Greetings from your friendly Viking Camper!

[TheVikingCamper]

Hi everyone. My name is Sean and I am a Viking Age Reenactor located in Minnesota. I live in the Twin Cities metro and am originally from Northern Minnesota. I do modern camping & bushcrafting as well, but right now I have been working on a setup that is made up from items that are from the Viking Age. It has been a long time since I have done any sort of winter camping or survival stuff, so I am really just starting to get back into it and practicing my skills in my own back yard. I have a long ways to go before I venture an overnight, but still having fun. Below is a photo of some of my historically accurate equipment and a photo of me in Viking Age clothing from yesterday when I went out and practiced making a fire with flint and steel.

Look forward to learning & sharing.

[SD_Motak]

Welcome to WCS. I'd be interested in a run-down of the items you've displayed. Sometimes a knife is not just a knife, etc. Thanks in advance.

[TheVikingCamper]

Welcome to WCS. I'd be interested in a run-down of the items you've displayed. Sometimes a knife is not just a knife, etc. Thanks in advance.

Sure!

The smaller belt knife pictured is sort of you "everyday" knife. One of the most common items from the Viking Age. They vary in build & material. The one shown is full tang and has a bronze butt cap and the handle is cattle bone. The knife with the wood handle is one that I use sometimes, but is not actually historically correct. The "blackened" finish would not have been a thing in the Viking Age. It is just a modern marketing thing that you often see. That blade also has a Scandinavian Grind, which is again not historically correct. This one is about a 3/4 tang, which is actually very common during the Viking Age . . . basically a bunch of Moraniv knifes. lol Included photo of the two knives next to each other.

The larger knife is one variation of a Seax (pronounced 'sax'). These knifes are found with 3 different blade profiles. The one I have is a design common in Scandinavia in the Viking Age. The more well known version is the Anglo-Saxon style which has a "broke back" design. Then there is the Frankish one that is sort of in the middle of the two. They have a very thick spine and can be anywhere from 3 to 4 inches, all the way up to sword length. A great chopper. This one is full tang with a bronze butt cap, but most are 3/4 tang like the common belt knifes. Photo include of the seax from above next to a replica of a longer broken-back seax that as found in the Thames. Note that in the photo, both are oriented with the sharpened part of the blade pointing down.

Axes: The one shown has a good A shape profile from the top, which is great for chopping. Many "Viking" axes that you see for sale online (historically accurate ones anyway) are specifically made for combat and have a very thin blade profile right off the eye. This axe is a Type A (Peterson Typology) from Deepeeka. Not really the greatest axe for quality and I will likely move it on to be used as a purely show item. Another axe that I have and love is the Nordland Axe from Arms & Armor. A bit shorter handle and bearded, but a great example of another axe that fits into the modern "camp axe" category. Included photo of the two next to each other.

One item that I don't have yet and plan on trying to get one made is a saw. They aren't very common, but we do have some finds from the Viking Age. There is actually a fire striker that was found that was made from an old saw blade and you can still see the teeth in the finished striker. While we don't have a full find for it, some of the blades found are exactly like the folding "buck-saw" that a lot of Bushcrafters use. The saw that I actually plan to get made is from a famous tool chest find called the Mästermyr Find. There are a ton of full intact tools that were found and one of them was a fixed blade saw that has the shape of a broken-back seax and not dissimelar to many of the modern folding pruning saws like the Silky or Bacho.

Here is one person's recreation of the saw: https://bjornthisway.wordpress.com/2...-mastermyr-42/

[Wayland]

Nice set up Sean.



I have been known to do a bit of Viking stuff myself.