in the Crusades.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref> The majority of swords where made to be functional as opposed to be artistic. The swords did have art on them designed to be functional in the forms of engravings meant to give the blades magical power or blessings from various deities.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref> Designs in the blades did come about from trying to mimic Damascus steel, steel made from wootz, an iron ore from India, and crafted in Damascus, a trade center from that time period, because of its highly functional qualities.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref> For the most part the swords were not very decorated.
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 ====Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword====
-This is one of the very few cases where the inscription on a sword is not a religious invocation. The script on the pommel reads "here, too virtue has its due reward" and the script on the blade is mostly eligible. It could be the only surviving sword with a presentation inscription from the 14th century.<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>
+This is one of the very few cases where the inscription on a sword is not a religious invocation. The script on the pommel reads "here, too virtue has its due reward" and the script on the blade is mostly illegible. It could be the only surviving sword with a presentation inscription from the 14th century.<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>
 <gallery mode="packed">
 Image:Metropolitan Museum's Sword.PNG|''The Sword<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>''
 Image:Metropolitan Museum Pommel.PNG|''The Pommel with Inscriptions<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>''
 Image:Metropolitan Museum Maker's Mark.PNG|''Maker's Mark on the Sword<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>''
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 ====Metropolitan Museum of Art's c.1400 Sword====
 This is one of the very few cases where the inscription on a sword is not a religious invocation. The script on the pommel reads "here, too virtue has its due reward" and the script on the blade is mostly eligible. It could be the only surviving sword with a presentation inscription from the 14th century.<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref>
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 Inscriptions on Medieval swords are very common and severed a variety of purposes. There are four kinds of inscriptions that are found on medieval swords, runic inscriptions, symbols, religious vocations, and periodic sequences.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref> Runic inscriptions were frequently maker's marks, which show who forged the sword, but also could have been the names of the owners, makers (their name being different form their mark), donators, carriers or the weapons name. Having a name was rare and was likely used for gifting swords. They could have also been to remind the barer to show bravery or been written by sorceresses to give the blade magic power.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref><ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref> Religious vocations would have been meant to give the wielders divine favor in battle.<ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref> Symbols and ornaments were likely religious.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref>  Most writing on medieval swords have religious, magical, or other protective meaning.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref><ref>Nickel, H. (1969). A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions. Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2, 209-210. doi:10.2307/1512593</ref> Among more common letter sequences such as SDX, which means Sanctus Dominus Christus or Holy Lord Christ, SD(I)X, which could have meant salvator Dominus Iesus Xrist or Liberator Lord Jesus Christ, and ULFBERTH which were mass produced. There are different sequences that do not appear to have any meaning.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref>  This could be because hey are Latin abbreviations of songs or verse that are unknown or due to a lack of understanding the grammar. Because witting was very uncommon at the time, any kind of lettering would have a magical connotation. Some of the inscriptions could have been nonsense meant to be a magical language.<ref>Worley, J., Wagner, T. (2013) How to make swords talk: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding medieval swords and their inscriptions. Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 55(2): 113-132</ref>
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 <gallery mode="packed">
 Image:Two Decorated Plates.PNG|''Sword With two decorated plates Welded together<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref>''
-Image:Twisted Bars.PNG|''Carolingian sword: The pattern was obtained by welding two bars twisted in opposite directions<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref>''''
+Image:Twisted Bars.PNG|''Carolingian sword: The pattern was obtained by welding two bars twisted in opposite directions<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref>''
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 ===Blade Patterns===
 There are multiple ways of creating patterns on a blade. One method would be to weld two pattern sheets of steel together. This could be done with or without a sheet of iron in the middle depending on the forge.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref> Other methods include the use of Damascus steel and pattern welding. The Original method for creating Damascus steel was lost sometime in 1750. There have been some attempts to replicate it but non have been entirely successful.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref> The loss could have been from a lack of Wootz, the ore used to make the sword and found only in India, or a change in technique in an attempt to keep up with high demands. Pattern welding requires stacking alternating layers of iron or low carbon steel and high carbon steel or alternating steels of different grain size. The sheets are then curryed, or welded together. They can then be folded bent and twisted during forging to create different patterns.<ref>Durand-Charre, M. (2014). Damascus and pattern-welded steels forging blades since the iron age. Les Ulis (Essonne): EDP sciences.</ref>
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 |image = [[File:Cool Sword pic.JPG|x450px|alt=Cool Sword Pic]]
 |caption = Deliverable Sword
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