/rare-viking-age-iron-bars-discovered-in-valdres/ All Things Norway, In English Sat, 19 Apr 2025 19:33:48 +0000 hourly 1 /rare-viking-age-iron-bars-discovered-in-valdres/#comment-1028787 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 19:33:48 +0000 /?p=74521#comment-1028787 I believe that the practice of flattening the ends of iron bars was to indicate the quality, since poorly refined iron would split at on the end when flattened. The holes, not always punched in the flattened ends of such bars could be used for stringing them but are further evidence of quality, since punching a hole stresses the material beyond the flattening.
The bars were not “cast” but hammered from the coarse blooms taken from the furnace. Repeated hammering stretched the iron into long strands as the slag was squeezed from between the strands to produce a ductile material.

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