Bronze Age Sword Casting

The first swords in Europe were made of bronze. They are an iconic development in the human story as social pressure led to tension between groups and individuals. Swords were as much a tool of fighting as they were status symbols. During the workshop, participants can make either the earliest type of sword in Britain: a rapier, or one the two late sword types in Britain and Europe: the Ewart Park style leaf sword, or the Naue II. Workshop attendees will prepare their own mould, before working the leather bellows on the charcoal fueled furnace to melt copper and tin. They will then cast the liquid metal into their prepared moulds to produce a replica bronze age sword to take home at the end of the day. Students can then begin filing off the casting flash and start cleaning the surfaces of the sword.