My new sword arrived yestereve! I'm not talking about a World of Warcraft weapon, but a real sword I ordered from Museum Replicas back in October. I had been saving my allowance for it as my self-birthday gift but it had been back-ordered for two months.

And it's a beaut! It's pattern-welded with a bit of acid used on the blade to bring out the unique design this process creates. Pattern-welding means that the smith forging the interior part of the blade twisted a few bars of iron around each other before pounding them flat to form the core, around which is wrapped an edge of steel. Thus it's both flexible and strong. This is the epitomy of early medieval weapons.

On a related note, we recently watched the new Icelandic version of Beowulf & Grendel on DVD. I found it interesting and recommend it to anyone keen on the story and into period flicks, however it does take liberty with the poem, adding a major female character and interpreting Grendel as less that pure monster.

(Hwæt! opens the poem, meaning something like "shut up and listen now" in Old English, from about A.D. 1100.)





The replica Viking-Age sword and its scabbard.





A close-up to show the gorgeous pattern-welding effect on the blade.