Gjermundbu sword hilt details (Vegard Vike)

[Guy Thomas]

I found some outstanding photos of the Gjermundbu sword hilt components detailing their construction posted by Vegard Vike back in 2018 on his Twitter account (@VegardVike). To be clear, these are not my images, but presumably it is okay post these here as Twitter is an open platform and his posts can be freely retweeted by anyone. He is an archeological conservator at the Kulturhistorisk Museum in Oslo and his twitter feed is a treasure trove of fantastic information! 

[Jirka Antes]

Wow, very nice photos! I found very interesting the joint of upper part of pommel and those rivets. Do you know what is a base material of it? Is it iron or casted bronze? Thanks

[Charles dP]

He also has a YouTube channel:

 

 

[Guy Thomas]

9 hours ago, Jirka Antes said:

Wow, very nice photos! I found very interesting the joint of upper part of pommel and those rivets. Do you know what is a base material of it? Is it iron or casted bronze? Thanks

The T-rivets would appear do appear to be iron to me. I've always been puzzled by the exact means of T-rivet construction, in this case they appear to have been trapped in the channels by pushing the edges of the channel over the head of the T-rivet. This was a funeral pyre burial and if I remember many of the artifacts, like the maille shirt, show evidence of melted  copper. Perhaps why much of the hilt decorations like the twisted wire and much of the overlying inlay is missing. It must have been stunning! 

[Doug Lester]

It's always seemed a mystery to me how the hollow pummels were made.  Still a mystery but now I have a little to go on.

 

Doug

[Guy Thomas]

10 hours ago, Charles dP said:

He also has a YouTube channel:

 

I just found his Youtube channel yesterday! Good stuff, he has excellent content on Twitter too about the Gjermundbu maille shirt and the Gjermundbu helmet as well. Best way to find them is by Google searching.

[Alan Longmire]

Having just taken three attempts to set a silver inlay, those T-rivets make my head hurt to think about using.   But yes, they look like they were slightly dovetailed and then staked onto the pommel.

[Guy Thomas]

On 5/28/2022 at 12:58 PM, Doug Lester said:

It's always seemed a mystery to me how the hollow pummels were made.  Still a mystery but now I have a little to go on.

 

Doug

The construction method of the hollow pommels are a mystery to me too. This X-ray of the hilt, also from from Vegard Vike's Twitter feed, shows the actual shape of the hollow, very regular with an even bottom. Made with a drift perhaps? Doesn't explain why one side appears to have been chiseled out further at angle further toward one side lobe. 

[Alan Longmire]

That pommel looks to have been slit and drifted, yes.  I've seen others that may have been drifted/punched only.  Regardless, they were a lot of work and there would have been substantial material removal.  Certainly one of the more unusual ways to mount a pommel, but I guess if you don't want an exposed peen block on top that's just what you do.

[Doug Lester]

 

Thanks, Guy.  That is indeed interesting.

 

Doug

[Jirka Antes]

On the last picture are also interesting the weldflaws (are they?) in blade 

[Alan Longmire]

6 minutes ago, Jirka Antes said:

(are they?)

 

Yes! Annoying, but historically correct, weld flaws between core and edge steel. 

[Doug Lester]

As Todd Cutler said on his site, he couldn't sell a sword that was identical to those museum pieces.  Too many defects.  Modern buyers wouldn't buy them.

 

Doug

[Jirka Antes]

20 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

 

Yes! Annoying, but historically correct, weld flaws between core and edge steel. 

I have to admit it is quite soothing for me, to see it this way

[Doug Lester]

 I keep having to go back and look at the pictures at the top of the thread.  I have to study them a while to turn a 2D picture into a 3D object.  It's slowly making more and more sense to me.

 

Doug