God thirty years ago PBS would have paid for show like this. You would have come on right after This old house. Great job! I have seen how to shows on TV with lower production standards. Thank you for for your time.
well that would have been woodcarving with rick booth or boots or something like that, and the new yankee workshop with norm abrams, before though would have been the woodrights shop around here anyway.
I smiled when you mentioned the bronze objects in need of repair and speculated that, to the original smith, they weren't in for repair but rather raw materials. If you're right (and I think you are), there's a sense of kinship across the years: smiths are smiths and scavenging bits and bobs of metal to re-use is the same. We are them and they are us.
Thank you for this video. I've had interest in the Mastermyr find for a long time. We've been vacationing and traveling (NOT to Norway) and I look forward to getting back into the shop and perhaps trying these. Even though as you say we may not know for sure how these artifacts were produced and used, this "experimental archeology" approach may teach us a lot. Of course my first reaction years ago to flipping through the Mastermyr book was just astonishment as to how familiar all the tools looked. It does give me a sense of connecting across a millenium when I try to re-create something from this book. Thanks again!
Wow 4140 really doesn't want to move! Maybe that's what the steel I used for my recent tomahawk is then. Watching this gave me flashbacks to me pounding that axe and it refusing to move much.
I saw that video but don't remember what you used for the tomahawk, old leaf spring? Here in the old world we use different classifications, but you could very well have a very close equivalent of 4140.
This is why you conscript friends. Most asian smiths used to train shop boys by pretending there's some deep mysticism to working iron, they'd spend years making them just rake the coals (pretending it was teaching them something), or hammering with sledges (the earliest power hammer for shop use, cheap child labour). A couple of mates with some hammers heavier than you'd care to weild while you hold and guide their blows can make fast work of any job. ;)
Thank you for your time and hard work to bring us great video and hard work it was. Drawing out by hand wow that's awesome. God bless have a great day John .📖⛪
I've a time machine my grandfather built in my basement. I'm not sure if it works because every time we tried it the power in our whole village went down, so I'm waiting for an electrical upgrade to test it again ; ) you are happily invited to use it for some blacksmith history research. Thanks for all your great videos, they really motivated me to get into blacksmithing again. All the best from Germany, Maximilian.
That mini anvil looks like a centerpoint🤔 I’ve seen some smiths make em that way, the flat side is the striking end and the pointy end is well the pointy end, the other end is used for scratching the metal on the designs that I came across. Great video!
Damn.. I have always been interested in archeology even been on a few digs.. But I never knew that I could find a place like this.. to see archaic pieces made in the same style close to the same way.. It fires ones imagination (pardon the pun).. at 67 I didn't think that there were any more things that could inspire me.. live and learn has always been my goal.. Fantastic site.. I think I have the Mastermyr find in the library I am going to go and search it out now.. If not I will certainly buy a copy for the library.. Thanks my friend this is fantastic.. I am off to watch more of your videos.
Hi John, love this "Let´s do old tools" series you´re doing atm. About those small anvils you worked on in this vid, I think they might have been used for refining chain mail links after they got cut off of the spiral. The sizes fit the task I´d guess. If your time allows for it and you are as curious about the idea as I am, would you please check the theory and fab a few links. I´d love to know if it works. Have a good one, Smarty
@@BlackBearForge I was in a rush earlier on, sorry for that John, so here the long answer . Yes, they made their own chain mail (rather at the later times then in the beginnings) and also obtained it via merchants and by looting and plundering. All this aside , even in those times without viking chain mail production - there would have been the need to repair battle damaged chain mail no matter where it came from. Don´t you agree? Just like nowadays repair shops, they most often can´t build the whole product themselves just do repairs andthat´s why one finds those tools at the benches. Viking smiths have been very knowlegeble about how to forge weapons out of steel (very similar processes as in doing tamahagane plus the addition of some (lots of) animal skins, bones and furr for the gods to the kiln. There is discussion about wether this is some kind of carbon adding technique vikings used (but didn´t grasp the why or how just theat it works). Well, that´s it in a nutshell, to the best of my knowlege.
Since your last anvil video, I bought a copy of that book on Amazon, but now it is published by "Skipjack Press, in cooperation with Larson Publishing Company". Of what I have seen of your copy, it otherwise appears to be identical. Quite interesting, and as pointed out in the hook, tools did not change much in 1,000 years until "the machine age".
I voiced this theory before(and it is just that, a theory, and like you say, without a time machine we'll never know for sure), but that teeny-tiny double bick makes me lean even more strongly towards a jewelers tools rather than a blacksmith(or maybe just someone who did a bit of everything?). That thing is tiny, and particularly if it was made out of wrought iron I don't really see that you could do much ironwork on it without breaking it pretty quickly.
Great series John, i love getting back to basics, i was planning to do a simple anvil like the first one in this video but i like how you did that second anvil from flat bar, so i think im going to do a larger version of that, the mild steel anvil I've been using in some of my videos has held up surprisingly well the mild steel hammer that ive been using has got the job done but is getting trashed fairly quickly, look forward to see how you put some of these tools to work
I wonder if these were something like a "field anvil" - or their version of a DYI anvil for end users of tools, and weapons. Doink your seax up a bit? Hammer that into a stump, and cold/campfire heat hammer the edge back into place. The little one? Probably for small edges, and arrow heads. For the Archer, a good piece of kit to have! Especially with the soft metals in use then - a campfire would have done well enough to to re-shape a bent tip. That is partly how *I* would use them anyway...
He was a tradesman. When was the last time you saw a tradesman also repair someone's AR-15? Nails, tacks, staples, there's a lot of small wire things that would need what we'd deem a jewelers anvil today.
You know watching these and videos and looking at what's in the mastermyr find, I kinda wonder if it was like a traveling "repairsmith" if there was such a thing. Someone who just couldn't afford something new but also couldn't do it themselves and maybe it's a local smith or a few people that worked together going around repairing things at a small price or trade..
In my opinion about the anvil you are working on I believe to be the scabor copper fitting and copper pommel parts for alot of the sord smithing and armor embellishing works some of the finer working in the day
Good Afternoon , John This was such a Unique Build ! I have really enjoyed this Series of Reproducing the Viking Anvils ! I am trying to find the Book you are using for Reference ! Thank You so much for Sharing ! Take Care and Be Safe ! Keep Hammering !
Larry King www.amazon.com/M%C3%A4stermyr-Find-Viking-Chest-Gotland/dp/0965075516/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=CjwKCAjw36DpBRAYEiwAmVVDMDtedf-zanb2zOaxJ3EBRjn2YeSr3lLtCl-Z3XF6luxdt4VXJxSfThoCTrQQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241602875250&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1022603&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=557908117480239675&hvtargid=aud-676677759484%3Akwd-353943485007&hydadcr=22533_10353822&keywords=mastermyr+find&qid=1562975801&s=gateway&sr=8-1 The book is on amazon
I can easily see it being a transportable anvil you could carry in your backpack to be used when you need to do a little anvil work to repair something, re-weld a point, reshape a button, re-fuse a broken sword/knife blade, etc.
You can find the book on Amazon for less then 20 USD's. Unfortunately they don't ship to Germany so I will have to continue looking for it. Also on the small "T" anvil, why not hot cut it down the middle and T it out from there? Or is it just because of the thickness of the material you are using? What about using the small one to make chain links? There's a picture in the book with "pinched" chains for what looks like a hanging bbq rack and that anvil looks like it would help in making those chains? Just a thought.
I'm sure someone has told you already, but in case they didn't. Viking was an occupation, gently of the Norse people's. Viking is also an age, denoting when that occupation was popular. The reason they were so we'll known it's they had steel long before many cultures. Particularly crucible steel, not blooms. The iron ore was put into a crucible with a carbon source, many times bones and fur believing it was magic not knowing the science. Regular charcoal will work fine but any organic matter will convert to carbon in the iron making steel. I think this info could make a very interesting and educational video. Thanks for all you do for the blacksmithing community John.
While this is true, people in other countries used the word Viking to describe the people engaged in the activity. On our recent trip to Norway I found that the term is now used in the area to refer to the people as well. As for crucible steel, I think there is evidence to suggest they were trading for it as opposed to being made by Norse smiths.
@@BlackBearForge yes I recall evidence of the Vikings trading for crucible steel, I forget if it was Asia or middle East. But I believe there was also evidence of a few skalds and thanes having the secret.
couple of things. I just ordered this Viking book, to TY for bringing to our attention. And second, I find your tools interesting. would you consider going over your Tongs? Showing and explaining them?
Thank you so much for this great information. I am a chemist but I would love to learn some metal smithing. I was thinking that the Viking Anvils would be great for my first set of Anvils. I would love to make a larger one. Where are you located? I am in Pennsylvania....
I just read about early planing stops - as far back as Roman times. The wee ‘anvil’ looks a lot like one of the examples that are being fitted to Chris Schwarz’ Roman bench. The blog for lost art press has some articles and links with pics and research. Maybe some of the tools in the mastermyr find are for woodworking?
There is a certain similarity and I hadn't thought about it as a wood working tool. There are other wood working tools in the chest, although no planes, so it may have been used as a stop.
Hahaha! I beat on my first chunk of 4140 a couple months back (1" round stock, eventually it will be a wee hammer for texturing leaves and such). I was shocked how difficult it was to move compared to the mild and the little bit of 1080 I'd played with. Put it down to having less muscle mass (I'm tall-ish for a woman, but pretty lanky), but now I see that it doesn't like to move for ANYBODY and I was doing just fine. Reassuring haha.
Seems a fair amount of copies of By Greta Arwidsson, Gosta Berg The Mastermyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland are from 1999 by Astragal Press. They offered affordable books on antique tools and antique tool collecting, early trades such as blacksmithing and carriage building, and early sciences and technology including rail technology and slide rule. They seem to be acquired by Rowman & Littlefield and at least the website appears they'll still be printing hopefully.
I am actually hoping to make some of the axes and adzes using, as much as possible, the tools from the find. Although I think it will require a larger anvil than any of these
Do you have any plans to continue your project on making the Mastermyr tool chest now that you have the tools and hinges finished? I thought it was a really cool idea. And I agree that that was probably a drift and not an anvil. I think it would be very interesting to see the finished reproduction chest.
Great video again John. I really do wonder what that tiny little tool (anvil) was used for. This is part of the attraction to this series of videos, Great work Thank You 👍
That corner looks like they chisel cut the bar in half during forming. Probably in a rush to get it done because he had jobs waiting. Also remember a lot of their materials were case hardened if they didn't have high quality steel available to turn the outer layer into martensite.
which viking forged the first hammer to then forge the first anvil ??? LOL ps : unless the hot metal was poured into a mold like they do it for bells I really doubt they forged the anvil with a stone hammer superhard stone perhaps thanks 4 sharing : )
I wonder if the tiny anvil was made less for purpose and more to teach beginner smiths control? It seems like it'd be easy to snap - and likely a good lesson for an apprentice who's all muscle and no brain. Give the kid something small and delicate, make him see you need to be careful and smart as well as strong, ya know?
Or maybe people didn't specialise as narrowly as they do today. The population density was much lower, so it didn't support a bunch of metalworkers who stuck only to one type of metalworking. A smart smith learned as much and as widely as he could so that he could barter or trade as widely as possible.
I wonder if some of the bases of the anvils could have been used as drifts for hammer or axe eyes? Some of them have a good shape and size for the job! and as far as I know there are no actual drifts in the chest, yet many hammers and axes that have eyes! I also think the tapered shapes of 104-105 suggests they were drifts too, though the book just calls them iron tools
Two of the items identified as anvils are almost exactly the same size and shape of some of the axe and adze eyes. So I think it is likely the were drifts.
@@BlackBearForge Yeah, that's what made me think of the anvil being used as a drift in the first place. Especially the shape of the eye in hammer 69 and the shape of anvil 73!
I enjoy this series you're making. Where is your shop located? And could you make me an axe eye drift? I dont have access to a wide variety of materials here in northeast Alabama.
I could certainly make an axe eye drift. But if its just the lack of materials, you can order online just like I do. In fact my suppliers are probably closer to you than they are to me. I frequently buy tool steels from McMaster Carr.
@@BlackBearForge Thanks for the site, but I dont have the time to make one right this moment and would rather order one from someone who knows what they are doing. I will see about putting an order through your site.
That was my first thought as well. But yes, Vikings had chainmail. They would certainly had to have made at least some of it considering it would need constant repair, even if they traded for some of it.
Hey John. What an intriguing project you have going on. You asked about if this is the book re-printed/finding anywhere I think www.artisanideas.com has it available. Greeting from Finland.
That little one kinda looks like a turn key for a clock or music box. The bigger one could be an anvil or maybe a gate hinge? It's fun to speculate. Thanks for sharing them with us John.
Looking at the tools he's made ,the small" anvils"are dollies like a modern auto body man would use. If I was to guess the original tools were used by an armor maker,to make and repair helmets and breast plates
There is no evidence to suggest this smith was working on armor. There is evidence that suggests he was working on locks as well as cooking pots. But it is always a possibility
Vikings were also jewelry makers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths. They would have needed smaller tools like this to produce those wares. Not everything requires large anvils and hammers.
Item #76 (the so-called tiny "anvil") may have been the tool (much like a modern hardy tool) used when forging the traditional viking "auger", ref. ua-cam.com/video/q8yu9PiC1nc/v-deo.html The tiny anvil knocked into an oak stump.
Sir I suggest that your anvil is not serving you properly. Energy output seems disproportionate to results. Possibly energy being absorbed by anvil or anvil base or both?
I would suggest that you are jumping to conclusions due to making poor assumptions based on incomplete information. This project is forged from 4140 which is extremely difficult to forge by hand. The same forging in mild steel would be vastly easier to forge.
That littlest anvil might have been used to make chain mail, only thing I can think of that woulod need that small of an anvil and be worth making the anvil just for it.
first comment, heh some of those look neat from just the picture, but I saw by the time I clicked on this it was 6 minutes ago launched so wanted that first comment, strike while iron is hot right heh >^o^< so will watch video though and might edit in a little later
man, i love your work, but only dressmakers talk in centimetres - artisans invariably use millimetres, so that 3.4 cm becomes 34mm - much more accurate and avoids the occasional oops when a client wanted something made and what you gave them only fits in a doll's house instead. true story.
Since the original text I am working out of is in centimeters, that is how I am giving the dimensions. So far as I know both of the authors are archeologists, not dress makers
@@BlackBearForge it's something my dad always used to say, he was a knitting machine mechanic and would always tease the tailors and dressmakers in the factory by saying that if he built knitting machines in centimetres they would look more like soft toys than machines. he had a very English sense of humour.
God thirty years ago PBS would have paid for show like this. You would have come on right after This old house. Great job! I have seen how to shows on TV with lower production standards. Thank you for for your time.
well that would have been woodcarving with rick booth or boots or something like that, and the new yankee workshop with norm abrams, before though would have been the woodrights shop around here anyway.
We are truly blessed this is free.
Man I miss This Old House. Been a long time sense I've seen an episode. Used to watch is as a kid all the time.
Or The Woodwrights' shop with Roy Underhill
@@JohnnyUrbanWoodsmenI always enjoyed Roy’s work.
I smiled when you mentioned the bronze objects in need of repair and speculated that, to the original smith, they weren't in for repair but rather raw materials. If you're right (and I think you are), there's a sense of kinship across the years: smiths are smiths and scavenging bits and bobs of metal to re-use is the same. We are them and they are us.
Thanks again that was awesome to see keep up the good work and we love you
Ive been fascinated by Viking history and smithing for years. Id love to make a Viking smithing hammer for my first hammer.
Thank you very much for sharing all this with us. Makes me really happy :)
Thanks for your time to explore this, fun for sure
Very cool reproductions of those old tools - Well done !
Thank you for this video. I've had interest in the Mastermyr find for a long time. We've been vacationing and traveling (NOT to Norway) and I look forward to getting back into the shop and perhaps trying these. Even though as you say we may not know for sure how these artifacts were produced and used, this "experimental archeology" approach may teach us a lot. Of course my first reaction years ago to flipping through the Mastermyr book was just astonishment as to how familiar all the tools looked. It does give me a sense of connecting across a millenium when I try to re-create something from this book. Thanks again!
Ratcheting tongs are what come to mind as I watch you work.
This could be the reason that we are having a resent influx of unusual small earthquakes in my area? That’s some hard steel!
😂😜
Wow 4140 really doesn't want to move! Maybe that's what the steel I used for my recent tomahawk is then. Watching this gave me flashbacks to me pounding that axe and it refusing to move much.
Its tough stuff. Using wrought iron would be easier to forge.
I saw that video but don't remember what you used for the tomahawk, old leaf spring? Here in the old world we use different classifications, but you could very well have a very close equivalent of 4140.
I'm actually referring to a video that comes out tomorrow :) The finished axe is on my Instragram already though
I'm confusing it with another video then.
This is why you conscript friends. Most asian smiths used to train shop boys by pretending there's some deep mysticism to working iron, they'd spend years making them just rake the coals (pretending it was teaching them something), or hammering with sledges (the earliest power hammer for shop use, cheap child labour). A couple of mates with some hammers heavier than you'd care to weild while you hold and guide their blows can make fast work of any job. ;)
Thanks for getting into these, love seeing a slice of history re-created.
I knew myr was good, had no idea he was a master! 🐾🔥⚒
😂😂😜
I'm lovin' this series of videos. I find my mind wandering off imagining different configurations to try for mobile demonstrations.
I will be assisting on a couple of trees being cut down. Bonus a couple of stumps for these anvils!
Cheers!
Thank you for your time and hard work to bring us great video and hard work it was. Drawing out by hand wow that's awesome. God bless have a great day John .📖⛪
Fascinating little thing, the other one could be used for many things. Thanks John.
I've a time machine my grandfather built in my basement. I'm not sure if it works because every time we tried it the power in our whole village went down, so I'm waiting for an electrical upgrade to test it again ; ) you are happily invited to use it for some blacksmith history research. Thanks for all your great videos, they really motivated me to get into blacksmithing again. All the best from Germany, Maximilian.
Sounds like a great thing to have on hand. Let me know if you discover anything useful 😜
Super cool! Congrats from CHILE 🇨🇱
Thank you for doing this
Wow, John! That little one is intricate! Great video!
Fascinating.
The Vikings loved their silver jewellery, perhaps for that.
It was a tradesmans tool chest. They were most probably for hammering out what tradesmen need a lot of. Nails, tacks, hinges, small fittings.
that's the first thing that came to mind for me as well. It's about the same size as my little jeweler's anvil
That mini anvil looks like a centerpoint🤔 I’ve seen some smiths make em that way, the flat side is the striking end and the pointy end is well the pointy end, the other end is used for scratching the metal on the designs that I came across. Great video!
Love
Props to that political compass score! Mine is (-9,-9)!
@@Andrew-kw9sq Well thats a nice one :D
I am exited for this series of videos!
This is just great. Thanks for your channel.
Glad you're enjoying it
those 2 u made almost put me in mind of a tool that was used to make the eye for an axe or hammer
Damn.. I have always been interested in archeology even been on a few digs.. But I never knew that I could find a place like this.. to see archaic pieces made in the same style close to the same way.. It fires ones imagination (pardon the pun).. at 67 I didn't think that there were any more things that could inspire me.. live and learn has always been my goal.. Fantastic site.. I think I have the Mastermyr find in the library I am going to go and search it out now.. If not I will certainly buy a copy for the library.. Thanks my friend this is fantastic.. I am off to watch more of your videos.
I am glad to hear you enjoyed the videos.
I can't wait to see you make a lock with that stuff
My lock making experience is extremely limited. I need to find someone teaching a class.
Hi John, love this "Let´s do old tools" series you´re doing atm. About those small anvils you worked on in this vid, I think they might have been used for refining chain mail links after they got cut off of the spiral. The sizes fit the task I´d guess. If your time allows for it and you are as curious about the idea as I am, would you please check the theory and fab a few links. I´d love to know if it works. Have a good one, Smarty
Did the Vikings make chain mail? Or did they trade for it?
@@BlackBearForge I was in a rush earlier on, sorry for that John, so here the long answer .
Yes, they made their own chain mail (rather at the later times then in the beginnings) and also obtained it via merchants and by looting and plundering. All this aside , even in those times without viking chain mail production - there would have been the need to repair battle damaged chain mail no matter where it came from. Don´t you agree? Just like nowadays repair shops, they most often can´t build the whole product themselves just do repairs andthat´s why one finds those tools at the benches. Viking smiths have been very knowlegeble about how to forge weapons out of steel (very similar processes as in doing tamahagane plus the addition of some (lots of) animal skins, bones and furr for the gods to the kiln. There is discussion about wether this is some kind of carbon adding technique vikings used (but didn´t grasp the why or how just theat it works). Well, that´s it in a nutshell, to the best of my knowlege.
Very cool John thanks for making and sheering this searies love the locksmiths anvil ,,, if that's what it was :-)
Since your last anvil video, I bought a copy of that book on Amazon, but now it is published by "Skipjack Press, in cooperation with Larson Publishing Company". Of what I have seen of your copy, it otherwise appears to be identical. Quite interesting, and as pointed out in the hook, tools did not change much in 1,000 years until "the machine age".
I voiced this theory before(and it is just that, a theory, and like you say, without a time machine we'll never know for sure), but that teeny-tiny double bick makes me lean even more strongly towards a jewelers tools rather than a blacksmith(or maybe just someone who did a bit of everything?). That thing is tiny, and particularly if it was made out of wrought iron I don't really see that you could do much ironwork on it without breaking it pretty quickly.
Would have possibly been useful for chainmail.
Mail making, I didn't actually think about that. That sounds like a very plausible use.
I actually think its a treadle lathe center. Like you say, its to small to really smith on.
What a great series John! That didn;t look easy to forge being a hard steel and so small. Keep up the great work.
The 4140 is tough stuff.
I like the small cute one!
Great series John, i love getting back to basics, i was planning to do a simple anvil like the first one in this video but i like how you did that second anvil from flat bar, so i think im going to do a larger version of that, the mild steel anvil I've been using in some of my videos has held up surprisingly well the mild steel hammer that ive been using has got the job done but is getting trashed fairly quickly, look forward to see how you put some of these tools to work
I wonder if these were something like a "field anvil" - or their version of a DYI anvil for end users of tools, and weapons.
Doink your seax up a bit? Hammer that into a stump, and cold/campfire heat hammer the edge back into place.
The little one? Probably for small edges, and arrow heads. For the Archer, a good piece of kit to have! Especially with the soft metals in use then - a campfire would have done well enough to to re-shape a bent tip.
That is partly how *I* would use them anyway...
He was a tradesman. When was the last time you saw a tradesman also repair someone's AR-15? Nails, tacks, staples, there's a lot of small wire things that would need what we'd deem a jewelers anvil today.
hi very nice work.
You know watching these and videos and looking at what's in the mastermyr find, I kinda wonder if it was like a traveling "repairsmith" if there was such a thing. Someone who just couldn't afford something new but also couldn't do it themselves and maybe it's a local smith or a few people that worked together going around repairing things at a small price or trade..
Seems like a reasonable possibility
In my opinion about the anvil you are working on I believe to be the scabor copper fitting and copper pommel parts for alot of the sord smithing and armor embellishing works some of the finer working in the day
Good Afternoon , John
This was such a Unique Build !
I have really enjoyed this Series of
Reproducing the Viking Anvils !
I am trying to find the Book you are using for Reference !
Thank You so much for Sharing !
Take Care and Be Safe ! Keep Hammering !
Larry King www.amazon.com/M%C3%A4stermyr-Find-Viking-Chest-Gotland/dp/0965075516/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=CjwKCAjw36DpBRAYEiwAmVVDMDtedf-zanb2zOaxJ3EBRjn2YeSr3lLtCl-Z3XF6luxdt4VXJxSfThoCTrQQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241602875250&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1022603&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=557908117480239675&hvtargid=aud-676677759484%3Akwd-353943485007&hydadcr=22533_10353822&keywords=mastermyr+find&qid=1562975801&s=gateway&sr=8-1
The book is on amazon
I can easily see it being a transportable anvil you could carry in your backpack to be used when you need to do a little anvil work to repair something, re-weld a point, reshape a button, re-fuse a broken sword/knife blade, etc.
You can find the book on Amazon for less then 20 USD's. Unfortunately they don't ship to Germany so I will have to continue looking for it.
Also on the small "T" anvil, why not hot cut it down the middle and T it out from there? Or is it just because of the thickness of the material you are using?
What about using the small one to make chain links? There's a picture in the book with "pinched" chains for what looks like a hanging bbq rack and that anvil looks like it would help in making those chains? Just a thought.
I'm sure someone has told you already, but in case they didn't. Viking was an occupation, gently of the Norse people's. Viking is also an age, denoting when that occupation was popular. The reason they were so we'll known it's they had steel long before many cultures. Particularly crucible steel, not blooms. The iron ore was put into a crucible with a carbon source, many times bones and fur believing it was magic not knowing the science. Regular charcoal will work fine but any organic matter will convert to carbon in the iron making steel. I think this info could make a very interesting and educational video. Thanks for all you do for the blacksmithing community John.
While this is true, people in other countries used the word Viking to describe the people engaged in the activity. On our recent trip to Norway I found that the term is now used in the area to refer to the people as well. As for crucible steel, I think there is evidence to suggest they were trading for it as opposed to being made by Norse smiths.
@@BlackBearForge yes I recall evidence of the Vikings trading for crucible steel, I forget if it was Asia or middle East. But I believe there was also evidence of a few skalds and thanes having the secret.
Thank you. This is a cool topic.
couple of things. I just ordered this Viking book, to TY for bringing to our attention. And second, I find your tools interesting. would you consider going over your Tongs? Showing and explaining them?
I have made quite a few videos on tong making. Search for “Black Bear Forge tongs” and you should get a number of options.
@@BlackBearForge Thank you for your reply. I will be sure to do so. I really like what you do. Very enjoyable content.
Thank you so much for this great information. I am a chemist but I would love to learn some metal smithing. I was thinking that the Viking Anvils would be great for my first set of Anvils. I would love to make a larger one. Where are you located? I am in Pennsylvania....
I just read about early planing stops - as far back as Roman times. The wee ‘anvil’ looks a lot like one of the examples that are being fitted to Chris Schwarz’ Roman bench. The blog for lost art press has some articles and links with pics and research. Maybe some of the tools in the mastermyr find are for woodworking?
There is a certain similarity and I hadn't thought about it as a wood working tool. There are other wood working tools in the chest, although no planes, so it may have been used as a stop.
Would not be surprised if these tools were (also) used for tinkering, as tinkers traveled while plying their trade.
As you implied, Uncle John.
Some smiths did tinkering. But I was also thinking these would be the right size for a jeweler's kit too.
The original report also references parts for padlocks so the Myr Smith was also literally a lock smith.
Possible use for chainmail, too.
Hahaha! I beat on my first chunk of 4140 a couple months back (1" round stock, eventually it will be a wee hammer for texturing leaves and such). I was shocked how difficult it was to move compared to the mild and the little bit of 1080 I'd played with. Put it down to having less muscle mass (I'm tall-ish for a woman, but pretty lanky), but now I see that it doesn't like to move for ANYBODY and I was doing just fine. Reassuring haha.
Some steel can really make your life harder
Seems a fair amount of copies of By Greta Arwidsson, Gosta Berg The Mastermyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland are from 1999 by Astragal Press. They offered affordable books on antique tools and antique tool collecting, early trades such as blacksmithing and carriage building, and early sciences and technology including rail technology and slide rule. They seem to be acquired by Rowman & Littlefield and at least the website appears they'll still be printing hopefully.
My guess is the anvil is a handle socket forming tool for spears, tools and small one for arrows.
Nice non-ringing anvil :) saw the video about that yesterday
You are amazing!
Are you gooing to do some "mastermyr tools only" type projects later? :) Thanks for your lovely channels and greetings from sweden.
I am actually hoping to make some of the axes and adzes using, as much as possible, the tools from the find. Although I think it will require a larger anvil than any of these
@@BlackBearForge I'm looking forward to that!
Do you have any plans to continue your project on making the Mastermyr tool chest now that you have the tools and hinges finished?
I thought it was a really cool idea. And I agree that that was probably a drift and not an anvil.
I think it would be very interesting to see the finished reproduction chest.
I certainly hope to get back to it. But I don't have specific plans on when
Great video again John. I really do wonder what that tiny little tool (anvil) was used for. This is part of the attraction to this series of videos, Great work Thank You 👍
Chainmail possibly.
@@barrysnell6775 Yes that is a possibility.
That corner looks like they chisel cut the bar in half during forming. Probably in a rush to get it done because he had jobs waiting. Also remember a lot of their materials were case hardened if they didn't have high quality steel available to turn the outer layer into martensite.
which viking forged the first hammer to then forge the first anvil ??? LOL
ps : unless the hot metal was poured into a mold like they do it for bells I really doubt they forged the anvil with a stone hammer superhard stone perhaps thanks 4 sharing : )
The viking age was more than 1,000 years into the iron age. So hammers and simple anvils were common.
You needed the bigger stake anvil to make the little one
I wouldn’t have thought about using a nail header
For mail, banding,arrow heads ect may have been travelling with military/mercenaries ?
Do you think the larger anvil could have been broken?
Say a wider flat face.
Possibly cracked off during use?
Thats what I thought based from his drawing.
I can’t wait to see you use the dinky one!
Sir, those are definitely anvils. I saw very similar gizmos in Africa that were used to make thin bladed small knives in the bush.
I wonder if the tiny anvil was made less for purpose and more to teach beginner smiths control? It seems like it'd be easy to snap - and likely a good lesson for an apprentice who's all muscle and no brain. Give the kid something small and delicate, make him see you need to be careful and smart as well as strong, ya know?
Or it could be used for small things like arrow heads and nails
think the tiny 1 is used for peaning blades like sythe ?
Some of these make me wonder if he was strictly a blacksmith. I get a feeling he did a bit of everything.
Or maybe people didn't specialise as narrowly as they do today. The population density was much lower, so it didn't support a bunch of metalworkers who stuck only to one type of metalworking. A smart smith learned as much and as widely as he could so that he could barter or trade as widely as possible.
@@GrainneDhu very true.
I wonder if some of the bases of the anvils could have been used as drifts for hammer or axe eyes? Some of them have a good shape and size for the job! and as far as I know there are no actual drifts in the chest, yet many hammers and axes that have eyes! I also think the tapered shapes of 104-105 suggests they were drifts too, though the book just calls them iron tools
Two of the items identified as anvils are almost exactly the same size and shape of some of the axe and adze eyes. So I think it is likely the were drifts.
@@BlackBearForge Yeah, that's what made me think of the anvil being used as a drift in the first place. Especially the shape of the eye in hammer 69 and the shape of anvil 73!
Nail clinchers , dolly, various tapping..
Maybe someone has said it, artisan ideas sells the book as well as lots of other great stuff
I do have a time machine, only issue is the thermalthrockle is broken and the only place to find them is at Area 51. Wish me luck on the raid.
Good luck.
can I assume that the size of those anvils were used for things such as rings, bracelets and chainmail ?
We can make lots of assumptions, but will never know with absolute certainty
Forging is the art of treating something you can not touch
I enjoy this series you're making. Where is your shop located? And could you make me an axe eye drift? I dont have access to a wide variety of materials here in northeast Alabama.
He's in Colorado, and he has a video on making an axe eye drift ua-cam.com/video/ADOmXX9WeaU/v-deo.html
I could certainly make an axe eye drift. But if its just the lack of materials, you can order online just like I do. In fact my suppliers are probably closer to you than they are to me. I frequently buy tool steels from McMaster Carr.
@@BlackBearForge Thanks for the site, but I dont have the time to make one right this moment and would rather order one from someone who knows what they are doing. I will see about putting an order through your site.
I wonder if the small Anvil was for working gold and silver
Do you think the tiny anvil could be used for chain-mail under armor?
Did the Vikings make chain mail? Or did they trade for it?
That was my first thought as well. But yes, Vikings had chainmail. They would certainly had to have made at least some of it considering it would need constant repair, even if they traded for some of it.
John would be a very tidy viking
Amazon has "the mastermyr find" for $16USD
Google image search has it for $0.
Hey John. What an intriguing project you have going on. You asked about if this is the book re-printed/finding anywhere I think www.artisanideas.com has it available. Greeting from Finland.
That little one kinda looks like a turn key for a clock or music box. The bigger one could be an anvil or maybe a gate hinge? It's fun to speculate.
Thanks for sharing them with us John.
Id like to see these used
Some will certainly be used for future projects. But I have to figure out how to mount the little one so it is supported well enough to use.
Could I make this from a large ish coil spring?
Sure
Looking at the tools he's made ,the small" anvils"are dollies like a modern auto body man would use. If I was to guess the original tools were used by an armor maker,to make and repair helmets and breast plates
There is no evidence to suggest this smith was working on armor. There is evidence that suggests he was working on locks as well as cooking pots. But it is always a possibility
Vikings were also jewelry makers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths. They would have needed smaller tools like this to produce those wares. Not everything requires large anvils and hammers.
Looks kinda like a small pin, maybe it was gift or something, although more likely would be a locksmiths tool
Man use the power hamer
If I wewn't making a video I would have. But people do like to see that things can be made without needing a power hammer.
This guy reminds me of the King from Disenchanted. Anybody see it?
Item #76 (the so-called tiny "anvil") may have been the tool (much like a modern hardy tool) used when forging the traditional viking "auger", ref. ua-cam.com/video/q8yu9PiC1nc/v-deo.html The tiny anvil knocked into an oak stump.
Sir I suggest that your anvil is not serving you properly. Energy output seems disproportionate to results. Possibly energy being absorbed by anvil or anvil base or both?
I would suggest that you are jumping to conclusions due to making poor assumptions based on incomplete information. This project is forged from 4140 which is extremely difficult to forge by hand. The same forging in mild steel would be vastly easier to forge.
I was indeed jumping to conclusions, and I apologize.
The small anvil looks more like a salesman sample or a child's toy. Maybe something he made for his son? As you say, we will never know.
they look like older auto bodywork dollies, very handy
Chainmail is a possibility, too.
Can you say Say-Mac? Sure you can, but, thanks from all of us that can’t 😎👍
Believe me, I wanted to use it. A Viking smith would at least have helpers to swing a sledge hammer
That littlest anvil might have been used to make chain mail, only thing I can think of that woulod need that small of an anvil and be worth making the anvil just for it.
Did the Vikings make chain mail? Or did they trade for it?
@@BlackBearForge Either way, there would be need for repair.
POWER HAMMER TIME>>>>
I think I'll just grind the edges off a railroad spike or just hammer out the head some.
Just watching this is tiring, damn that iron dd not want to move.
4140 is tough stuff. Using wrought iron would actually be easier to forge.
@@BlackBearForge What size hammer were you using?
Its 3 pounds.
first comment, heh some of those look neat from just the picture, but I saw by the time I clicked on this it was 6 minutes ago launched so wanted that first comment, strike while iron is hot right heh >^o^< so will watch video though and might edit in a little later
🏆
I guess "comment while the video is hot" is our modern-day equivalent, haha.
@@reigninoel well I get the sarcasm, from the trophy and all but as they say in smithing strike while the iron is hot right.
I just forged a time machine. How ironic
That should be fun
man, i love your work, but only dressmakers talk in centimetres - artisans invariably use millimetres, so that 3.4 cm becomes 34mm - much more accurate and avoids the occasional oops when a client wanted something made and what you gave them only fits in a doll's house instead. true story.
Since the original text I am working out of is in centimeters, that is how I am giving the dimensions. So far as I know both of the authors are archeologists, not dress makers
@@BlackBearForge it's something my dad always used to say, he was a knitting machine mechanic and would always tease the tailors and dressmakers in the factory by saying that if he built knitting machines in centimetres they would look more like soft toys than machines. he had a very English sense of humour.
what if he [ mastermyr ] was not a blacksmith, but a Gypsy tinker
Mastermyr is actually the location where the chest was found.
話多得像穿裙的!