ARCH Viking Silver Ring Money Experimental Archaeology Workshop with Asgard
Part of the Experimental Archaeology: Learning about Technologies in the Past project, funded by Historic Environment Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
In August 2018 Jim Glazzard from Asgard Crafts returned, this time to show us Viking silversmithing skills and in particular how to make a distinctive Scottish armring often termed ‘ring-money’.
Jim brought with him silver ingots he had previously cast, melting silver in a crucible and pouring it into a clay mould. The next step was to hammer the ingot into a long rod for twisting.
Some ring-money (and many other Viking silver objects) were decorated with metal punches to produce designs. Jim showed how this would have been done using pewter hammered rods he had prepared. First any decoration was made using punches, and there was a chance to have a go at this. Once the decoration was made, Jim switched to a mallet made of horn to hammer the rod to the desired shape. This allowed enough force to bend the rod, without obliterating the decoration.
See http://www.archhighland.org.uk/experi...