Rolf Devinci

Finally decided to purchase a Viking era sword replica to complete my Anglo Saxon/Viking  reenactment kit. It was the last major purchase that needed to be made to round out the ensemble. Purchased from the Medieval Shoppe based in Australia after I saw they were offering an 18% discount in recognition of 18000 followers on social media. Factoring in the favorable exchange rate between the Aussie and Canadian dollars, the overall price of the sword at $208 plus the discount it was to good to pass up. Arrived very well packaged and quickly with the blade and sheath being well wrapped and oiled. Initial impressions were favorable for a functional replica of a Viking age sword from that period of history. It possesses a type four blade design and a variation of a type S hilt design so it is historical but not a pure example of a type four blade as it is a little shorter and narrower than earlier blades of the period. Blade is sharp and tapers somewh...

Frankish, Anglo Saxon and Nordic (Viking) era kit from the late migration/early medieval period.  Chain mail hauberks were becoming more common, usually 3/4 length sleeves and groin length. Worn over linen or wool tunics (and most likely some kind of padded gambeson apparel). Winnegas or leg wraps made of strips of wool were still fashionable over trousers worn from knee to ankle. Seaxes continued to be the most commonly used blade and were utilized as multi purpose camp and combat knives of varying length. They were generally of the brokeback variety with only a single sharpened edge. Often carried horizontally  suspended from a belt either on the front or back. Swords remain prohibitively expensive and most often used by nobility and elite warriors who possessed some means to afford such a status symbol. As a result axes and spears are commonly used by the majority of combatants. Axe design was somewhat standard with most being of the bear...

The art of fire making has had a history almost as long as our species has walked upright. "Scientists have found evidence of controlled fire use inside an ancient cave in Israel that was home to several lineages of prehistoric hominins, the predecessors of modern humans. Artifacts discovered at the site, located in the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve in northern Israel, suggest that fire use became routine among hominins around 350,000 years ago...." http://www.ibtimes.com/when-did-man-discover-fire-ancestors-modern-humans-used-fire-350000-years-ago-new-1758607 Several theories suggest the two deciding factors in the evolution of Homo Sapiens was the ability to communicate and to make fire....specifically to use fire to cook and gain sufficient nutritional calories to evolve. "could there be a primitive tribe that survives without cooking? In fact, no such people have ever been found. Nor will they be, according to a provocative theory by Harvard biolo...

What does a Canadian do during the long Northern winter? Besides drinking wine and shovelling snow this Canuck, a self proclaimed history nerd, constructs a Viking shield. After completing my Norse spear and acquiring a Hanwei antiqued Viking axe it seemed a logical step to take After researching Norse shield designs I decided to take a few liberties with my first shield. Rather than use planks I opted to purchase a solid sheet of hardwood to avoid the need to glue since I don't possess wood clamps.Often a shield was rimmed with rawhide but I substituted suede from an old jacket. Might not be historically accurate but it worked. In true Canadian fashion I created the handle from an old hockey stick wrapped in some leftover suede. A shoulder strap from an old briefcase became the shoulder sling because I did not possess any suitable rope. Since I did not use planks it was not necessary to place supporting strips of wood on the belly of the shield other than the two small str...

"....the spear held great cultural significance to the Viking warrior, as the primary weapon of Odin, the king of the Norse gods and the god of warfare, was the spear Gungnir..."                                                                                             Wikipedia "The spear was the most commonly used weapon in the Viking age. It was often the choice of someone who was unable to afford a sword." http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_spear.htm Last month I was down to mother's farm doin...