its just sooo primal: forging a steel weapon out of dirt.
as far as I understand, the secret is the materials used, the amount of them materials and how the materials are mixed or joined together. I find it incredible fascinating even though im no smith, can watch it for hours.
and yes I don't think it can get any more manly 
Its crazy, I saw a docu about it once, the vikings had no mines so they just pulled some dirt out of the marshy ground and put it in the furnace and voila! A big chunk of metal, ofcourse still fairly raw but the amount that came out of only say a hand full was enormous! My face literwlly went like
wot!
I just used iron plates though, actually making the materials from scratch is way above my capabilities!, heated it up, cut it with some sort of hydrolic press cutter my dad uses for god knows what, and had the rough shape, then its just hammering away, allthough neither of us knew how to properly forge I later checked vids, also this thread I probably have watched every vid
, and learned about folding and all those techniques to make it harder and less brittle. Havent had the chance, or time, to put it to the test though.
but my knife still stands, it still cuts aswell(just checked it lol) allthough it looks a bit wonky it's sturdy!
Thinking back on this makes the fingers itch
