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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...

Ash was preferred by Viking shipbuilders for oars and for parts exposed to heavy impact. Thanks to its toughness and high shock resistance, ash offered the ideal engineering solution for ship components that worked under constant fatigue...

In clinker Viking ships, branches and trunk junctions with natural curves were vital for making frames without cutting the fibres. This search for curved timber required extensive scanning within the forest and directly affected the durability...

For the clinker planks for a Viking ship, the tree was split radially from the centre outward. Unlike a saw, this process did not cut the fibres and preserved the natural strength of the wood. This first intervention with the axe formed the...