Images

As the rough boards were prepared, it became clear which pieces would serve for the Viking ship's keel, the strakes, and the internal frame. The timber yard was not only a storage area but also the first place where the ship’s wooden parts...

The Viking building tradition relied more on the shipbuilder’s eye than on an obsession with rulers. Correct proportions were established through memory and experience carried into the hand. Charcoal illustration by Selim Rumi Civralı.

The split pieces were roughly shaped in the Viking timber yard, and the sapwood and pith were removed. The remaining core became stronger and more reliable timber for the clinker overlap. Charcoal illustration by Selim Rumi Civralı.

At this stage, the saw had almost disappeared from the process of Viking shipbuilding, and production relied mainly on cleaving and axe hewing. Ship planks were made by opening the log along the grain and then shaping it with an axe. Charcoal...

In the Viking timber yard, the logs were divided into halves, then quarters, then eighths, and then into even smaller sections. The goal was to cut fibres with a saw, but to open the wood along its natural direction and obtain a plank core...

In the Viking timber yard, large logs were split from the root end. Small wedges first opened a line, then larger wedges and mallet blows drove the split deeper, and the wood followed its natural grain as it opened. Charcoal illustration...

When the logs for a Viking ship reached the shipyard or timber yard, they were sorted by quality and intended use. At this early stage, builders had already decided which trunks would serve for the keel, the planking, or the interior parts...

The tree for a Viking ship was felled with long-handled axes rather than saws, and the fall was carefully directed. After it fell, the trunk was roughly cleaned, and useful curved branches and forked sections were set aside. Charcoal illustration...

The frames that formed the Viking ship’s internal skeleton were cut from naturally curved branches with an axe. Blows delivered parallel to the grain ensured these structural elements reached the strength needed to carry the clinker hull...

In Viking ships, long and straight trunks were sought for the keel. The Skuldelev 2 report documented that finding a suitable keel piece created a critical production bottleneck since a suitable trunk was difficult to find even in dense primaeval...