Ulfberht

[Harpag]

The Vikings were among the fiercest warriors of all time. Yet only a select few carried the ultimate weapon of their era: the feared Ulfberht sword. Fashioned using a process that would remain unknown to the Vikings' rivals for centuries, the Ulfberht was a revolutionary high-tech tool as well as a work of art. Considered one of the greatest swords ever made, it remains a fearsome weapon more than a millennium after it last saw battle. But how did Viking sword makers design and build the Ulfberht, and what was its role in history? Now, NOVA uses cutting edge science and old-fashioned detective work to reconstruct the Ulfberht and finally unravel the "Secrets of the Viking Sword."


Buff NCS!

[[ptx]]

Lol @ Katana segment

[Christo]

Very good vid, will watch the remaining part later.


Anyway supersword or not, it's still the wielder that makes the work. Won't help against arrow showers either. 

The trading thing is really interesting, I only remembered that vikings went into NA, and Russia etc, but not that Volga traderoute into Iran. o_o

[Prinz_Karl]

A video about the viking sword that's 1 hour long and has 1m views. I'll be expecting much

[larlek]

I haven't watched the video but I remember hearing how they repeatedly twisted the metal and then hammered it flat to make their swords. I'm not sure if that's the method described in your video though.

[Prinz_Karl]

Very nice documentary.

@larlek The video is more about a special crucible method that makes the viking swords steel quality comparable to todays ones.

[Christo]

... and they didn't play around with it. 

[Lamk]

Thank you for sharing the video. I watched it all and I really enjoyed the information they gave about vikings.
Do you have other videos like this because I would be interested

[Kafein]

Randomly stumbled across this watching tv, I expected to see "KATANA FOLDED 1000000000000 TIMES CAN CUT THROUGH DIAMONDS" at some point but hey, this was pretty decent.

[Torost]

Notice that the expert swordsmith eventually made a replica of a counterfeit +ULFBERHT+?

The ones with +ULFBERH+T were probably made by illiterate counterfeiters trying to cash in on the +ULFBERHT+ fame.

[Osiris]

nice docu. Didn't worship katana as best ever weapon made by god that cuts planets!

[Kafein]

Notice that the expert swordsmith eventually made a replica of a counterfeit +ULFBERHT+?

The ones with +ULFBERH+T were probably made by illiterate counterfeiters trying to cash in on the +ULFBERHT+ fame.

Actually they say pretty clearly in the video that it's the other way around. Those with +ULFBERHT+ are counterfeits made in poor steel.

[Torost]

You are right!

Seems +ULFBERH+T is the original , made by supposedly literate smiths.

And +ULFBERHT+ is made by supposedly illiterate counterfeiters.

Does not make sense too me. Not starting and ending with +

But, wikipedia confirms it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfberht

My bad.

[gallonigher]

That was fascinating.  Thanks for that; I'm a huge blacksmith/metallurgy buff

[Argoth]

If you liked that documentary then you MUST watch "Reclaiming the Blade"
It's amazing to say the least.