Viking Knife with Ancient Bog Oak and English Boxwood Burr handle.

Hand-forged Viking Belt Knife with Ancient Bog Oak and Spalted Boxwood Burr Handle

Blade Material: 400 year old laminated wrought iron with fire-welded 1095 carbon steel cutting edge
Handle Material: Ancient Irish Bog Oak and Spalted English Boxwood Burr
Blade Length: 74mm
Tang Style: Full hidden tang
Blade Thickness: 5mm
Handle Length: 97mm
Total knife length: 171mm

This knife is a historically accurate Viking style knife, based on archaelogical finds from sites around the British Isles and Scandinavia. The knife has been forged to finish from 1084 carbon steel and has a flat V shape grind as was common for Anglo-Scandinavian knives from this period. It has a traditional full hidden tang construction, with the tang burnt through the wood for a friction fit, then the end of the tang secured by peening against the handle. No modern epoxies or glues have been used. The handle is made from stacked segments of Ancient Irish Bog Oak and Spalted Boxwood Burr that was locally sourced in Derbyshire. The handle was carved to shape entirely using an axe and a knife.

After being carved into shape, the handle has been hand-sanded and rubbed with several coats of boiled linseed oil to protect the wood. The wood has then been sealed and waterproofed with a layer of beeswax from our own apiaries.

This knife comes with a tooled Viking-style sheath made from thick veg-tan cow leather, hand-sewn with artificial sinew, and sealed with beeswax and linseed oil.  This particular sheath design is a reproduction of a somewhat unusual type of sheath (back-seamed winged sheath B2) found in Viking age Dublin.

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All my knives are forged by hand using traditional bladesmithing methods at Willslock Forge in Staffordshire, England. Each knife has been forged from high carbon steel. I usually use either 1080, 01 or 1095, and sometimes antique historical steels such as crucible steel or shear steel.

I usually forge as close to finish as possible, creating the knife shape and setting the bevels on the anvil. For all of my historical work, my aim is to make my knives with minimal use of power tools, and I take a lot of inspiration from historical knifemaking and smithing techniques.

The handles are all carved by hand and made from locally sourced wood, bone and antler - I avoid using any plastics, resins or synthetic materials.  Wherever I can, I try to repurpose salvaged and upcycled materials in order to create beautiful new knives and tools.  I usually leave a brut de forge, or forge finish, on most of my blades because I like that the hammer marks tell the story of the knife's creation on the anvil, and the forge finish differentiates the knife from all the mass-produced, factory made knives out there.