A year's worth of work

We just met with a blacksmith, to see if he could make a copy of a well-known Viking sword for us. When I first started talking to him, I misunderstood, thought he had already made a copy of that sword, and that we could borrow it. But he had already made a copy of a different sword, which was not the one I wanted. So we were discussing how long it would take him to make the right sword. Getting all the details right, from the construction of the hilt, to the strength of the blade, to the design on the pummel and cross bar, will be about a year's worth of work, if he works on it slowly and carefully. It is the sort of work that cannot be rushed. He suggested we could use a photo of the original sword, but I told him I would rather wait, and have a special exhibition later, when we can get copies of all the weapons from that grave properly assembled. I'm not sure this is the Icelandic way (Gunnar at least wanted to see if there was any way we could 'faka þetta'), but when it comes to replica Viking swords, there is no point in doing it if it is going to look cheap and flimsy or rough and clumsy. There are enough bad, quickly made replicas out there in the world.

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