WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: Ulfberht 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:16.439 Thinking Sideways. I don't you never know stories of things 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:22.200 we simply don't know the answer too. Hey, everybody, welcome 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.759 to another episode of Thinking Sideways the podcast. I'm Steve 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:30.560 as always, joined by my co host and Devon, and 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.880 this week we've we've got what I would say is 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.279 a pretty cool story for you. Well, of course it's 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.360 your mystery. Well you're you're right, that's why I think 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.440 it's cool. And it's unsolved pretty much, and we're gonna 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:49.000 solve it. No, So today's stories about Vikings. Vikings, What 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.239 do you guys know about Vikings? They were big on 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.080 rape and pillage and stuff like that. They're really smart, 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:59.880 um worshiped a lot of weird pagan gods. Um do 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.039 actually wear those horned Viking helmets? Spot on, good call. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.320 But that's about all I know. Okay, Wellyland, for a 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:13.240 while they did, and theoretically they came to the America's 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.880 but they were chased away by the natives. Yeah. I 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.440 think they probably just looked around and decided this isn't 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.720 for us. Yeah, yeah, I in my research, I came 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.479 across and I cannot, unfortunately at the moment, think of 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.120 the name that that was assigned to the to the 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:34.399 Continental States, but it was it's something along the lines 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.000 of the same name. Their similar name they had for 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.280 for Greenland in those areas. They were were terribly creative 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.640 with their names evident probably West Greenland or something. We 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.080 will not go there. That's not a Norwegian accent. I'm 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.840 so sorry. That's okay. Uh. The story we're going to 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:57.280 talk about today is a Viking sword, specifically a sword 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:05.600 known as the Ufbert. Okay, okay, So the swords that 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.960 we're talking about, it's not a single sword, it's a 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:15.000 style of sword, and they were extremely notable. Uh. They 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:20.440 were essentially the best swords made in Europe when they 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.760 were made. Uh. And and here's what we know about swords. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:29.079 The uf Bert swords were produced between approximately eight hundred 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.720 to one thousand c e uh. And they had Ufbard 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.600 inlaid on the blade just above the cross guard of 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:39.760 the sword. And so that was a factory where they 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.800 were made, the u Bard factory. Here's here's how the 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:49.480 inlay went is it was a cross V L F 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:56.040 B E r H cross T. And for anybody that 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.600 this might be a little confusing, the V is pronounced 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.760 with a sound. I believe it. That's from Latin if 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.519 if I'm not incorrect, where the V and the you 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.600 initially were interchangeable sounds yeah, well, and it's hard to 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.320 carve curves, so there's that. So it is uh, is 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.040 that an actual Norse word or is that No, it's not. 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.680 And we're going to get into some of that as well. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.639 But this, these swords had that inlaid, and the inlay 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:29.920 was done in a different metal than the actual blade 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.240 was made. From what it was is I've seen accounts 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.720 where it was either the metal that made the letters 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.720 was laid on the blade or that the metal was 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.240 chiseled out and another piece of metal was put in 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.320 and then forge welded into place, which the term forge 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.400 weld means you you set the metal on there and 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.040 then you put it into a hot, hot forge and 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:58.200 it melts in and then you can file it or 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.000 sand it down, sand it down to the wrong word, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.280 but you file it down so that everything is the same. 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.360 But that inlay, because it's a different metal, it stands 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.840 out and you can read it. Joe was kind of 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:12.360 pointing out, we don't know exactly what wolf means. There 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.360 is some research that suggests that it's a combination of 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:24.279 words in Norse Earth you r f means wolf and 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:29.560 bear means light, bright or shining, and that is a 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:34.720 word that's from Old High German or Old Saxon language. 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.520 So it seems that wolf Bert maybe a combination of words, 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.600 but we don't know exactly what it means. Wasn't there 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.840 also some speculation that it was the name of of 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.520 like a abbey or something that was in England at 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.359 the time. Well, there is speculation that wolf Bart is 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.360 the name of the guy who made the swords, or 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.720 maybe the family that made the swords, but we don't know, okay. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.400 And then there were there were many of these swords made, correct, 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.880 thousands of them, No, not thousands. As of today, a 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.760 hundred and seventy one swords have been found with the 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.040 inscription will be and they don't all have the exact 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.080 same inscription, and we'll we'll kind of delve into that 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.280 a little bit. But only a hundred and seventy one 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:21.839 of them and found, and none of them were in 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:26.120 anywhere in your good condition. They're all pretty corroded and 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.360 pretty broke down, which makes them a little harder to 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.080 figure out exactly what's going on. Maybe this is just 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.640 like the earliest instance to the serial number, except they 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.680 hadn't quite gotten the serial never concept down, so maybe 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:42.760 maybe we'll go into it. But what's notable about these swords? 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.680 The wolf beards were stronger and more flexible than any 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:51.200 other swords that existed at the time in Europe. It 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:56.520 bent as in flex not bent, and stayed bent, which 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.880 was unlike most swords because a lot of swords at 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.359 that time were own to either seriously bending, so that 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.080 there's accounts where in battle a guy would have to 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.600 step on his sword to straighten it because it had 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:15.120 it took a serious bend, or worse, would shatter, which 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.919 is not exactly something you want to have. And I 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:20.719 guess we should um, I mean, you know, I don't 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.600 know if you know the answer to this or not. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.400 But how long was it just like, oh, and then 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.920 they didn't find this kind of metal for another hundred 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.440 years or was it? Was there a great expansive time 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:37.440 between when this metal was found and there there is 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:39.320 a lot of detail around it, and we're going to 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.240 get in bed because it's it's one of the things 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.680 that really separates these swords from anything else that was 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.320 in use by the Vikings or anybody else in Europe. 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.480 But anyway that the flexibility of the sword is probably 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.480 one of the big things is is that it could 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:01.080 flex and wouldn't break or bend, And for the Viking 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.839 style of combat, that's really important. We've all seen the 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.960 movies where it's two guys and they're sparring and they're swinging, 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.200 and they're hitting swords back and forth, and they're they're 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.360 going one on one, exchanging that blow and blocking. It's 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.360 not how the Vikings fought at all. Vikings fought with 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.920 a sword or an ax or spear, but we're just 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.320 gonna focus on the swords and the wooden shield. And 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.240 what you did is everybody was just pressed in close, 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.480 and you are hacking away at the other guy and 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.920 he's using his shield to block your sword, and at 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.240 the same time he's hacking away at you and you're 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.680 using your shield to block him. What's a wooden shield 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.080 and it's got a metal rim around it, but eventually 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.080 the rim is gonna give out, So now you're hacking 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.520 into a chunk of wood, which is where the swords 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.160 are gonna get stuck because you've just gone into let's 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.840 say a half inch the thick piece of wood, it's 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:56.720 not gonna be easy to pull out. And that's where 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.480 swords were notorious for bending or breaking, whereas the wolf bear, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.560 because it had an internal flexibility, you could pry on 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:06.760 it and wiggle it out and held a good edge 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.480 at the same time, but it would pull free and 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.680 just not have this horrible, you know, side angle stuck 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.600 to it. Now you're you're trying to use a j 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:20.000 to fight somebody. Yeah, which, and that's what made these 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.080 things so valuable to the vikings that owned them is 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.560 that you knew that your sword wasn't going to give 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:27.840 out on you. You knew that this thing was gonna 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.200 stay straight, it wasn't gonna break, and it was going 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.480 to hold a relatively good sharp edge for the majority 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.439 of the battle while you were using it. Absolutely, and 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:38.000 then you can go like trap up the enemy and 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.120 then go do some rapid and pillaging his lands and 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.280 then you know, yeah, something like that back in the boat, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.080 back in the boat and the way. Yeah. One of 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.760 the things to mention about the oof Bird, or a 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.280 couple of things about their design. The sword itself was 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.600 about three ft long. They were about two inches wide, 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.320 at the base. They weighed about three pounds a little 0:08:58.400 --> 0:08:59.920 under three pounds, and they were one of the first 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.360 swords where the center point of the sword was near 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.360 the hilt rather than out towards the tip, which made 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.839 them easier to use and faster to turn. If you 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.200 think about the center of gravity. Yes, thank you, that's 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.920 that's the word that I meant to use. Um. They 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.880 also had a different taper on the tip, which meant 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.040 that they came to a kind of a point quickly. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.120 And because of their flexibility in the way they were shaped, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.960 a lot of guys wore chain armor at the time, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.439 and you know, if you hit him with a relatively 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.040 rounded tips sword, you're not going to go through. But 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.520 he's had that sharp edge. And because they held the 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.079 edge and they could flex, you could actually punch into 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.719 chain armor and you weren't likely to snag because the 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.679 metal wasn't gonna catch. So again makes them super deadly 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.600 and super efficient. And what they're meant for, which is 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:55.600 stebbing step step stab right. I mean you think about 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:57.520 other swords of that time, it's the kind of the 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.120 Roman Empire sword right had more of a rounded tip 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.160 because it was made for chopping at people with the 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:08.400 edge instead of point. So you know, it's an interesting 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.520 kind of adaptation, I guess, yeah. And and it gives 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.200 you more than one way to attack. You can stab 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.400 or you can swing. So it's it's again, it's it's 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:23.360 versatility and thrust. Exactly. The technology and this is the 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.160 term that I'm going to use, the technology of these swords, 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.920 uh was something that had not been seen ever before 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:35.800 in Europe and would not actually be seen again for 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.360 about a thousand years, and that would be at the 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.439 time of the Industrial Revolution. Are we talking the metal, 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.839 We're talking about the quality of the metal. That's exactly. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.600 There's there's a couple of couple of things here that 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.520 the mysteries are, Um, you know, who made these swords, 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.559 why were they or where were they made? And then 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.360 why did they stop being made? Because it's a very 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:06.120 small time frame that they were made, by the way, Yeah, 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.440 about two hundred years eight hundred to one thousand CE 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.040 essentially about Yeah, And there's accounts that say they were 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.920 in you know, the early eight hundreds. Some have said 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:18.840 I've seen accounts where it said the first one that 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.600 was dated was eight hundred fifty. Uh So it just 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:24.599 it goes back and forth. So I'm just kind of 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.280 rounding it out into that range. But to start with, 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.440 let's talk about the Vikings themselves and what they did 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.640 and who they were. In the ninth century, the Vikings themselves, 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:43.400 their culture, their empire had established very extensive trading routes. Now, 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.880 the Vikings originated in Scandinavia, which today would be Denmark, Norway, 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.040 and Sweden. Uh, and they had spread out across the 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.959 western coast of Europe and to large parts of eastern Europe. 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:03.240 They were trading with were potentially rating as far south 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.400 as modern day France, and they were going as far 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.680 east as the Black and the Caspian Seas. Uh. And 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:18.240 to give geographic reference today, that's the area of Iran Turkey. Uh. 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.520 What's your Kazakhstan, thank you? Uh, there's And the ovens 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.240 that they were going that far and trading that far 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:31.280 is in Viking graves. They have found coins and jewelry 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.840 from that those regions, So they know they took these things, 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.320 whether they got him as payment in trade or they 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.520 pillaged it in pilford it, whichever it may be. So 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.920 they uh, in terms of getting to the Black Sea, 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.720 for example, they reached it exclusively, exclusively by sea, because 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.480 that's another stereotype about the Vikings, which is that they 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.560 were always like showing up in their in their ships, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.840 you know, and then they didn't get there on water. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.520 But the research shows that they probably got there via 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:05.160 the river Volga, and the Volga runs kind of through 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.400 that it runs kind of on the border of what 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.559 is modern day Russia and then down into those countries, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.080 so it's it's a very big river. So they were 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.320 able to just go inland and sail down that and 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.720 then from there spread outwards in all the surrounding areas. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.680 So they really they made some serious territory. They covered 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.960 some serious ground. So for a people that were considered 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:33.960 barbarians and pirates, they were pretty effective traders. They were 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.000 really good at what they did, or they were great 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.760 at stealing things. They were well that's barbarians and pirates, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:44.400 but they were they were also they were the they 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.920 were the best seamen of their time. They were innovative 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.840 and their boat designs which let them get around faster 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.199 and more efficiently. So there was a lot of things 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.000 like that that really helped them spread their empire. When 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.160 they decided that they wanted to go outward, and there's 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.120 not a lot of resources in Scandinavia to start with, 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.240 so they have to go out. They have to if 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.520 they're going to build a big network or big empire, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.000 you've got to go somewhere else to get wood, food 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.000 for all these things. So it makes sense why they 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.680 did it. So we've established how far they've got. So 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.160 let's get back to the swords, all right. The wolf 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.600 Bert swords have all been found to bear the similar inlay, 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.440 like I described a little bit earlier, Like I said, 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:36.160 there's some different inlays, which basically the differences in inlays 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.000 equate to the quality of the steel that the sword 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.440 was made from. Before get into that little is it 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:43.480 kind of like a model number then or a model name. 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:48.080 You know that there there is some some speculation it's 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.560 it's not a model name, but it may have been 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:55.120 something to do with who made it, and we might 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.280 as well just get into this. So the steel that 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.800 the swords are made, I'll get into the science part 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.800 and the metallurgy of it, but the steel of the 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.480 oof Barts was superior, like I said, something that we're 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:09.160 not going to see again for a thousand years. So 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.560 it's like you've got your product and you've got your 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:17.000 knockoff knockoff. And here's the thing. If you remember I 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.760 said that oofbart is when it's a true oof bart, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.520 it's gonna be the cross V L F B E 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.920 r H cross T. There's a lot of variations from there. 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.280 Sometimes it is the cross in the beginning and the 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.200 cross at the end. Sometimes the cross arm of the 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.400 cross actually crosses the tea as well. But all of 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.320 those ones that are variants have been found to be fakes. 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.160 In other words, they don't have the quality of steel, 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.760 which means some guy said, hey, well these things are 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:59.720 really really let's make some knockoffs, and the steel is 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.280 nowhere near as good. And for the poor guy who 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:07.040 buys this, because they're likely illiterate, so they don't they 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.720 can't read it properly. And he's never gonna come back 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.760 and say you sold me a bad sword, you sold 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.000 me a fake, because the sword is going to fail 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:20.520 and he's in battle, he's gonna get killed, and well, 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.440 another happy customer, Yeah exactly, it's like that. Yeah, he's 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.440 not going to come back and complain. So so tell 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:29.760 us a little bit about this metal, because I think 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.120 that this seems to be one of the big and 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.400 this is this is the key point to me. This 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.360 is the most intriguing thing about these swords. So let's 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.000 get into the metallergy of it. To make steel, what 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.680 you have to do is you have to heat iron 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.560 ore and mix in carbon. And that carbon can be 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:52.720 in the form of burnt wood or bone, anything that 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:57.320 is burnt and charred, basic an organic chard. Correct. The 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.160 amount of carbon as well as is the actual temperature 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.160 that you heat them up to and put them together at, 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.560 will affect what the final product is when metals heat 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.479 it in a forge, which is the primary way that 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.639 you could make steel at the time, and buy a forge, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.919 I mean at open fire that you're throwing heat of 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.280 fuel and material on and if you've ever seen you know, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.600 you see the old movies of guys back in the 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.199 day and he's got a chunk of metal stuck in 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.200 there and it's glowing red hot, and then he pulls 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.439 it out. That's how they did this. We actually have 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.560 two different forges in my garage right now. My brother, Yeah, 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.080 could buy a couple of them. I mean, whichever one 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:40.320 I need to make some stuff I don't trust you, 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:47.800 you can trust me, I'll give it back, all right. 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.520 So so when you do this, the problem is is 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:58.159 that the metal doesn't actually get hot enough to truly 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:04.040 truly melt. You can heat it up, you can hammer it, 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.120 you can work that carbon in there, but it's not 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.359 a true mix. In other words, it's not true steel. 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.240 There's gonna be impurities and slag and stuff like that. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.560 To to actually do that, you would have to take 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.119 it to a point of being molten metal or molten 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.320 steel and iron ore melts at a at a temperature 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:29.000 of plus degrees celsius or degrees plus fahrenheit. So that's 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:35.520 really really hot. Yeah did you check that by I did? Yeah, really, yeah, 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.920 it's amazingly high. So, like I said, instead, the metal 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.000 is gonna be stuck into an open fire and it's 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.160 gonna get hammered down until it gets into the desired form. 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.359 And I would presume the consistency that you want the 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.000 metal to feel like I would, I would guess that 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.360 as you're hammering it, you can tell what it changes 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.240 from from one state to another, and that gets you 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.439 where you want it to be. But it sounds like 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.840 a lot of work. It is it's a ton of work. 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:04.920 And one of the things that they would you can 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.080 do to metal when you work it is you can 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.000 quench it, which is if and we've all seen this 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.200 probably on TV where a guy sticks the hot piece 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:18.880 of metal into water and you hear that, or they 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.159 stick in oil sometimes, which is the same thing, and 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.560 that actually hardens the metal. It's tempering it. It's tempering it, 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.119 which is kind of a It can be an issue 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.240 because if you do that too fast or too often, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.399 it's hard. It makes it super hard, but it makes 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.959 super brittle. Yeah, I think like the ideal you want 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.600 to do it once or maybe twice, but like more 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.280 times than that, as far as I understand it, pretty 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:47.120 much will ruin us. That's what that was. I was thought, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.520 just once and that's it. And I think that happens 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.960 basically at the very end. And yeah, and and also 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:54.240 the process can be reversed. That's why you know you're 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.639 not supposed to stick your blade into a fire anything 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.320 like that, because you can you can destroy the temper 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.199 of the blade at that. Yeah, yep, that's absolutely correct. 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.560 So the amount of slag or impurities is the proper term. 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.719 But slag is what everybody refers to it. That's in 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.200 the metal or in the blade will also affect how 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:17.879 strong it is. And we've all seen slag, whether you 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.240 realize it or not. If you've ever watched somebody working 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:23.200 metal and they're hitting it with a hammer and it's 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.680 glowing red and you see all the sparks fly off, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:32.000 that's the slag impurity breaking away from the material. So 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.320 that's what all those sparks are. And what you're left 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:38.800 with is then the pure hardened steel material from the surface. Yeah, 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:43.760 but that's only at the surface, yep, but that's again 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:48.640 that's not pure true steel like we understand steel today. 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:53.439 And at the time in Europe, the primary ore that 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.240 was available was known as bog iron. Bog iron is 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:02.920 super super soft and it's full of impurities. Uh, it's 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.280 it's kind of I think the term that we use 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.040 these days would be pot metal, if you've ever heard 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.920 that phrase, where it's something that's very soft and pliable, 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:15.440 and it's it's just not good for for high stress situations. 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.280 I was never really heated properly. It's probably wasn't tempered 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.840 very well. That and and so yeah, that stuff has 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:26.119 a low carbon count and therefore or low. It's a 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.560 low amount of carbon in it and high impurity, so 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:32.080 therefore it's not going to be good metal. Okay, Well, 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.399 then let's turn around and let's look at the steel 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:39.160 that's in the oof bard. Uh. That steel is made 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:43.600 from extremely pure steel, and that's steel that's referred to 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:49.919 as crucible steel. Crucible steel contains almost no slack. It's 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:54.240 about one to two percent carbon, depending on which which 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.840 one you find. They vary in a range of one 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:02.920 to two. That steel is aid by heating iron ore 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.119 and carbon inside of what's called a crucible, which the 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:09.080 easy way to think of it as just some kind 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.119 of container. The container that the ore is put into 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.520 they call a crucible. It's like a fully sealed fully 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:19.680 sealed uh, if it's done properly. Yet, it's absolutely sealed 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:24.560 and nothing can get into it. And then what happens is, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.320 rather than sticking it in a forge, you stick it 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.080 in an oven, something that you can get extremely hot 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:36.920 and maintain a consistent temperature, and then everything truly becomes 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:41.320 molten metal, at which point the carbon is absorbed relatively 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:45.560 evenly and the slag impurities are drawn away. They'll be 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:49.360 if I understand it correctly. The metallergy is that it's 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.239 attracted to the crucible. I don't, and I might be 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:55.199 wrong in my description of how that works, but I 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:59.919 do know the impurities are pulled out or heavier too, 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:03.600 or you know, they're they're all on the surface, right, 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.840 so when you start pounding, they all fliff away, flip away. 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:15.800 When referring to steel, those those ovens they have, they 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:19.000 get them typically to about thirteen or four hundred degrees 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:25.000 celsius or degrees fahrenheit. You remember I said that it 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:30.760 was fifteen hundred celsius hundred fahrenheit for the iron. When 0:23:30.760 --> 0:23:33.920 you add carbon, it lowers the melting point. So that's 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:38.879 why that carbon helps to to get them hot. And 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:44.520 then what happens is the crucible itself. They'll slowly let 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:48.800 everything cool off and then they'll shatter the crucible. They'll 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:51.639 get it off there and that all the impurities that 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:53.840 are with it they break away, and what you're left 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:58.280 with is an ingot of pure steel. And then from 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:01.600 there you can't and you can go ahead and work 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:05.280 it into whatever you want it to be interesting, and 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:08.359 one of the things that one of the links that 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.520 we're gonna put out I know that everybody will want 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:14.280 to see is there is a documentary done on this 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:17.600 by Nova and one of the really really awesome things 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:21.359 in that documentary is there's a guy who Re who 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:25.719