Thread: Banded Slate Whetstones - Viking Stones

Originally Posted by Anthony1954

A little known fact is that when they retired from pillaging and conquering they used the horns off their helmets to make scales for their straight razors!

Lmao

[emoji23]

What's so special about what sharpening stones Vikings used? And, don't forget that they preferred axes from swords. The only reliable swords of their age, there, were the real Ulfberht, and they were very few and extremely expensive. As for the axes, they don't need a finishing grade stone, not even a "bevel setter" in razor language. The coarsest, fastest stone around would be the best choice. And, sandstone is an abundant geologic formation.
Today, a stone that's not homogenous, or has inclusions, is far from suitable for sharpening. But in the ages before SiC and AlOx were readily available and extremely cheap, anything that could remove steel fast, would be an excellent sharpening stone for coarse work.

What's so special about what sharpening stones Vikings used? And, don't forget that they preferred axes from swords. The only reliable swords of their age, there, were the real Ulfberht, and they were very few and extremely expensive.
So I am guessing that you deduced 'extremely expensive' based on the very limited number of real Ulfberht found. But really I want to thank you for introducing this word, ULFBERHT for a Viking sword....of which the history is a fascinating mystery....really worth more time than I can cheat my work out of right now...........

Originally Posted by WW243

What's so special about what sharpening stones Vikings used? And, don't forget that they preferred axes from swords. The only reliable swords of their age, there, were the real Ulfberht, and they were very few and extremely expensive.
So I am guessing that you deduced 'extremely expensive' based on the very limited number of real Ulfberht found. But really I want to thank you for introducing this word, ULFBERHT for a Viking sword....of which the history is a fascinating mystery....really worth more time than I can cheat my work out of right now...........

There was a video on youtube, "secrets of the Viking sword", you can check it out, it's very interesting. From the steel used for making them, it's quite possible that is was obtained from the East, through the Volga trade route. And, imported steel from this far, I'm pretty sure it was expensive.
Something else I read recently, and think that might be interesting for anyone who's fascinated in ancient swords,
Razor Edged 2: Steel hardness, structures and sharpness | Tameshigiri.ca and
Razor Edged 3: Comparing metallurgy of special medieval swords | Tameshigiri.ca
I'm mainly focusing in the blade testing graphs.
For anyone who doesn't have the time to read, to summarize, aside from the Japanese swords, any old long blade, has such a bad tempering, I'd imagine their performance was similar to a Wrought iron blade. And, the carbon content was far from homogenous in all examples.

Anyone else have a picture in their head of a Viking holding a massive war axe sharpening it up with a teenie tiny match box sized hone...........something seems a bit off

Hi, here comes the Viking :-)

I live I Denmark, very close to one of the biggest museums on the Viking period. It's called Mosgaard Museum.

When I visited last year, I found a large collection of Viking hones. They where quarried in Norway an put on a Viking ship, that sailed to Denmark. The ship sunk, in Danish waters and was later escavated in modern time.

The hones where grey quartz stones, roughly cut to about 8" x 3". My estimate on grit is about 800.

I've never seen such exotic hones, as on the website, anywhere in any Viking museum I've been to. And believe me, I have seen a few.

I'm not saying that such hones never existed, but there aren't any Historical finds to support it.

So the big question. Did the Vikings shave at all?

The answer must be yes. At least some did. Archaeological findings leaves hints of razor-like blades. Not always made of iron, sometimes they used bronze.

It is a mystery what hones they used.

The guess of many Viking experts is that they mostly used the stones that where locally available to them. In Denmark we have some natural fine sandstones, and there is evidence that they where widely used, for general honing of swords and the like.

Slate-Stone can be found in North Jylland, and on the the Klinten in Sjaelland.

These stones are brittle and holds particles of larger elements, that can ruin a blade. There are Slate-Stones that can be used as hones. The grit is about 2-3k max. But they will do the job.

None of these hones have the magical colours seen on the website. They are plain dark grey and black. The Viking hones from Norway was light grey, with clear sparks from the quartz.

When I come to Mosgaard next time, I'll post some pictures. Perhaps I can even borrow one of the hones and make a honing test. I have e few connections :-)

I'll keep you posted.

Last info on the Viking hones, is that they where put on the boat as ballast. In that way they could sell everything as cargo. On the way home, they used ordinary stones as ballast. Great sailors those Vikings.