Brandr Aronsson

VIKING COOKING TRIVIT

This is a replica of a cooking grate found in AURSKOG-HØLAND which now resides in the Kulturhistorisk museum. There are varying theories of what it was used for. One theory, which has been dismissed by many, is that it was used to cook fatty meats. Most historians agree that it was probably used as a cooking trivet. Norse baking was often done by heating low and slow near the fire. They would have taken dough and placed it on the trivet and set it near the fire where it would slowly dry and rise. One example of this is a Hazelnut Treat (*noted below) which is specifically cooked on low on a flat pan or trivet.

I suspect the smith who made this started with a thick billet of wrought iron. Wrought iron would have been the main choice for most metal work in Scandinavia from 700ce – 1000ce. Iron was treated as a commodity much likes coins or other valuables. Villages would often trade iron for goods they needed which they themselves could not fabricate or grow. There is an example of a rod a of iron axe heads found in the wreck of a Viking ship, which was thought to be going somewhere and to be used as trade pieces.

Throughout Norway during the Viking period the most common type of iron was called Bog Iron. It was found underneath the peat bogs and in river beds.

The bog iron was found in small pellets then smelted into larger billets to be used for tools, knives and weapons. The Smelting was a long and involved process which entailed building a crucible, a large clay or dirt container. This container would sit over a fire box.

The pellets of bog iron would be placed inside the crucible, then heated to almost twenty two hundred degrees at which point the iron becomes liquid and fuses into one solid bloom. A bloom is the end result of the smelting process. The heat drives most of the impurities out of the iron and at which point the iron once cooled can be worked in the forge into a usable piece of metal.

As the Vikings traveled and made contact with Europe and further peoples, they traded for different types of steel. Steel being a combination of Iron and Carbon, makes for a much harder material that will last longer and hold an edge longer. There is evidence that the bog iron was used for the nails in the Viking ships a thousand years ago.

The Viking Blacksmith would have worked the metal on a stone anvil. A steel anvil would have been unheard of until the mid- 1700’s in England.

He would have stretched and flattened the billet to about a ¼” and then heated and rolled the steel on the anvil. Wrought iron in general must be worked very hot or it can crumble or split. That lack of carbon makes it very soft. The upside is that it is easily worked and if it splits it is easy to forge weld it back together.

You can see from both photos the existing relics the end or handle is broken off. I suspect the handle came to some kind of loop for hanging the grate when not in use as was very common with most cooking tools throughout history.

This is my second attempt at this cooking trivet / grate. This time I started with a wrought iron hinge from a seventeenth century barn door.

I started by cutting off the top part of the hinge. Then drew out the remaining stock until the whole thing was the size of the with of the bottom. There was small slot in the bottom, I forge welded that shut. One thing to note is that working with steel that has already been forged into something is much harder to work at the outset. The molecules in the steel have already been “tortured” and “rearranged” so it takes some time to “relax” the steel. That was the case for this piece of two hundred year old iron.

Then I went back and started drawing it out again to half the size. I wanted to try and get the full piece to about 24”. It took some doing. Wrought iron must be worked hot or it can chip and split. This iron was old and had already been worked. Iron can be very cranky, especially iron that already has been forged into something. You have to beat the crankiness out of it, then it will eventually submit to your will. The second pass was slightly easier.

Once I had the stock to the width and length I required, I started to flatten one end. This would be the starting point of the spiral. Its important to chamfer (knock down the corners) so that the starting point curls cleanly.

I noticed as I started to curl the stock that the there was a small piece beginning to separate from the main body, so I heated it back up and hammered It back into place. The end result was a happy accident that gave me a nice design element.

I worked the steel very hot, and by now the steel had relaxed and was moving a lot easier.

The final addendum to fulfill the requirements of the current competition was a seahorse embellishment on the handle. Though the handles were not visible in the extant examples, implements such as this were used throughout medieval Europe and traditionally had some king of hook or loop on the handle for hanging.