One historically enigmatic thing about crucible steel is that after the Vikings stopped making the Ulfberht sword around 1000 AD, such high-quality steel wasn’t produced again in Europe for 800 years. In a medieval version of branding, the swords had the name Ulfberht inlaid in large letters along the blade near the hilt. Made from a very high-carbon steel, known as crucible steel, the blades of these swords bent rather than broke when stuck in an enemy’s shield, were longer but just as light as contemporary swords, and were able to nicely penetrate the chain mail on an unfortunate opponent’s chest.
The other day, for instance, I saw an episode of Nova called “The Secrets of the Viking Sword.” Evidently, over a thousand years ago, a certain privileged few Vikings wielded their era’s ultimate weapon: the Ulfberht sword. Still, I oftentimes get sucked into watching documentaries and other fanciful re-creations of people and what they did in the past. After all, there’s no reason to learn about it when we can do nothing and watch it repeat itself. Price: $1,599 (updated 12/3/14) At A Glance: Wireless subwoofer with horizontal or vertical orientation
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