Brassbloom Hand Forged High Carbon Steel Talwar | 38 Inch Overall with 32 Inch Blade | Collector Display Gift | RK-1392

The Brassbloom is a large talwar, thirty eight inches overall, with a deeply curved blade that flares wide through the last third and lifts into an upswept point. The hilt is solid brass throughout, knuckle bow, quillons and disc pommel, over a rosewood grip. Swords of this build were court and cavalry pieces in Rajput and Mughal India, and the brass was not a cheap substitute for anything. Steel hilts were the workaday choice; brass was harder to source, cast beautifully into the flowing shapes an Indian hilt wants, and stayed bright against a rosewood grip in a way polished steel never does for long.

This one is forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee. The blade is 1095 high carbon steel with a long forged fuller running out from the guard, hardened, tempered and polished bright. It ships in a wooden scabbard with brass mounts, with a care card, and shipping inside the United States is free.

Specifications

Why the point turns up

Follow the edge of this blade from the guard and it curves away steadily, then widens sharply through the last third and finishes with the point lifted well above the line of the spine. That upswept flare has a name in Turkish and Indian sword making, the yelman, and it exists for one reason: to keep the sword cutting at full power when the geometry has stopped helping.

A curved sword cuts by drawing its edge across a target. The trouble is that the further along the arc you go, the more the edge is angled away from the direction of travel, and past a certain point the blade is sliding rather than biting. Widening the blade out there and turning the point up puts more edge back into contact and restores the angle of attack. It also, incidentally, adds mass exactly where a cut lands, so the tip of a sword like this hits considerably harder than a plain curve of the same length would.

The cost is a tip heavy sword. Indian and Turkish smiths accepted that because these were cutting swords used from horseback and behind a shield, not fencing swords. The compensations are all in the hilt: the disc pommel that stops the sword escaping, the knuckle bow adding weight behind the hand, and a short grip that keeps everything close in. Look at the whole sword and you can see every one of those decisions answering the one before it.

Why 1095 high carbon steel and not stainless

1095 is a simple carbon steel with just under one percent carbon and nothing else worth naming. That simplicity is the reason it is still the standard for long blades. It hardens right through a blade of this thickness, its fine grain lets an edge come to a real apex, and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC it holds that edge while keeping enough spring to survive a mistake.

Stainless steel resists corrosion because of its chromium content, and chromium ties carbon up into hard carbides. That is a sound trade in a kitchen knife and a bad one in thirty two inches of sword, where those carbides give a crack a place to begin. The price you pay for 1095 is that it will rust if you neglect it, and that is solved with a rag and a bottle of oil rather than with a different steel. The full comparison is on Damascus versus stainless.

Rosewood and brass

The grip is rosewood, dense and naturally oily, shaped with the swell through the middle that a talwar hilt requires and set between a brass ferrule and the disc. Rosewood has been the standard hilt timber across Persia and India for centuries because it is stable in heat, does not go slick when a hand sweats on it, and is heavy enough to sit usefully against all the mass out in the blade.

The brass around it is cast and then filed and polished by hand. Brass suits this job for practical reasons as well as visual ones. It pours into the flowing quillon and bow shapes at a temperature that will not distort them, it will not rust where it touches a leather or wood lined scabbard, and it work hardens slightly as it is finished so a knuckle bow made from it is stiffer than the raw metal suggests. It will darken over the years into a warm patina, and if you would rather it stayed bright, a wipe with a brass polish twice a year is all it needs. The rosewood wants a little oil once or twice a year in the same way, and the routine is on wooden handle care.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this sword the fuller gives a natural channel for a line of runes running out from the guard, and the brass disc pommel takes a short mark cleanly. See the engraving page for what will fit.

Care and sharpening

Wipe the blade with a dry cloth after handling and keep a thin film of light oil on the steel. Fingerprints will etch a permanent grey shadow into a bright polish within a couple of weeks, which is easily avoided and annoying to correct. Once a month with an oiled rag is enough for a sword displayed indoors. A wooden scabbard is kinder to a blade than a leather one because it holds less moisture, but it is still better to keep the sword drawn on a stand or a wall mount for long term storage. Our routine is on steel care.

To sharpen it, follow the curve. Work three or four inches at a time, keep the bevel angle steady and sweep the blade along the stone through its arc, paying particular attention to the flare near the point where the edge does most of its work and where it is easiest to leave a flat spot. Finish fine and strop. There is a full guide at sharpening with a whetstone.

Forged in Memphis

This sword is made in Memphis, Tennessee, in our own shop. Nothing on this site is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and nothing is a finished overseas blank with our name stamped on it. We forge and grind the blade, fuller it hot, harden and temper it, polish it, cast and finish the brass, fit the rosewood and build the scabbard. A brass hilt of this size takes real hours at the bench, so the lead time we quote is the true one. A sword on the rack ships in two to three business days. Made to order or engraved, it is two to three weeks. You will know which before you pay.

A note on handmade variation

This talwar is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page. Rosewood figure changes from board to board, cast brass takes its own colour and patina, the run and depth of the fuller shift a fraction on every blade, and the polish sits differently along every curve. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is the whole reason to buy a forged sword instead of a stamped one.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp when it arrives?

It arrives with a proper working edge rather than a razor edge, which is right for a sword of this size. Ask in the order notes and we will take it keener before it ships.

Is a brass hilt as strong as a steel one?

For this purpose, yes. The tang running through the grip is steel and carries all the load. The brass forms the guard, the bow and the pommel, none of which are structural in the way the tang is, and cast brass of this section is more than stiff enough for the job.

What is the difference between this and a shamshir?

A shamshir is Persian, narrow, curved evenly along its whole length with no flare at the tip, and finished with a hooked pommel. This is an Indian talwar, wider, with a flared upswept point and a disc pommel.

Can I use it for cutting?

It will cut mats and bottles without difficulty. It is not a sparring sword, it should never meet another blade, and it should be kept off hard targets.

Will mine look exactly like the photograph?

No. The rosewood and the brass both vary, and so does the exact line of the curve. The steel, the dimensions and the construction are identical every time.

How long does shipping take?

Free inside the United States. Two to three business days for a stock sword and two to three weeks for one made to order or carrying engraving.

What is in the box

• Brassbloom hand forged 1095 high carbon steel talwar
• Wooden scabbard with brass throat and chape
• Care card with oiling and storage instructions
• Certificate of hand forging
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse the other scimitars, the full swords collection, the sabres and the scabbards and sheaths, or read the guides.