The Serpent in the Sword: Forging a Viking-age Sword

[@JasanQuinn]

I've never been interested in DIY stuff; gardening, decorating, car maintenance... but smithing vids like this enthrall me.

[@rovers141]

I can't imagine forging a blade like this back in the Viking days with the tools they had. Seeing the immensely large amount of skill and hard work it would have taken makes it easy to see why owning such a sword back then would be a symbol of wealth and power.

[@MrDaddikins]

That, was cool. I'm a longsword guy, but to see how beautiful weapons are made is a real treat. Thanks for showing us this Niels.

[@hogheadv2]

Wonderful instruction of your monologue, and the music is fitting. So many videographers of harsh environment subjects miss these topics and lose viewer interest in less than a minute. Outstanding.

[@MrAlexH1991]

This video literally ROCKED OUT, DUDE. *head bangin while learning about damascus billeting.*

[@SlayerHewkii123]

When you started shaping the serpent pattern, I started to fucking cry. People like you make me proud to be a human, taking so much time to bring history and art to life, and preserving our culture for the present and the future. Thank you so much for your contribution to society.

[@user-sm9qk5xj3i]

You are one of the most skilled artisans I have ever seen. You deserve more credit than what is given

[@TDGCmote]

I’m not even 5 minutes in and blown away at how cool this blade will be. I guess I’m saying goodbye to a good nights sleep. And I’m totally pumped to watch this in its entirety.

[@TDGCmote]

Also how do you separate the 10 bars after drawing them out? They look so similar.

[@NielsProvos]

You will be disappointed to find out that this is an unfinished project.

[@The15231]

Fantastic video, I shed a tear when canon was playing lol. That truly put emphasis on how much of an art swordsmithing is.

[@TheGamerCouch]

My right ear loves this man's voice.

[@75Bird455]

That was very impressive. It's an enjoyment to watch someone do what they do best.

[@NielsProvos]

I started working on this sword almost a year ago and it's still not done. Time is precious :-)

[@MattStormsSEO]

I would love to come and hangout with you for a few days and work on my metal skills.

[@MattStormsSEO]

Just finished watching all 4 videos. really impressed. DO you own all of the tools that you used?

[@tateroth]

That's a fine hammer you have there. I have a couple of falcata that have been sitting in the corner mocking me for way too long...

[@ChrisWiggins]

Amazing. Absolutely riveting.

[@IsaacCle]

John Looney, in case he hasn't seen this.

[@Kowalski97ify]

I don't understand how someone could dislike this video. thumbs up!

[@OgilvieFoto]

Truly an old world artisan in modern times...beautiful work!

[@stevenr4]

Your video is much better than many other videos I have seen online. Great music, narration, visuals, and overall quality. Good job and thank you!

[@Raafje84]

This is not just craftmanship this is Art

[@warlord602]

In a very old book I read a long time ago, there was a method discribed of making a Gladius. Your method here reminded me of it. The Gladius blade was made of 3 parts. 2 bronze rods twisted together for the core, and 2 iron blades on either side, all hammered together. Once the blade was finished it looked as if 2 snakes wraped around each other traveled up the center of the blade.

[@NectarinoMo]

Forging stuff looks like one of the coolest hobbies ever!

[@vicegrip33]

I have loved Swords since I was a child! I don't build them, but I sharpen them by "Drawfiling". I have been a machine-tool repairman for over 35 years. My work is usually crisis based. So if I didn't lack the patience to do your work then; sadly I lack it now. I do however recognise another's Skill & comprehention of the charactor of his metal. Your workmanship would be considered "Mastery Level" in any Tool-shop ! Very well produce vid TOO !

[@SpottedHares]

I love how on the sped up sections you can sea the wire bush slowly moving.

[@EduardoSVA]

Awesome job, and the music around makes the work sounds like poetry. Congratulations!

[@ColePEET]

Absolutely brilliant video, the skill displayed is sensational. You are a true artist, Sir. Such skillful drawing out of the stock, and drawing out of the zigzag piece... I am amazed. Thank you so much for allowing us into your shop. Your jig for turning is wondrous, i've never seen such tight bends. You turned that stock practically into threaded rod

[@KhaotickInc]

Ooh! Neils provos, u go glen coco.. I love ur way of being nice and respectful in a way that it insults them.

[@محمدعبدالله-خ6ع8غ]

man .... you are good and accurate in this work , more forging in this blade gets very excellent sword

[@bummer6]

Refreshing to see someone admit their mistakes in a video like this... It makes me like you even more. ^^

[@Myerp117]

the sound of hammering out metal is soothing

[@ClaudineiSoaresfenix]

I was shocked by the ammount of work. Hours and hours of heat and concentration. Back then in the ancient times, every hit of the hammer were provided by a human hand... Indeed, the strenght of every surviving piece of metal from that time is a testimony of the strenght of flesh and bone long gone. Thanks for showing this bit of your art and bring back some part of the ancient greatness.

[@royaltoadclub8322]

I stumbled upon this video by accident and watched it though until the end. Excellent video.

[@MegaApenstaartje]

I love how you did the tip of the sort.

[@easydog999]

awesome work. You express real mastery and true craftsmanship. Rock on!

[@SteelBustingBiker]

Thank you for a great video. This coming from a retired machinist who appreciates fine craftsmanship. These weapons will be around a thousand years after you're gone and those folks will still enjoy a work of art any yes...admire a killing weapon of old. PS: Brought a tear to my eye for sure.

[@NielsProvos]

thank you very much

[@АъзмЕъсм]

Master Video forges banal Damascus! in the earth will lie and 400-500 years! crumble

[@SteelBustingBiker]

These works of art won't touch soil...ever!

[@АъзмЕъсм]

SteelBustingBiker Well Say Art How Far. But for decorative products overall not bad!))) In this Trude least 6 errors are not allowed in the production of real combat sword.

[@SteelBustingBiker]

LOL...No one but no one combats with Viking swords for the past 1000 years! But, it maybe some minerals are missing adding to a prolong life, and yet..this technique is still valid. Maybe...once we blow ourselves into the Iron Age, it maybe that we will need Combat weapons?

[@tonedizzle6289]

Incredible work. Makes me want to light the forge again.

[@LordBoaZ]

Amazing. I can only hope to one day be as skilled as you clearly are.

[@JustineM2021]

Thank you Sir. I am learning about swordsmithing so I can try it and your videos are an excellent learning point.

[@imjstcl]

this was not only interesting but also enlightening. Also your accent is very good, i need to visit sometime

[@thenakinavy]

This is incredible and I look forward to the rest of the videos

[@jasonwotring415]

very informative video he has answered a lot of my questions and answered a lot of questions I didn't know to ask

[@tzimmermann]

Right ear feels abandoned. Left ear feels itchy.

[@NielsProvos]

I put up a version with corrected audio.

[@mattreynolds4940]

put your headphones on right

[@SilentPestSolutions]

Niels Provos im from australia i was wondering if i could pay you somehow to make a viking sword for me

[@bbbbbum]

I didn't know vikings had power hammers, mig welders, and bandsaws! guess you learn something new every day XD seriously though I wish I had this kind of skill

[@jaimemount8666]

I'm just stared learning about blacksmithing and your a real inspiration to me =)

[@AdmEoS]

Very very nice, easy to follow the video too. I am sure this sword will be worthy of Odin himself

[@rjwintl]

great video Niels...your inner Viking really shines !

[@brennanshippert4376]

Viking sword background music = Canon in D. You are freaking weird. I love it

[@bonezbx]

ive never done this ... but i consider this an art... and it look really relaxing if u have it as a hobby

[@mortigoth]

It's beautiful how you work!

[@wildyracing1]

Great video! Congratulations on your craftsmanship - this really need some hard work and knowledge!

[@cdbean99]

That takes some serious time to make a single sword!

[@tommywatson2175]

c. bean only for really good swords, though

[@ashwinmohandas1690]

Thank you very much for this upload. You are very talented .

[@Locahaskatexu]

you bet your arse I am... your work is beautiful, were I any closer to your location I'd sincerely ask you whether you would consider taking an apprentice. I've sat here many a time, watching gobsmacked at what you do. the amount of love and patience that goes into your work, and the passion with which you speak of your work :)

[@Thatrollingmaster69]

This is beautiful ! Very informative video ! Thanks !

[@ShturmanBasov18]

This is so beautiful! I love this series!

[@warrenbuitendag5286]

that's a very nice power hammer, smaller than the ones i usually see but still very powerful!

[@metrolyric6399]

+Warren Buitendag the one on AWE is HUGE

[@nonamegiven19xx]

This was a great video to watch. Thank you!

[@beardjuice]

i love your work. and that shiny new looking anvil makes me jealous.

[@FRUNTCASTER]

This video was awesome!! You make it look easy!

[@ULTRAKB1997]

even with this tools its hard work,can u imagine a guy doing this,without this tools??very impressive

[@tilenstrmsek6811]

My right ear is loving this.

[@NielsProvos]

The serpent pattern was likely achieved in a different way; Jeff Pringle has come up with a good way of doing it. As far as I know, the fish mouth weld is something that has been done historically. You would be surprised at how many tools were already available back then :-)

[@Jarlemoore1]

Another method was done by twisting bars of steel and iron or steel together and forging them into the core body of the blade then forge welding a harder steel edge onto the core body, this creates the serpent design as well.

[@tipttt]

Just wondering. Since you had to correct a mistake you made while making the sword that removed some length from the finished product, wouldn't it have been wiser to hammer the tip into a triangle shape rather than cutting a fish mouth and hammering in the gap?

[@OriginalDimascus]

Great work... I love watching your videos and work. it is magnificent and a true show of craftsmanship.

[@voodoo8796]

This video is fantastic. Thank you.

[@lucu01]

same description used in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon novels, where one of the swords is called Serpent Breath

[@gabrielnunez1970]

the music sells this video bro! good form!

[@michaelmixon1099]

Do we know how the Vikings did this? Good video! Very labor intensive even with modern tools.

[@kiluhnic]

I love these videos. You go into such great detail with your work. Fantastic job and fantastic choice of music! Subscribed :)

[@jiuxianghou5411]

Out of the labor and the time spent building that sword. How much did you sell it for or would you sell it for?

[@KylieManur3]

I really enjoyed watching this. thank you for the upload.

[@mwangikimani3970]

The Samurai blacksmiths use clay to create the serpent pattern. Basically the areas covered by clay cool slower when the hot blade is emersed in water, thereby creating the serpent.

[@scottk7613]

When the strips of steel is lined up, and gets red hot, i want to know if i am to smash the plats completly down, flat ways. Or do I get it red hot, and smash it down long ways, the plats on its side, till its flat... in all the videos I watch, the bar is always red hot, and I cant see what way the plats are facing, when it gets flatten. Thanks.

[@josefoshizzle447]

Hello, where did you get all of these materials and equipment to forge the sword? Like the power hammer, forge, and the different types of steel?

[@AlvitFromHell]

Loved the video! and all your explanations of how the process is made. Just a little recommendation, maybe in other videso you can make the music volume a little bit lower since it was kind of hard to listen the voice sometimes

[@reidthiss]

amazing work! have you ever had any problems with the steel in creating the pattern like over cutting or how you twisted the metal that it pulled apart or lost its shape?

[@eclipseslayer98]

The sound of a hammer striking the hot metal on the anvil is relaxing.

[@Metalwrath2]

rip my left ear

[@bigj0987654321]

i realy love the music you use with this

[@Johnny-lj5ef]

I hope your fifth video comes out soon. All this is so awesome! After seeing your fourth video, I was literally jumping into my computer screen because i wanted the sword so bad! Anyway, i hope to see you cutting things with the serpent sword! XD

[@FalltoAbism]

Sorry if i am rude for questioning, but without the power hammer, how must time require to make the sword?

[@LiveOakish]

Forgive me for being dense, but right around 6:40, when you "etch" the steel, are you simply sanding it, or is there something more complex going on?

[@NielsProvos]

It's called Larger Than Life, produced by APM Music, and was part of the old Final Cut Pro.

[@teeislam]

Thanks for your feedback! Would you be aware whether this is the same case with the welding face shield as well?

[@NielsProvos]

In my experience, yes.

[@drkstorm2014]

i have a very good question. back then did they use molds to form the swords using liquid metal

[@nqkoisii]

Very interesting video.You did fantastic work!Thank you a lot!

[@fightswordradio3735]

The music at the beginning is really pretty. What is it?

[@NielsProvos]

The tag weld only needs to hold for the first forge welding part - so for these billets, it really was not a problem.

[@jakebaumfalk3965]

This is where science meets art. The beauty of blades cannot be quantified, nor calculated. There is no "Sverd formula". The blade's worth is almost exclusively determined by the smith's skill.

[@CinimodNorton]

good work for someone who doesn't want to place the time into making an authentic blade. I know for fact they didn't have mig welders and band saws (we'll leave out the powerhammer) back in the time they made sword like this.

[@Dredjir]

AH! Veldig fin video og hilsener fra Norge!

[@Ramy_Ramz]

Imagine forging it by hand. It is amazing how did they do it thousands of years ago.

[@RustyDockLight]

+CoolAs Japanese swordsmiths still do all of it manually. I believe there is a video about it on youtube somewhere. It's fascinating to watch the awe-inspiring amount of patience and discipline it takes to do that.

[@DeathsHood]

+RustyDockLight It's hard to imagine a discipline like blade-smithing being carried through the centuries intact, but I've got to hand it to Japanese smiths: They were *very* careful not to lose that part of their heritage. Much of what we have regarding various European smithing techniques are reconstructed.

[@eisaatana96]

+RustyDockLight "Japanese swordsmiths" do not, and never have used pattern forging in sword production. Don't know where you got that from. All sword production throughout history took a very large amount of time and skill. Stop thinking that "Japanese swordsmiths" are the best there have ever been, because they aren't. They just used different techniques.

[@RustyDockLight]

Jake Kennedy Nobody said anything about "pattern forging", I certainly didn't. If you were talking about my comment on hammering, I don't see why you have a problem. I also never said Japanese swordsmiths "are the best there have ever been". You seem to have a lot of pent up rage at other people, please stop projecting it onto me and putting words in my mouth.

[@eisaatana96]

RustyDockLight "Nobody said anything about pattern forging"? The whole video is about pattern forging. Therefore it should be obvious to anyone with a properly working brain that CoolAs' comment is talking specifically about pattern forging and how amazing it is that people were doing it a thousand years ago, without the use of modern power tools. Making your comment about "Japanese swordsmiths" completely irrelevant. And I'm not sure how you reached a conclusion about my attitude towards other people from one single comment. I had that tone with your comment because, to be honest, I thought it was a bit stupid and irrelevant.

[@DotterSvea]

How did vikings do this? what tools had they to shape and assemble a sword?

[@KaiDerksen]

are you using a gas forge? and also i was just wondering, how hot the max temperature of you forge is?

[@ruubz001]

i never get why you tap the anvil every now and then , is that to clear the debris from your hammer or something ?

[@stuckurface]

I flipped my headphones around half way through the video :D

[@JohanvanZanten]

absolutely brilliant! What kind of mask/ dust prevention are you wearing? Good luck, kind regards from Holland!

[@GregtheGreat191]

Hello, I have watched your video and find it very impressive as an aspiring smith myself the forge i have can barely keep a railroad spike orange to white coloring for 45 seconds. How hot does your forge get ?

[@bigjoejoe18]

i would pay 3k for that lovely piece of craftsmanship. PS the music sounds like a high school teen movie

[@MattsMotorz]

Awesome video! However the music is too loud compared to your voice.

[@JustineM2021]

when you are making the billet, do you put flux between the layers or just around the outside.

[@KrikitKaos]

When rough shaping the blade tip, why do you cut the notch and then hammer/weld the split pieces together, instead of simply cutting the correct shape?

[@NathanNostaw]

Thanks fro such a great informative video. I also enjoyed your background music track. Cheers.