My first impression of the Albion Berserkr (single edged Viking sword)
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- Опубликовано: 17 сен 2024
- Also talking about different grip positions and potential ways of using a sword with such a large pommel.
The Berserkr at Kult of Athena: ww4.aitsafe.com...
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She gifted you a albion sword? Wow. If that isn't love, i don't know what is.
+Da Pyralis Prince
Yep, I'm a lucky bastard. :)
+Da Pyralis Prince Wish my GF gave me swords.
+magicspook Wish i had a GF :3
Got irked on the 99 likes so I made it a hundred
Bartosz N me too
I can't believe no one has said this yet, Cara is AWESOME! Skall you are one lucky dog sir!
+Daniel Taylor Just to let You know, sir - we have established this as an undeniable fact a while ago. Cara's awesomeness is common knowledge at this point, tho I'd like to thank you for reminding us.
I need to clone her.
+Daniel Taylor well I dunno about it, basically this new sword is just a fancy machete.
+phileas007 no...no....far , FAR more than a machete
+Daniel Taylor Skall better get her one hella tattoo.
+RubberKidney - I'm sorry, I ruined your 50 likes, but your comment was just too good.
And the pommel big enough to end a t-rex rightly!
+fromolwyoming
Hey, don't tell anyone, but... the pommel is peened. o_o
+Skallagrim NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
but ypu cant unscrew it :'(
+Marko Peric you
+fromolwyoming
Are you sure about that?
My love for swords
Is like a truck
BERSERKR
+Steve Peters I see what you did thar
tefras14
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
"did he just say 'making fuck'?"
+Steve Peters Noice. Beat me to it.
[bites shield in most un-intimidating way]
Actually, vikings did write stuff down. The problem is that they wrote on materials that didn't last well.
I recall a documentary where they mentioned a rare find of viking age letters written on rolls of tree bark. It included surprisingly mundane stuff like love letters and invoices for unpayed debts.
*****
While I'm pretty sure taxes were a thing even among vikings, it was more about loaning money from "friends" and then "forgetting" to pay it back.
If I recall, the invoice read something like: "If you don't give me my aesir-damned money, I'm going to find you and take honor and glory away from you!"
We do not know if the words "honor" and "glory" refers to specific body parts, so we are forced to assume that they do.
+RelativelyBest Well they did also use stone to write on (Runestones) and I'd say thats a material that lasts kinda well :P
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runestone
Dick Johnson
Sure, but that's like if the only remaining written accounts of our culture were grave stones and various monuments and statues. Runestones are probably just a tiny fraction of all the stuff they actually wrote down.
Hell, the might have had instruction manuals for how to use swords and other weapons. We'll probably never know.
+RelativelyBest Do you remember the documentary's name?
45calibermedic
Wish I did. It's been a while, though, and it was in Swedish. I do recall that it was specifically about the Rus vikings taking the Eastern route into Russia. The stash of letters was found in Novgorod... I think. I may try to track it down.
Here in Latvia single edged swords during the viking era were very common (not so sure if these originated in our region), so common that only Norway challanges us on the number of those swords found in our country, but as a guy lecturing public in the subject during annual town festival explained, that largely was because of poor quality of local "swamp iron", so the good quality steel was saved for the cutting edge.
Obligatory pommel comments aside, it seems to me that pommel was designed so that you could bash pretty effectively with it at close range.
It wants to do things on its own?! That's horrifying! It wants souls!
+Sparrowhawk
They accidentally sold him Tirfing, the cursed sword of legend!
Makes me wonder: If I order a Discerner, is there a chance they'd send me the real Excalibur?
+Sparrowhawk I thought they needed titanite, too?
+Sparrowhawk Widowmaker.
That's a daemonically possessed sword! (my first thought after his words too)
No, that's wonderfull!
Got to move around with this one today, it's AMAZING !
If only my girlfriend also understood my sword enthusiasm. She just thinks I'm being juvenile.
Then throw a pommel at her.
+Manas Surya Time to end her rightly
+Hugh Jass Man, beat me to it.
+Manas Surya My wife's interests matches 99% with my own, so you're doing it wrong. She says that but prob spend hours on facebook games or something. I would never tolerate someone calling my hobbies and interests in life juvenile, but that's just me :/
Hugh Jass I'll try it out
Just a completely random question Skall, does the pommel unscrew?
+TakeTo TheShadows
Quote; Skallagrim ~2015 - "Hey, don't tell anyone, but... the pommel is peened. o_o"
No it's an Albion they pin their pommels
+TakeTo TheShadows Sadly the vikings were not ones to throw the pommels, but they will throw axes and drink from your skull.
***** We ride to war!
+monkeyzocky >drink from skull
Sea raiders like
Is it possible to use this for my bicycle cavalry matches?
That would end badly. So I guess the answer is depends, how fast a rider are you?
35 seconds in and im already in love with that sword
Hey Skal, the method where you transfer from the hammer grip to the handshake grip was called slipping it was considered common practice for Norsemen to use this, it gives the user an advantage where you gain a little larger reach. It was more common to allow the pommel to extend past your ring finger so you only had your thumb, pointer and middle finger holding onto the grip.
*BERSERKRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!* --Lindybeige
BERSERKAAARR!!!!!
+jamcalx VIKINGS
+jamcalx ....berserker?!
AurOn2401
BERRRRRRRRRRRRRRSERKER!
jamcalx Berserker....!
I am a huge fan of the "cast blow". I practice it quite often with my viking sword and have come to prefer viking pommels to later disc pommels on arming swords. Roland of Dimicator demonstrates the cast blow very well. I find it actually improves my edge alignment.
I'm still recovering from you bending the Caithness.
Woah, a wild fuzzy walrus
I love that pommel
filewulfe something something end him rightly.
+Antonius Kazakov (Toni) U mean the peened pommel?
Duksing Chau Duh
K.
holy shit, that design, IT LOOKS FUCKING AWESOME, SO SIMPLE, BUT SO GREAT
This is the first sword of yours I've coveted. Really cool. My personal favorite sword types are the Gladius and the sabre. This is like the spawn of both.
She's a keeper
Both the sword and the wife :-;
Hey Skallagrim, I haven't seen your video's in awhile so I'm must now getting back to watching them and catching up, but with the commentary on viking style sword use, I HAVE TO MENTION ESCRIMA. I'm been practicing it for 10 years now and the way we hold our weapons is almost always 90 degrees with very little wrist movement and a lot of power coming from the legs and turning the hips. It is much closer than with a European style arming sword, but having also held a round shield, i could, with confidence, say that it would be very easy to stay in that close with a shield to help protect you. This also makes sense because what we do know is how much emphasis was placed on the shield by the vikings (with what little we know obviously).
Note: I didn't do any research before commenting, just using personal experience.
TL;DR: It would be easy to use a Viking sword being held at roughly 90 degrees in combination with a shield because the shield would help you stay in close.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH ROOM TO SWING YOUR SWORD? I THOUGHT YOU WERE IN A FOREST
Really appreciate your reviews and philosophical ramblings Skallagrim. For some reason makes the day better. Can't wait to move in January, I've always been very, very interested in archaic weapons of all types, and I'll finally be going to an area with plenty of HEMA clubs (Southern California). Thanks to you, and the magic of RUclips, I know that I'm not the only nerd who enjoys medieval martial arts.
too bad that with that type of swords ,vikings cannot end their enemies rightly
Its a privilege only knights are allowed.
That may be true but Englishmen dont get to drink in Valhalla!
@@penisparker5172
I didn't drink anyway
@@JP-rf8rr that's why no one will remember your name... ;)
A tip, if I may
When trying out cuts with viking swords and axes, get your other arm in front of your body to simulate the shield.
I know its automatic to the body of swordsman to get the arm behind but, just a tip for better understanding and thinking of those kind of weapons.
Thank you for your videos, I always apreciate them most!!!
May the gods be with you.
I like the third option, that they may have alternated hand positions. Let's not forget how sophisticated fighters in medieval Europe were. The Viking's success against them in raids would indicate that they had no less sophistication themselves.
I switch grips all the time for different cuts. I'm mostly a "handshake" guy. My main sword is an Albion Wallingford (sword grip is 9-9,5 cm long). Most effective use of that sword is with a rolling loose grip that you lock just before contact (depending on the kind of cut).
The usual high right, diagonal to low/mid left I start out with a loose 3-4 finger grip. Using the shoulder and elbow to put speed and power behind it to whip the sword in while steering it with my fingers and wrist.
Low right to high/mid left (gut blow under the shield) starts with the same loose grip using the shoulder, elbow and wrist to give it speed and power (yes.. as always, use the hips) whip the sword, rolling the grip from index finger to pinky, low under the shield and steer the edge by placing you thumb on the flat of the blade. You will end up with a "pommel in hand" kind of grip.
One useful trick is to never hold your sword with the crossguard in line with your wrist. An offset by 20-30 degrees to the left or right (depending on what you are going to do) will get you much more dexterity and minimize the way pommel and crossguard interferes with your hand. This way of doing things requires a relaxed grip so that you can alter the alignment of the edge when doing a cut or thrust. I have tried this with sharp blades like the Theign and Gaddhjalt + bbq pig, with very good results.
Have an Albion Jarl coming to me in a few months. Let me know if you would be interested in doing a review of it.
-JR
Thanks but I don't really like to borrow swords, as I tend to be pretty hard on them for testing purposes. :)
+Skallagrim Def hear what you're saying. Albion swords seem to be able to hold up to quite a beating.
i started watch your videos with subs but now i realize i dont need it, you significly improved my english. thank you!
Is the audio strange for anyone else? Sounds like an older mic or something.
Yeah it is
Congratulations Skall! I have been eye-balling that one for years.
Audio sounds different...
I learned something about Viking swords today.
+Matthew “Arkhane” Brown
Weird, I was using the same microphone and did the same editing as usual.
+Skallagrim There is a bit more echo than normally, maybe its the surroundings that changed a little bit?
+Skallagrim There is somewhat of an echo. Try using some dampening foam around the mic
+Matthew ‘Arkhane’ Brown
Seems the bitrate is lower maybe? quality sounds worse then normal
MIchael o keep it relevant, or start a new thread.
Beautiful in its own way. Looks like a Norman Arming sword, a Gladius, and a Messer had a 3 way. AWESOME zombie sword.
Is it just an issue on my side or does the audio sound kind of low quality?
+SexyJamal77 yeah
+SexyJamal77 audio is shit.
Either your side or you're all extremely way to picky and it's sad if it's the second. Shit audio is not understandable, it's just not studio quality which we shouldn't expect from a non music RUclipsr.
No, nigga, it seems like he used a reall good microphone and rendered the audio at a low bitrate. He's completely capable of having professional audio quality but he might have fucked up rendering the audio. Don't fucking say it's "sad" because we don't approve of the audio in this video.
Ignorance is not bliss I see
It's probably not a great way of doing it, but the way I put together historical fighting styles is: Step 1: Figure out the limitations, and therefore what isn't limited. Step 2: Gather all the knowledge of the people who used it that you possess Step 3: Fit the things that aren't limited into the knowledge you possess Step 4: discard any notions that do not fit into your image of the people. In this manner, I doubt that the Vikings would have used a handshake grip very much at all, in fact would avoid it in most cases, so the hammer grip used for close quarters slicing, and the upwards thrusts would be what I would use. In terms of stance, I believe a shieldless stance would be very wide and grounded, whereas a shield stance would be wide again, but side on to the shield. Attacks would be made around the shield, using body rotation to its maximum and utilising shield bashes more often than most styles.
If someone was having this sword made could they request a little longer handle for people with larger hands?
No
I watched scholagladatoria, he said you have to use your elbows more because of the pommel design and it made me realize the pommel design forces you to use your entire arm and body if you want to give a powerful blow. It's genius, because an inexperienced swordsman would probably try to mostly use his wrist. Using your elbow and shoulder would make the strike several times stronger, and using your body would help even more. I've got no idea if that was intentional in its design, my own theory is that it's meant to resemble Thors hammer.
Isn't it called a Langsax/Langseax? It is also called Norwegian sword. In fact, it derives from the war (combat) knife. From what I remember Sax is generally Germanic thing.
Langseax (i thing) means Long Knife so it's basically a early medieval messer ;)
+Kamil Szadkowski A langseax is shorter than that, a seax is dagger/knife sized and a langseax is really just a little bit longer, you could call a langseax a short sword.
+Kamil Szadkowski
They're generally not regarded as seaxes as far as I know. Possibly related to the older iron age war knives, but seaxes are a more specific type of knife that co-existed with these swords.
Personally, I suspect it was just a variation of the regular viking sword that the Norwegians happened to like for some reason. Similar to how some baskethilts are single-edged and some are double edged, or how some Japanese swords have two edges. It doesn't necessarily have to indicate two separate evolutions.
+Kamil Szadkowski I think its too long for a langsax
+Kamil Szadkowski Langsax are curved forward, this one is curved backwards.
+Kamil Szadkowski The blade is a *bit* long for a langseax (but only a bit). What makes this *not* a seax, rather than the length or shape (and I have seen them this shape) of the blade, is the handle construction.
Joe & the other guys over at Albion make some great stuff. I have some of his customs & I adore them all.
i don´t know if this is to personal, but may it be possible to know what tattoo cara ist getting?
And about the the big pomel, maybe they wanted to end their enemys rightly
Great looking blade, looks perfectly at home when you used it in conjunction with the shield.
How's your knee holding up Skall? I hope you're getting better. :D
The way to handle a Viking sword (as shown by Skall) appears to be consistent with Viking combat. If being restricted to holding the sword at an angle that will yield better cuts and being used with a shield, armor, and a high protein diet with daily training, I could see that being a reason for the design choice of the pommel. While this has it's own pros and cons, it would make sense that the Vikings would say to a student "if the pommel is hitting your wrist you're using it wrong".
That thing looks kinda ugly, not "Ugh, that thing is ugly" kind of ugly but more like "This thing was made for one purpose, to kill, not to look good!" kind of ugly.
+Hendlton everyone with their own taste mate to others it might look beatiful and some simply wouldnt care
+Hendlton I find that something that looks like it has a practical purpose looks better than something that has a purpose of looking nice.
+Another Duck Yeah, the modern A-10 Warthog is a prime example of that. Ugly as hell but beautiful at the same time.
***** Sure, minus the "ugly as hell" bit. I think it's a great looking plane.
***** the only thing ugly about that plane is that its a machine made for war and war...is on hell of an ugly sight
i hope you get the entire albion collection, these reviews are awesome
Couldn't you get in close enough with a shield, to use the shorter cut style?
I love single edge Norse swords. My 1st sparing sword is much like what you have in hand.
Short handle and we would called it casting letting the pinkie and ring finger let go as you reach the point in which the blade will go no further without loosening those fingers.
I also found a horizontal cut flowing to overhead you can grip the pommel with your other hand and deliver a powerful blow vertically.
That was just a interesting thing I noted.
Some of the originals were hefty weight wise.
the question about the pommel, CAN YOU THROW IT?
+adebleswordfish
Quote; Skallagrim ~2015 - "Hey, don't tell anyone, but... the pommel is peened. o_o"
+adebleswordfish Nope, it's peened.
+Captain Orvok technically you can throw the pommel, but you either have to throw the entire sword along with it or remove it with bad destructive methods
Considering your thoughts on the way of using the sword, you may have forgotten that vikings were known to use rather large shields. So it kind of makes sense to assume that they used those to get close to their opponent and then use their swords for these close-quarter cuts while preventing their opponent from effectively using their weapons.
dumb qustion incoming: How good does it do with trusts? I can see that it has been made for cuts but well so has the katana and i do renember that it peformed, well better then expected in that video you did some time ago.
+Alpha PHENIX
We will find out.
***** Cool and good luck with the knee.Also sorry that i brought up the katana i know how much you hate those things and the stupid jokes about them
+Alpha PHENIX
I don't hate katanas. I just prefer most other swords and dislike the ridiculous hype surrounding katanas.
***** My bad.
+Skallagrim Katanas are like Pizza, pretty good but for fucks sake, stop making a religion from it!
A single edged Viking sword? AWESOME
So... is a viking style machete?
Looks really cool
+gosonegr A viking... katana?
RubberKidney - That would be the most magical sword in the Universe being welded by a Odin Samurai or a Ronin Viking, could even cut wolverine in half
+RubberKidney -
More like a dao, I'd say.
+RubberKidney - Wash out your dirty mouth with soap!
Well wow! Being very interested in the viking age I always wanted to see you review some viking swords, I loved the scandinavian axe review. Some time later (today) I had forgotten the name of your channel and decided to search for "viking sword" to find it "just as I pressed search I remembered that you didn't have any viking sword reviews, that was the review I was wanting to see, but suddenly... there it is your channel and a review of a viking sword which have just been posted. I found both your channel again and the review I most wanted to see!
Faith? Will of Odin? Who knows, but it was awesome anyways.
got a hint of Roman in the scabbard.
Norwegian sword I like
I remember the feeling I got when I was a kid on Christmas eve and I used to look out the window hoping to see Santa, that feeling of childish wonder is what I miss the most about being a kid. Also in Spain we save the best sweets for Christmas also that's debatable
Is the pommel unscrewable? cause you know...
Judging by your profile pic, you're unscrewable OOOOOOHH!!
I'll show myself out...
+TheCiastek63
Quote; Skallagrim ~2015 - "Hey, don't tell anyone, but... the pommel is peened. o_o"
that's peter gabriel of Genesis, he probably had tons of bitches
nice one though
Hansl Lavenburg
aww that's a shame
I really hope he's at least going to shoot it
Nothing says "I love you" like a big-ass sword. Great video as always!
I'll be honest the first thing I thought of was Guts when I read the name.
I think the second method is more practical considering the design of the viking shield, the hammer grip greatly reduces effectiveness when moving the shield to the right and cutting to the left.
Mabe vikings just liked to hit peopel with pomelstrikes.
you can also finger the guard to keep the pommel from digging too.
i don't think its likely done historically, but it is plausible. the shield is used to cover the hand enough to make it practical. we also don't know when fingering the guard began its seen in 13th Century depictions among some earlier manuals
The large pommel reminded me of the Indian tulwars or talwars, as featured on Matt Easton's channel. Those pommels are disc-shaped, such that you simply have to hold the sword at an angle (no side-stepping allowed by using the handshake grip) and perform a draw cut rather than a simple chop - in other words: shorter range, better cutting power. Of course, those swords are strongly curved, making them even more cut-oriented than this one is.
Thanks for mentioning my videos on the viking sword grip and cast blow shield brother :D
Matt Easton at ScholaGladiatoria did a video a while back where he gave his impressions of how he thought a viking sword with that kind of pommel would have been gripped. His opinion was that you would choke down on the grip with the pinky pressed into the pommel. Might be worth a watch to any who are interested. Nice sword though. I am currently waiting on an Albion Jarl which I hope will be ready soon and shipped out to me before year end
That's a really nice looking sword. Very simple, very pure.
Cool! They actually found a single-edged sword from the 8-9th century just a week ago in Norway!
Supposedly the pommel shape fits in the shape beneath the hand and the wrist so it supports the blade when you cut. Also the pommel was hollow making the sword much more front heavy so more force was applied to the target. This is information i was learned at a workshop in Halden
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Albion! We've wondered about it a bit and your video, well, just makes us want to buy one!!!
That is one of the most beautiful swords I've seen in my life
I remember rewatching the animated "Beowulf" about a year ago,
after i had watched this video.
I instantly recognized some of Beowulf's warriors carrying single edged viking swords,
just like this one.
Thought it was a cool detail i didn't notice the first time i watched the movie.
I liked scholagladiatoria's vid on the topic of how viking swords were used. He said that the handshake grip feels natural, and you can really throw the sword in that way. The big t shaped pommel makes sure you don't actually throw it.
Another theory for the handle and pommel shapes was shield bracing, I once read in book by a Spanish author (I cannot by the life of me recal which one or even if I own it and it is somewhere on my shelf) but anyhow it was theorised that the pommel and crossguard where the same length from the grip to help brace against their own shields to absorb harder blows and to perform shield charges. (If I find that book I will reference it!)
The first method of the two shown here seems vaguely related to Matt Easton's video on tulwars - supposedly their characteristic grip also encourages draw cuts with the wrist kept stiff.
Looking forward to the sword review! (Cara is awesome.)
Matt Easton's video(s) on the way talwars were held and used is relevant, maybe! Those have large disc pommels that enforce a 90 degree position, and we know that they are meant to be used with a close-in slashing motion.
I think you could probably look at how swords like a Tulwar were used, since both have somewhat restrictive hilts and are mainly for cutting, that may give you an idea or two about how vikingblades were used.
I like how into this you are. most people don't go in as deep and just play with it.
Great video and i can't wait to see the review video. I very much love to see reviews on Albion's and congrats on getting another beautiful sword to the collection.
Being that the center of gravity in a Viking sword is farther away from the hilt then in a knight's sword I think learning the correct technique could be understood by learning the techniques used in baseball and golf swings and grip. In these other disciplines the technique is to focus your sight on the follow-through rather than solely on a short-sighted aim to the ball surface, or in this case body surface. The grip and the swing fall into place more naturally with an aim focused on a place physically farther away then the surface of the item being struck and mentally into the desired future.
Nice present! That is one well made sword for the price. As to fighting style, the Vikings used shields and the sword was designed to work with their shields. I suspect that the grip was designed for the shorter, close in cuts that come with such close combat. Cutting at short range was very common with the targets either the head or legs (most mass graves from battles at that time show a high proportion of cuts to skulls and leg bones). Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the tests.
Looks like a excellent sword to combo with the shield for knocking an opponent's weapon out of the way so you can get a quick hack cut. It would be very difficult to charge an enemy armed with those two weapons, because you can't really keep them at long range, except with arrows. With the surface area of the shield it can be aimed to block any thrust, and the swinging power of that long blade is ready to knock a long sword or spear out of the way.
I cannot wait for a test video on this one! Such a beautiful blade. Way to go wife!
Beautfully made!!
My brother forged me a seax!
What I would give to have a sword that beautiful!
I like the new background! Very cool! Can't wait to see the cutting video with the new sword! XD
I love how you guys celebrate Halloween. I want to adopt this.
P.S. The sword is Gorgeous!
I've wanted this sword for years. Dunno what about it that appeals to me so much but it is the Albion Viking sword I want most.
Subscribed on Skallagrim when he had 50000 subs... now he has 410k! Congratulations Skalla, nice job
That sword is pretty badass. I would imagine the slashing or drawing cuts with a beast like that would be awesome.
interesting tidbit, its called the berserker sword, but more specifically this is a Norwegian variation of a Langseax. with themselves were variations of Seax knifes with filled the position of viking age all purpose knife. the Langseax were more for war, and I would recommend looking them up, as they are really brutal cutting weapons
I have been eyeballing this beauty for some time now. DO WANT!
Skall, Viking did emphasize more slashing cuts and close quartered combat. They would generally take upon the mentality of a linebacker in American football. Charge, block, push, tackle, etc. in order to force their opponents out of stance and knock them over, making it easier to finish the job. Generally when you fight as the Viking does, you want to move on quickly with the shield raised, bashing the opponent and using the outside of the shield to isolate their weapon arm. Then comes thrusts, slashes, and the like.
I don't claim to be an expert, but that's a good measure of what I've seen in the research I've done.
The shape of this sword is just amazing, i love it **
I'm thinking of getting an Albion Laird sword (basically the Caithness with a similar [yet different] guard) and I'm very excited for it.
Hey +Skallagrim!
I joined a HEMA club recently and you know what happened after my first time? Knee injury... it's not that pronounced but it gets in the way sometimes, so it doesn't affect my overall performance while doing sparring and such but when I get to bed and put my weight on the knee it hurts a bit. By the way I really enjoy it and I am suprised that we have to make a "diploma-work" (dunno how you say it in english) (well not a diploma work (the papers obviously), but it's on the level of that) to be able to get into provost level where you get to spar with a feder without limitations in full protective gear. And to get to provost you have to do a 4 year training beforehand. It was just a little bit strange but I really enjoy it.
Very nice sword! Another great product from Albion. And what a gift to recieve!
Its and Albion blade so I'm sure its beyond great, one way or and other as you pointed out we are low on actual knowledge on Viking sword techniques, cant wait for the actual review. I have to say that the Krieg Messer is my favorite, the true European Katana so to speak.
There is a whole series of novels by Bernard Cornwell on Vikings with detailed battle scenes. As I remember the Vikings used a shield war for pitched battle. So I would have expected a more thrusting symmetrical blade more like a Roman Gladius. I've read so may Cornwell novels I may be mixing them up.
I wonder if it makes any sense to consider a historical blade apart from its materials. I think the actual Vikings used a folding method of bloomery iron rather like that used later by the Japanese. . If again my memory proves correct then a historical Katana would be a better facsimile for a Viking sword than any sword made of modern steel.
I seen 3 of those type of swords in a museum. Did not think they were that scarce one seemed to have the same sharped edged pommel as the berserker, while the other had the more conman rounded type of pommel.
dude you have no clue how long i have been looking for one of those
+Austin Hanks i did find an ulfberht though
Considering how a lot of Viking battles involved the use of shield walls, I would think the close-quarters slicing method you mentioned would work best for a sword of that type. That is a lovely blade, though.