Viking Age Gotlandic Knife Sheath Page 1
Note: This page contains copyrighted material which is presented as documentation in the course of scholarly research. The owners of this page do not, and in some cases
cannot, give permission to copy the content here. In particular, Professor Dan Carlsson consented to the use of his images in this article, but requested that the images be
reduced to 72 dpi in the interest of copy protection. You can see the original high-quality (300 dpi or better) photos on his CD-ROM, as described in the bibliography.
Viking Age Lady's Knife Handle and Sheath
Viking Age Lady's Knife Handle and Sheath
Viking Age Lady's Knife Handle and Sheath
Viking Age Lady's Knife Handle and Sheath
by Danr Bjornson
February 2004
Summary *
Historical Documentation *
Knife Handles *
Sheaths *
Decoration *
Bronze or Brass? *
Materials and Process *
Knife Handle *
Sheath *
Conclusion *
Bibliography *
Summary
Archeological finds all over Scandinavia support the idea that a knife was a common implement. Viking Age graves nearly always include a knife,
positioned as if it were worn on or suspended from the belt. Gotland's location in the Baltic Sea made it a major trading center. Dozens of knife
artifacts have been found in the grave fields of Gotland, with highly decorated sheaths. These knife sheaths were the inspiration for this project.
My primary source is a collection of photographs of many Gotlandic knives and sheaths dating to the Viking Age. The knives share similar
characteristics. A sheath covers the entire length of the knife, and a loop in the handle to enables the knife to be withdrawn. The sheath consists of
leather cut to fit around the knife, held together with brass sheet, often decorated, that was riveted in place. The metal sheet often forms a protective
end cap. Additional sheets of metal are sometimes used to reinforce the top of the sheath, and other bits of metal are riveted along the edge to hold
everything together. One or more iron rings attach the sheath to a chain or strap suspended from the belt.
I cut the wood for the handle from some scrap I had in the shop. I purchased the knife blade and brass sheet, and made the rivets from copper wire. I
used steel nails and wire to make the tools and rings I needed. I used both hand tools and power tools for various parts of the project.
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There were many steps to this project. I carved a wooden handle and attached it to the blade. Then, I designed the sheath, cut the leather and metal,
decorated the metal, and riveted the sheath together. I also formed the iron rings, forged a spade bit to drill the handle, and made chasing tools to
decorate the sheet by forging and grinding them.
This was the second sheath and handle of this type that I have made, and I was able to use my experience from the first attempt to make this one
faster and with a better result.
Historical Documentation
There are many archaeological finds of knives in the Viking world. In the Norse culture, a knife was an everyday object that can be found in the
graves of both men and women (Carlsson 6). The knife was usually placed near the belt area of the body (Carlsson 7).
This drawing shows the position of the
knife in one such grave (Carlsson).
Note the decorative belt separator near
the knife and comb. Such a piece of
hardware, integrated as it is into the belt,
must have been the attachment point for
something the man carried at all times.
The sturdiness of the separator further
suggests that the attached object had a bit
of weight to it. This object could have
been a purse or a knife sheath, or both.
The apparent distance between the knife
and the belt suggests that the knife was
suspended below the belt, from a strap or
chain.
Knife Handles
Usually, only the metal parts of a knife survive hundreds of years. This knife is from a female grave at Ihre in Gotland (Carlsson). All that remains
are the blade, tang, and remnants of silver wire wrapped at the end of the handle nearest the blade.
A closer look at the same wire wrapping shows that the silver
appears to be wrapped very carefully, one coil next to the last.
The ends of the coil, visible in the upper left part of this image,
show the end tucked under the coil. Archers use a special knot to
secure the ends of the string when wrapping a serving. The string
is left as a loop under the coils and, when wrapping is complete,
the free end goes under this loop and the loop is then pulled tight
between the two ends, binding the string under the now-tightened
coils. In making this project, I learned that this knot, with
modifications, would work for wire wrapping.
In some cases, the blade is better preserved. An example is shown below (Carlsson), where it is possible to see the blade's shape clearly. The back of
the blade has a slightly curved shape.
On rare occasions, some of the wood survived. One such example from a female grave is shown below, from several angles (Carlsson).
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This view of the back of the handle also
includes the bronze sheath, where the leather
has been reconstructed to show how the bronze
plates would have originally looked.
This view of the handle, as well as the bronze
sheath components, clearly shows that it is not
round but has an oval cross-section.
Knife handles tended to be about 10 cm long,
regardless of the size of the blade. Men tended
to have larger knives than women.
Sheaths
The sheaths have a similar problem as the blades -- only the metal parts tend to survive. The drawing below (Carlsson) shows the basic parts of a
Gotlandic sheath. The sheath is long
enough to cover not only the
blade, but the handle. This
requires an iron ring in the
handle to help remove the
blade (Carlsson 9), though
such a ring is not seen on
the artifacts previously
pictured. The dimensions
shown here are typical of a
woman's knife. The man's
knives had similar size
handles but the blades
varied in length from 10 to
40 cm (Carlsson 7). The sheath is covered with thin bronze sheets, often decorated. These bronze sheets stiffen the leather, protect the end, reinforce
the sheath opening, and provide attachment points for the rings from which the sheath hangs. Rivets hold it all together, usually placed all along the
edge where the leather folds meet. The exact cut of the bronze sheets varies from one sheath to another.
One example of a sheath still in position around the knife is shown here from a female grave
(Carlsson). This sheath has a tip
protector, two reinforcing sheets that
wrap around the stress points of the
sheath (the hilt and pommel positions
of the knife), and side plates that join the other sheets together along the length of the handle. Note also that, in this example, the tang projects from
the back of the handle. If this knife had a ring, it was probably attached here but has rusted away. Note also the larger hole near the middle of the side
plates, where a ring or chain attached, to suspend the knife from the belt.
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Another view of the same knife shows the
oval shape of the handle. It is clear that the
bronze sheets are very thin, and the side
plates were folded over the reinforcing
sheets prior to riveting.
The thickness of the sheath where the side
plates join suggests that a somewhat thick
leather was used in making the sheath, or
that a welt (extra strip of leather) was laid
in the seam. A welt would prevent the
blade's edge from catching when the knife
was inserted into the sheath.
Some decoration, in the form of "step
pattern" cut-outs, can be seen along the
inside edge of the side plates. There are
also some simple chased lines visible along
the edges of the plates. The decoration is
very simple on this example.
A better view of the thickness of the metal, and the distance between the side plates, is shown in this picture of a sheath mount, still riveted together,
from a female grave (Carlsson).
The side plates are somewhat less than 1 mm thick, and the distance between them is about 4 mm. This thickness is about equal to 3 thicknesses of 7
oz leather, which supports the possibility that a welt was placed between the edges of the leather.
Decoration
Sometimes the decoration was more
complex than the simple lines in the
example above. This close-up of a
bronze end cap (Carlsson) shows a
pattern made by rows of marks made
by a technique called chasing. It further
shows that the artist planned the
locations of the rivet holes, as the
decoration goes around them. It would,
in fact, be easier to perform the chasing
and drill the rivet holes before
assembling the sheath.
Another example of complex decoration is shown in the side plate below (Carlsson). Below the hole for the suspension ring is a "step pattern" cut-
out. Decorating the surface of the side plate are rows of triangular punches with 3 raised dots in each. This could be done with a triangular punch
with 3 holes, a tool which would have been difficult to make. It is also possible, though unlikely, that the triangle was punched with the chasing
technique using a triangular punch and then the 3 dots were punched from the back side using the repousse' technique. For this artifact, it appears that
the craftsman applied the decoration with no thought as to where the rivets would go, because some of the rivet holes pierce the decoration. Finally,
the edges of the step patterns have thin slits cut parallel to the edge. These cuts extend beyond the corner, doubtless an error made by the craftsman.
These cuts make it clear that the step pattern was cut with a saw and, furthermore, that the vertical cuts in each step was made before the horizontal
cuts. This side plate also shows the large hole for the suspension ring that was sometimes used to attach the knife to the belt. As with other examples,
this hole is located near the middle of the side plate.
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The techniques for making these decorations included sawing, filing, chasing and, perhaps, repousse'. While there are no written sources from Viking
Age Scandinavia to explain how the Norse did these arts, works from later time periods can fill the gaps in our knowledge. The technology of
metalworking is believed to have changed little during the Middle Ages. The main advances during that time were in the use of chemicals for parting,
assaying, and pigments (Agricola 354), so it is likely that most other tools and techniques from later periods could be applied to the Viking Age.
Theophilus, a 12th-century monk, described how to make files (93) and chasing punches (92) by forging, grinding, and case-hardening iron (91, 94,
95). He describes shaping sheet metal with shears (155). He also describes chasing and repousse', where sheet metal is placed on a yielding surface
and struck with a punch to produce indentations (156-157). Theophilus describes how to make and use chaser s pitch (129-130), a mix of pitch, wax,
and powdered tile. Leather on a smooth anvil works as well, though leather cannot hold the work steady as pitch does. He also describes hammering
metal into sheet metal (150, 156), a labor-intensive process that I was unwilling to attempt for this project.
At the Danish National Museum, I saw an assortment of tongs, pliers, hammers, chisels, files, gravers, and other tools that were likely to have been
used in carpentry but some of which could also be used in metal working. The museum display did not provide any information as to where these
tools were found, but the display was in the Viking Age wing of the museum. The Mästermyr find, from Sweden, also has similar tools (Arwidsson
12-17).
Finishing the metalwork consists of shaping, smoothing, and polishing. There were many abrasives available in period, chosen by their availability
and effectiveness on the material being worked. Theophilus describes the process of shaping with a flat hone (102) or flat sandstone (189). He
describes a variety of files (93) and wire brushes (86) for shaping and smoothing harder metals such as brass and bronze. He describes smoothing as
done with a piece of oak covered in ground charcoal (102) or fine sand and cloth (152). He describes polishing with a cloth covered in chalk (102) or
powdered clay tiles and water (128), or saliva-moistened shale followed by ear wax (115). Biringuccio describes shaping as done with files,
smoothing with cane dipped in powdered pumice (366) or sand and water (390), and polishing using tripoli powder (366, 374), or a wheel of copper
or lead covered with powdered gems (122), emery (123), or lime (372).
Bronze or Brass?
The sheath artifacts pictured above are described as being made of bronze. My theory, however, is that the metal used for the knife sheaths from
Gotland was probably brass, rather than bronze.
Copper alloys are classified by the proportion of lead, tin, and zinc they contain. High levels of tin create bronze, while high levels of zinc create
brass, with gunmetal in between. After lying in the ground for centuries, these alloys all tarnish and become coated with green copper oxide. The
differences between them are no longer apparent without careful analysis.
I asked the author, Professor Carlsson, about this, and he stated that he was not certain what alloy was used for the sheaths. He referred me to a
metallurgist, whose article clarified that copper alloy artifacts from Sweden and Denmark were predominantly brass, not bronze (Söderberg).
Analysis of crucibles from Coppergate, another Norse site from the same time period, have shown that craftsmen tended to use whatever alloy they
had, but brass was much more common than bronze (Bayley, 807). My experiments with hammering bronze into sheet have shown that it would be
extremely labor-intensive, because bronze is much harder than brass and requires more frequent annealing. For these reasons, I believe the artifacts
were made of brass rather than bronze.
Materials and Process
To modify the knife and create the sheath, I used elements from the artifacts shown above.
Knife Handle
I cut the wood for the handle from some scrap wood I had in the shop. I shaped the handle using a drawknife, knife, and sandpaper, in that order. In
period the smoothing function would have been done by scrapers, but my limited ironworking skill precludes making a scraper for multiple-radius
curved scrapers that the handle would require. When the handle was done, I drilled it as deep as my drill bits would allow. By oscillating the drill bit
and scraping with a tiny chisel, I was able to widen the opening to accept the tang, which tapered from the blade down to the pommel.
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The modern drill bits were not long enough to reach through the length of the handle, so I used a long steel nail to make a spoon bit. I forged the end
into a rough spoon shape, then ground it until the edges were sharp. This created a spoon bit long enough to reach through the length of the handle. It
worked remarkably well, penetrating nearly as fast as a modern drill bit, though it required frequent removal of the sawdust compared to the modern
twist drill bits which remove the dust automatically.
I purchased the knife blade. The blade I purchased had a very long tang, and I needed a way to anchor the ring to the handle, so I decided to run the
tang all the way through the handle and drill it for the ring. I annealed the tang, forged the end of the tang flat, and drilled a hole for the ring. I
finished the blade by giving it a light coating of wax to protect it from fingerprints.
I heated the tang again, and heat-set it into the drilled handle. Because the wood was well cured and dry, the heat setting was not tight, so I melted
some pine resin onto the tang and then put the handle back on. I wrapped steel wire around a mandrel and sawed through the coil to form the handle
ring, which I put into the hole I had drilled in the back of the tang.
To finish the handle, I used beeswax. I had previously rubbed the beeswax into the wood, but this time I tried something different. I rubbed the wax
into the wood, then used an oil lamp to slightly melt the wax, just enough that it turned shiny. This caused the wax to soak into the surface of the
wood and deepen its color. I polished it smooth with a linen cloth. Beeswax protects the wood from both moisture and dryness, and would have been
available to a Norse craftsman. It has the added advantage that when you hold the knife for a minute, the wax softens slightly and sticks to your hand,
improving your grip on the handle. The disadvantages of this kind of finish are that it must be rewaxed periodically, and it has a tendency to pick up
dirt and dust. I also decided to wrap the handle with wire, because it seems to have been a common handle decoration and I had the materials handy.
Wrapping the wire was the most challenging part of making the knife handle. As mentioned in the documentation above, my theory was that the
artists used something similar to the knot used by archers in wrapping string servings. After some experimentation, I discovered a similar technique
that is effective and gives a result much like the artifacts. I used 24-guage nickel wire left over from a previous project. Nickel has an appearance
similar to silver, resists tarnish better, but is much harder and thus more difficult to use.
Begin with a 24-guage (0.5 mm) wire about double arms' length. Clamp the knife blade in a vise with the handle out, preferably hanging off the edge
of the workbench for easy access.
First, make a loop with the end of the wire as
shown to the right. The loop should be a gentle
curve, 2 or 3 inches from one end of the wire. It
should lie along the handle, pointed away from
the blade. Wrapping away from the blade makes
it easier to wrap and to keep the wire tight.
Start wrapping the wire away from the free end.
Every 2 or 3 turns, pull the long end tight while
you snug the wrappings tight against each other
with your fingernails, so each wrap lies next to
the previous wrap. When pulling the wraps tight,
slide them away from the blade because the
taper gets larger in that direction, tightening the
wraps.
When you get near the end of the loop, or your
long wire is getting short, slide the end through
the loop (over then under) as shown to the right.
You must resist the temptation to get "one more
wrap." You need the two ends to be long enough
to grab securely, with pliers or by twisting them
onto small dowels. Pull the long end down
firmly, and at the same time grab the free end
(the one with the loop) and pull it very tightly.
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The loop will slide under the wire wrappings,
pulling the long end with it, as shown to the
right. This tightens the wrappings as it pulls the
ends underneath. The free end (upper wire in the
diagram) will most likely break off. You can
then cut the long end (lower wire in the diagram)
close to where it comes out from under the
wrappings and tuck it back under. After
wrapping the wire, I polished the 3rd coat of
beeswax. This completed the knife handle. The wrapped wire makes the handle more attractive and easier to grip firmly.
Sheath
I purchased the brass sheet used to make the sheath, because making my own sheet metal would add dozens of hours to the project. I used brass
instead of bronze because it is more easily available in sheets, and because I think it was probably the actual material used as discussed previously.
The artifact photos show that the original bronze sheet was very thin, so I used the thinnest brass I could find.
The leather was left over from another project. I made the rivets from 10-guage copper wire. I used forging, grinding, and case-hardening to make the
chasing tools from steel nails.
I began by tracing the knife's profile onto some card stock, the same approximate thickness as the brass. I cut this out, folded it around the knife, and
carefully cut it down until I had a reasonable fit. I then traced this pattern onto leather and repeated the process, folding the leather around the knife
and trimming until I had the fit I wanted. I then pinned the leather in place.
I measured the leather with the knife inside, to determine the dimensions of the sheet metal pieces, and cut more cardboard to test the fit. I also made
an end cap from cardboard. I decided on 3/4 inch as the basic width of the reinforcing bands, because it gave the correct sense of scale compared to
the original artifacts. Because this was my second knife, I decided to make it more complicated by using a tapered shape for the side plates and to
have them extend all the way to the end cap as was done in some artifact sheaths. After checking these measurements, I sawed the sheet metal into
the 4 main parts needed: side plates (one long piece), 2 reinforcing bands, and the end cap (roughly crescent-shaped).
The next step was to anneal the metal prior to chasing it. My equipment did not allow me to anneal the entire sheet of metal, though that would have
made cutting it easier, so I had to anneal after sawing out the metal. I heated the sheet metal pieces to red-hot and allowed them to cool. This softened
the metal a great deal, as the process of rolling it into sheet at the factory had work-hardened it. I then dropped the metal in a pickling bath to clean
away the copper oxide on the surface. For a pickling solution, I used vinegar with some of the water evaporated off, which is much safer (though less
effective) than the acids used in period.
As a chasing pattern, I used a simple row of triangles. I used a thin piece of leather on the anvil as a chasing surface. This was my second attempt at
chasing, and the results are much better than with my first knife sheath. Since the reinforcing bands are reversible, I put the best-decorated parts to
the right side of the sheath, where they are visible when the knife is worn. I also chased my signature rune into the left side plate.
Next, I had to form the metal to shape. Bending the end cap was the biggest challenge. To solve it, I cut some scrap wood into the same shape as the
sheath end and used that as a form over which I bent the metal. Bending the other parts to shape was easy with square-jaw pliers. The side plate and
end cap required a second annealing, and subsequent pickling, to get the shapes correct. When the metal was ready for assembly, I polished it with a
linen wheel and black rouge, which gives similar results to period methods, but in a fraction of the time. The process left bits of rouge in the chased
areas, highlighting the decoration. Finally, as a purely modern convenience, I put a coat of car wax on the brass to slow the tarnishing process.
I assembled the sheath, with the knife still in it, marked the drill holes with a center punch, and drilled the rivet holes. For each rivet, I drilled one
hole, sank the rivet, realigned the leather, and repeated the process for the next rivet. When one piece of brass was done, I moved to the next. This
procedure takes longer, but I have found it works better in keeping everything aligned properly and correcting any mistakes immediately. The
exception was the side plates and reinforcing bands, which had to be done all at once. This was the most challenging part of the assembly phase. My
experience with rivets was, to this point, limited to making combs and repairing my armor. Unlike antler, wood, and steel, the brass showed hammer
marks for every time I missed the rivet, though the results were better than on my first sheath. I decided the marks were not worth polishing out, since
any attempt at polishing risked staining the leather.
The exact means for suspending the sheath from the belt is not clear from my research. It may have varied. I decided to use an iron ring, which I
could document, attached to a simple loop on the belt. As with the artifacts, I located the ring so the knife hangs at a pleasing angle. I heated a steel
rod until it glowed a dull orange, wrapped it around a mandrel, and sawed through it to form the suspension ring. Then, I cut a brass strip, drilled it,
folded it, and riveted the leather loop in place, giving it a half twist so it would hang from a belt without twisting the knife. I decided not to decorate
the brass on the suspension loop, since it is barely noticeable next to the sheath, so it shows its original non-annealed and lacquered color.
Conclusion
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Viking Age Gotlandic Knife Sheath Page 8
The handle and sheath took 15 hours to make. This is significant in that the first handle and sheath took 21 hours, despite the greater complexity and
decoration of the second one. Clearly, I learned a lot making the first sheath, which directly reflected in making this entry.
Bibliography
Agricola, Georgius, trans. Herbert & Lou Hoover, De Re Metallica, Dover Publications,
NY, 1950, ISBN 0-486-60006-8. This book covers the 16th-century techniques of
metallurgy, including the technological, legal, and safety aspects of surveying, timbering,
mining, refining, smelting, and alchemy.
Arwidsson, Greta, and Berg, Gösta, The MasterMyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from
Gotland, Larson Publishing, Lompoc CA, 1999, ISBN 0-9650755-1-6. This book describes
all the tools and objects from this extraordinary find, and would be of great interest to
anyone who works in wood, bone, antler, or metal.
Bayley, Justine, Non-Ferrous Metalworking from Coppergate, from The Archeology of
York, Vol 17 The Small Finds, Fasc. 7 Craft, Industry and Everyday Life, Council for
British Archeology, York, 2000. ISBN 1.872414.30.3. This small book in the Archeology
of York series focuses on the evidence for gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, and alloy crafts
from the Coppergate site in York.
Biringuccio, Vannoccio, trans. Cyril Smith and Marth Grundi, Pirotechnia, Dover Books,
New York, 1959, ISBN 0-486-26134-4. This translation of a sixteenth-century work
contains a great deal of information on metallurgy and casting.
Carlsson, Dan, Viking Knives from Gotland, Sweden, ArkeoDok, Sweden, 2003. No
ISBN, order from www.arkeodok.com. This CD, like the others in the series, offers high-
quality artifact photos in an easy-to-use gallery and a good research paper to explain the
subject matter.
Söderberg, Anders, Analyses of some Scandinavian early medieval cast objects, Sweden,
2000. In response to an inquiry, he sent this article to me. It originally appeared on his web
site, http://members.chello.se/vikingbronze
Theophilus, trans. John Hawthorne and Cyril Smith, On Divers Arts, Dover Books, New
York, 1979, ISBN 0-486-23784-2. This translation of an early twelfth-century treatise on
painting, glassworking, and metalwork is one of the foremost period sources for
researchers of these arts.
Various museums in Denmark. In the summer of 2000, my lady and I traveled to Denmark
and visited the National Museum in Copenhagen, the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde,
the Viking Museum in Ribe, and the research/reconstruction sites at Fyrkat, Trelleborg,
Jelling, and Lehre. This trip gave us ideas and research for years of projects.
Back to Danr's A&S page.
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