Wheelcrown Hand Forged 1095 Steel Arming Sword | 37 Inch Overall with a 30 Inch Blade | Brass Wheel Pommel, Oxblood Leather Grip and Rune Cut Fuller | Knightly Collector Gift | RK-1740

A single hand arming sword in 1095 high carbon steel, with a broad fuller running most of the blade, a line of Elder Futhark cut into it, a straight brass cross guard, an oxblood leather grip and a heavy brass wheel pommel. It ships with a black scabbard trimmed in matching red leather with brass fittings.

Putting writing down the fuller of a sword is a very old habit. Between roughly 800 and 1000 a group of Frankish blades were made with the name VLFBERHT inlaid into the fuller in iron wire, and around one hundred and seventy of them have been found across northern Europe. It was probably a workshop mark rather than one man, and it was copied by other makers so widely that misspelled versions turn up in graves, which makes it arguably the first counterfeited brand in European history. The blade was the part worth naming, because a hilt could be replaced and a good blade could not. This sword is forged, ground, heat treated, engraved and fitted in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

What a wheel pommel actually does

The wheel is the most common pommel shape on medieval single hand swords and it earns that place three times over. First it is a counterweight. A sword is a lever and the mass behind your hand cancels part of the mass in front of it, so a heavy pommel pulls the balance point back towards the guard and makes a blade feel far quicker than its weight suggests. Take the pommel off a sword and the same blade becomes an unusable club.

Second it is the structural anchor. The tang of the blade passes through the guard, through the grip and through a hole in the pommel, and the last quarter inch is hammered over cold into a peen that spreads and locks against the pommel face. No glue, no threads, no adhesive of any kind: the whole hilt is compressed between the shoulder of the blade and that peened button. A properly peened sword can be rehilted centuries later, which is exactly what happened to many surviving blades.

Third it is a shape that resists being knocked out of true. A disc is stiff in every direction and there is nothing on it to catch or bend. Ewart Oakeshott, who built the standard typology collectors still use, catalogued more variations of the wheel than of any other pommel form, which tells you how well the shape worked.

1095 steel and how the hilt goes together

The blade is 1095 carbon steel, hardened and drawn back to 54 to 58 HRC. That is deliberately softer than a knife. A knife is short and never asked to bend, so it can be hard. A thirty inch blade has to flex under load and come back straight, and steel taken to knife hardness at that length is brittle enough to break rather than bend. The temper here is set for a long blade: a proper edge, and enough toughness in the body to spring back.

The fuller is forged and ground in rather than milled out, which is why it runs slightly organically down the blade instead of dead parallel. The rune line is cut into the floor of the fuller, where it is protected from handling and where the shadow in the groove makes it easy to read.

The fittings are brass rather than steel, and that is a working choice as much as a visual one. Brass is heavier than steel for the same volume, so a brass wheel of a given size does more counterweighting work than a steel one. It is also softer, which means the peen forms cleanly against it without cracking, and it does not rust, so the point where hand meets hilt stays clean. The guard is fitted with a slot cut to the exact section of the tang and seated hard against the blade shoulder, so there is no rattle.

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, the leather or the wood. 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 where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this sword your text takes the place of the Futhark row in the fuller, which is the best surface on the whole piece for lettering. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

This is a one handed sword and it should feel like one. Held with the index finger against the guard and the pommel resting in the heel of the hand, the point of balance sits a few inches forward of the cross, which gives you a blade that cuts with authority and still recovers quickly. Let the wrist do the small corrections and the shoulder do the power.

The wheel pommel is large enough that you can hook the little finger under it for extra leverage on a cut, which is a period technique and is one of the reasons pommels of this era grew as blades got longer. Do not hold the grip in a fist. A relaxed hand with a firm last two fingers gives more control and much less fatigue.

For display, lay it flat on a stand rather than standing it on the point, and set the fuller towards the room so the rune line reads. Drawing from the scabbard, angle the scabbard away from your body and keep the thumb off the mouth.

Care

1095 rusts. Wipe the blade with a dry cloth after handling and lay a thin film of mineral oil or blade oil over the whole surface, and pay attention to the inside of the fuller and the cut runes where oil and dust collect. Fingerprints left on bare carbon steel start etching within a day or two. See steel care for more.

The brass will patinate to a warm gold. Most people leave it. If you want it bright, a little metal polish on a cloth restores it, and you should keep polish out of the cut runes on the blade and off the leather. Feed the grip and the scabbard leather with a light balm two or three times a year. Do not store the sword inside the scabbard for months, because leather holds moisture against steel and the mouth of a scabbard is where rust starts.

Forged in Memphis

The blade is forged, the fuller is ground, the heat treat is done and checked, the runes are cut, the brass is turned and filed, the grip is wrapped and the pommel is peened, all in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. No part of this comes out of an importer catalogue. Each sword is built when it is ordered, so allow one to two weeks of processing before it ships and a little longer for custom engraving. Shipping inside the United States is free.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The fuller is ground by hand, so its width will breathe very slightly along the blade rather than running mechanically true. The brass is turned and filed and each wheel carries its own file marks under the polish. The oxblood leather on the grip is a natural hide and takes the dye at its own depth, so one grip runs darker than the next. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the scabbard included

Yes. The black scabbard with the red leather trim and brass fittings comes with the sword.

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes, it arrives sharpened. Handle it as a sharp blade.

Can I spar or do cutting drills with it

It is a sharp collector and display sword and it is not a sparring weapon. Contact drill against another blade will damage both. Cutting practice needs a purpose built cutting sword and proper training.

Is the pommel glued on

No. The tang runs through the guard, the grip and the pommel and is peened over cold, which locks the whole hilt in compression. There is no glue anywhere in it.

Can I have my own text in the fuller

Yes. Your chosen engraving replaces the Futhark row. Use the rune converter above for Elder Futhark, or ask for Latin letters instead.

How long does shipping take

One to two weeks of processing because each sword is built to order, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Wheelcrown hand forged 1095 arming sword with a rune cut fuller
• Black scabbard with red leather trim and brass fittings
• Blade wiped and oiled for transit
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the arming swords, the swords, the engraved and personalised pieces and the guides.