The Viking Sword was one long piece of iron, comprised of a single handed hilt, a cross-guard and a blade. It was longer than the spatha and had a sharper taper and point.
A good Viking sword was very expensive, as swords were not easy to make, but during the Viking Age, a man’s life often depended on the quality of his sword, so Vikings wanted the best swords that could be made. The best were the Frankish Damascened blades, which were both sharp and supple.
The new Viking sword had an iron hilt that wouldn’t break in battle like the bronze hilts did, and the blades, made from different qualities of iron and steel wire welded together, had hard and strong edges. If the combination of hard and soft metals, welding, heating, softening, hammering and shaping were done correctly, then a sword of superb quality was produced.