For my project I decided to make a sword out of carboard (I had way too much laying around). I decided to make a Scandinavian inspired sword that could have possibly been similar to Beowulf’s sword used to kill Grendel’s mother. In the poem it is described as “Below, in Beowulf’s hands, the slaying-sword began to melt like ice, just as the world thaws in may when the father unlocks the shackles that’ve chained frost to the climate…” (70). The sword is described differently than any other sword in the story. Grendel’s mother had collections of artifacts in her cave under the earth, that were beautiful and unique, which caught Beowulf’s eye. It might not have been Scandinavian like the sword I created, it could have been Roman, left by the giants.
Viking swords were usually made of bones, antlers or specific metals like gold and silver. The bottom part of the sword, called a pommel. was there to help counter the weight of the blade. Each sword usually had an engraving or some sort of decoration that made it unique, there were also different types of pommel’s, some where rounded while others were more sharp edged. Not every Viking warrior had a sword, they were prestige weapons that mostly only high nobility betrothed. Viking swords were often offerings left near different forms of wetlands and rivers.
The process of making this sword was very tedious and time consuming, I wish it had come out better but working with cardboard is a lot harder than I expected. I tried my best to make the sword look as similar as possible to traditional Viking swords which weren’t very big but also weren’t small either. The length of an average Viking sword was usually around 60-80 centimeters. In the pictures below, I show some of the process of putting this together. I started with the biggest piece of cardboard I could find and drew on the shape of the sword I wanted. I followed a YouTube video, that I linked at the bottom of this post under sources, that will show the full process of creating this sword, this YouTube account makes a lot of different type of weapons out of cardboard which is really creative if you want to check it out! Through out making this sword I realized how difficult this must have been when using actual metal, using cardboard was hard enough but having to form this shape out of bones or from silver or gold would have been terrible. The work that must have gone into these weapons must have taken extremely long. I am proud of myself for being able to make this out of cardboard but again, I could never do what the Vikings did, I am not that talented. I believe these swords were few and far between so I think if a person was able to get one they were powerful, hence Beowulf getting multiple swords given to him, even though I hate to admit that he was a powerful character.
sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CETGK7dy-28 (this is the YouTube video I followed to create the sword)
Sprockets and Springes 
Whoa, this is crazy. I really admire someone who can do hands-on creativity like this, I can’t imagine how much went into making this. It was really cool to see the steps behind making it too, like the different cuts and shapes that make up the sword, and how you brought it back to the kind of sword Beowulf could have used.
The amount of work that went into this is insane! I am so impressed! I also had no idea that swords back then were made of bones as well as other metals/materials. I have no idea why you say you have “little artistic ability” because but he looks of it, you have A LOT of artistic talent! The final product looks incredible!
I really enjoyed reading about your research in different types of swords and what makes them unique. I never would have thought to make a sword as a project and I give you credit for coming up with such a cool idea. My favorite videos on youtube are ones where people design and make things and this reminds me a lot of that genre, so I like it a lot. Cheers.