Swords were important weapons throughout the Viking World, weapons of higher status and importance than common axes and spears. They were also necessarily items of higher craftsmanship, as, unlike their counterparts, they did not have a sturdy wooden shaft to rely upon. Not only did the sword, like other weapons, have to have a strong and durable cutting edge, but the metal itself had to withstand the entirety of the stress that came with repeated use. This blade, surviving in the collection of the National Museum of Denmark, dates from the 8th century and was found in Bildsø, but the circumstances of the finding are unclear.¹ However, it does serve as a great example of pattern-welding, a blacksmithing technique used in northern Europe during the period to produce high-quality swords from inferior materials.

As it was difficult during the Viking Age to obtain iron of consistent carbon content and quality, and consistency is required for a good sword, a pattern-welding strategy was used, where the material for the sword was created by forging together many individual strips of metal. The resulting alloy could standardize the quality of the metal, and also combine several desirable types of iron into a single weapon.²

The chevron pattern in the center of the weapon is characteristic of the pattern-welded technique. The different appearance of the edges here indicate that pattern-welding was not used for the edges of the blade, making the sword a composite of two different techniques. The pattern-welded center would have been softer and more shock-resistant, while the cutting edges would have been harder, more brittle, and potentially sharper.³

Pattern-welding was effectively a mark of quality swordsmithing in the Viking Age, indicating a weapon of higher cost and quality. Eventually, as iron refining techniques improved, the work-intensive process of pattern-welding became less important, and the technique fell out of favor after the 9th century. But a good sword was a good sword, and no doubt aging pattern-welded blades continued to be used throughout northern Europe throughout the rest of the Viking Age.

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