Fjellborg Vikings
And other related projects.
Wool Combs
These wool combs are made with forty two individually forged tines and European Beech for the comb frame. The width of the combs are about six and one-half inches across. The second picture to the left is the close-up detail of the tines, which are each approximately three sixteenths inches in diameter and four and one half inches long.
To the right is a photo and archeological drawing of an original comb. My reproduction is loosely based on this comb. This comb had a metal sheath over the wood, though there are other examples of plain wooden frames.
Drop Spindles
I made these drop spindles for use amongst our members. The shafts range from recycled, broken arrow shafts to straight grain split woods. The Dark "whorls" are made of Scandinavian soapstone, acquired from a damaged oven cooking rock. Then the light colored disk is the ball joint from a cow thigh bone. They are all patterned after known artifacts.
The drop spindles average about eleven inches in length and the whorls are about two inches in diameter.
The same whorls up close.
Oseberg Thread/Yarn Winder, or Niddy-Noddy
The "H" shaped tool is a yarn/thread winder, commonly referred to as a "niddy-noddy". It is patterned after on found on the Oseberg's Queens burial ship, now on exhibit in a museum in Oslo. The cards are for weaving belts or trim referred to as card loom weaving and are made of beech wood.
On the right is another bunch of weaving cards I made earlier and gave to Grimmhuldr. The beech wood cards are from the same wood as the ones on the left but have not been oiled. The white cards are made of artificial ivory, replicating whale bone cards.
To the left is a photo of the original winder, taken by the museum in which it is housed.
Oseberg Thread Winding Reel
To the left are the parts, before assembly, of my reproduction of the Oseberg Queens's burial thread winder, or "swift". The original was part of a large collection of household items buried with a Viking age queen to accompany her to the other world. My version of the swift was made by taking the known measurements reported in the original archaeologists publication, "Osebergfundet" and extrapolating the rest by comparing measurements off the photo. I made the reproduction of beech wood, as was the original. I chose straight grained wood as during those times, wood was split from larger pieces, not sawn like modern lumber. Modern lumber seldom follows the grain of the tree as the huge saws cut straight regardless of the direction the tree grew. All the parts are carved to their final dimensions, with care to avoid obvious modern lumberyard sizes for the same reasons. To the wood worker of the Viking age, each piece is an original sculpture, hand split out off its source wood, hand cut to shape using saws, axes, shaves, chisels or knives.
The blade's profiles follow the shapes of the originals and each one has a little different look.
The base is my own design, as the original was not found. All parts are pinned with wood nails and I finished the completed swift with a soak of clear mineral oil.
On the left is a photo of the museum's reproduction. You will notice the base is different than mine. This base is NOT the original as the base was not found. Museums typically will not speculate replacing parts so will make plain "vanilla" parts. Also, the reproductions vertical shaft here is turned on a lathe. Close examination of the museums original parts indicate the shaft was carved and NOT turned. The parts do show some irregularities that might be attributed to soil pressure deformation but there are other points that clearly show hand carving.
To the right is the text description of the swift directly from the Osebergfundet.
Further notes on my reproduction including my measurements can be found Here.
Here is a website that discusses the original Oseberg ship discovery:
THE OSEBERG FIND 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY - THE GREAT ADVENTURE IN NORWEGIAN ARCHAEOLOGY:.
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