Longwake Hand Forged 1095 Steel Hand and a Half Longsword | 42 Inch Overall | Faceted Pommel with Navy Leather Grip and Black Scabbard | Knight Gift | RK-1841

The Longwake is a hand and a half longsword. The grip is long enough to take a second hand and short enough to use with one, the pommel is a faceted, fluted block in blackened steel with bright polished rims, and the blade is broad at the guard and tapers in a long straight line to a strong point. It ships with a black scabbard.

The term hand and a half describes exactly what the sword does and nothing else. It is not a size class. It is a grip length. Anything from about seven inches of grip upward gives you room to add the heel of the second hand behind the first, which roughly doubles the leverage you can apply to the blade without adding any weight to the sword. That is why these appear when they do. Through the fourteenth century plate armour spread across the wealthier parts of European warfare, and a cut that would have decided a fight against mail became close to irrelevant against a breastplate. What worked instead was the thrust into a gap, and a thrust needs a stiff blade driven with two hands and a great deal of control. The sword grew a longer grip and a stiffer blade in the same generation, for the same reason. Ours is forged, ground, hardened and assembled by hand in the Czech Republic. Look for it with the longswords, and take in the arming swords on the way past.

Specifications

What the riser on the grip is for

The polished steel band set into the middle of the leather grip looks like decoration and it is not. It divides the grip into two zones, with a polished band closing each end, and on a hand and a half sword that division is how the whole system works.

Put the leading hand in the section nearest the guard and the trailing hand behind the riser, and the riser stops either hand sliding into the other under load. That matters most at the end of a hard cut, when the sword is decelerating and both hands are being dragged forward. It matters again when you shift to one hand with the pommel in the palm, because the riser tells your hand where it is without you looking.

There is a second effect. A continuous cylinder of leather is comfortable and featureless, and a featureless grip gives you no feedback about the orientation of the edge. The moment you add a hard raised band, your hand reads the sword by touch. Every sword tradition arrives at some version of this, whether it is risers, a cord underwrap, a shaped oval section or a rain pattern in the wrap.

The steel and the blade section

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel taken to 54 to 58 HRC. It is ground with a strong central ridge rather than a fuller, which is a deliberate choice and the one that matches the shape of the sword. A fuller lightens a blade and lets it stay wide. A diamond section makes a blade stiff and lets it taper hard to a point. This blade is doing the second thing. It is thick through the middle, narrow in profile as it runs out, and it does not flex much, which is exactly what a thrusting oriented longsword wants and the opposite of what a broad Viking cutting blade wants.

The pommel is faceted and fluted rather than round, in blackened steel with the high points polished back to bright. Blackening is an oxide layer rather than a coating, so the contrast between the dark flats and the bright rims comes from the geometry and stays put. The tang runs the full length of the grip and is peened over the pommel.

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 a plain blade like this one there is a lot of room, and a long line running down the flat below the guard suits the proportions best. The engraving page shows how a full phrase sits on a blade of this width.

Handling and balance

Longer than an arming sword and lighter in the hand than most people expect. Balance sits around four inches ahead of the cross, which is close in for a blade this length, and the heavy faceted pommel is what puts it there. With two hands on the grip the sword turns around a point somewhere between them, which is why it can be moved so precisely for its size.

The thing to understand about a hand and a half is that the second hand is a lever, not a source of strength. You do not push with it. You pull the pommel back as the leading hand pushes forward, and the blade rotates around the leading hand. That is the entire mechanical basis of the German and Italian longsword traditions and it is why the sword feels different once someone shows you.

Care

Oil the blade and wipe it down after handling. A long bare blade will spot within a week from a single fingerprint in a humid room. Do not scrub the blackened pommel with abrasive polish, because the black is an oxide and it comes off in patches; a wipe and a light oil is all it needs. Feed the leather grip with a neutral conditioner once or twice a year and buff it off. Do not store the sword permanently inside the scabbard in a damp space. Check the peen at the pommel from time to time. Sharpen along the existing bevel with a stone, keeping the angle consistent as the blade narrows. Our page on steel care covers oiling, storage and removing early rust.

Made in the Czech Republic

The work behind this piece happens in a Czech Republic workshop that has kept to the old methods. Steel is forged and heat treated by hand, the grind is taken down by eye rather than by machine, and the handle, fittings and sheath are cut and finished one at a time. Because of that, every piece carries small marks of the hand that made it.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import direct, check each piece when it reaches us, and ship from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Engraving is added here in the United States after arrival, so the piece you receive is finished to your order.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The facets on the pommel are cut and polished by hand, so their crispness and the width of the bright rims vary. Blackening never strikes at exactly the same depth twice. Leather takes navy dye unevenly and the grain of a hide is its own, so one grip is a shade deeper than the next. The central ridge of the blade is ground by eye down its whole length. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not. You can carry on with how steel and hardness actually work, or look at the gap between a display sword and a battle ready one while you are there.

Frequently asked questions

Can I really use it one handed

Yes. That is what hand and a half means. The balance is close enough in that a single hand controls it, and the second hand is there for when you want more leverage.

Is it sharp when it arrives

Yes, it comes with a cutting edge. Ask in the order notes if you would rather have it blunt for display.

Is this battle ready for full contact sparring

No. It is a sharp forged sword for cutting, collecting and display. Sparring needs a blunt with rolled edges and a rebated tip.

Why is there no fuller in the blade

Because this blade is built to be stiff rather than light. A diamond section without a fuller is the correct geometry for a tapering thrusting oriented longsword.

Is the scabbard included

It is. The black scabbard with its polished steel throat ships with the sword.

How long until it ships

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping inside the United States. Engraved orders take a few days longer.

What is in the box

• Longwake hand and a half longsword in 1095 high carbon steel
• Black scabbard with a polished steel throat
• Care card covering oiling, blackened finishes and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the longswords, the single handed arming swords, the full sword range, or read the guides for how blade section changes what a sword can do.

If this one is not it

Another in the same line is the Loopwarden longsword, high carbon steel. Next along the rack is the Fernstride longsword, 42 inches overall. For a straight comparison, see the Crownweave longsword, 45 inches overall.

The Wheelgird arming sword covers the other half of the same kit. Pick the steel, the length and the fittings yourself on the custom Viking sword page.

For partner drills and sparring we carry the Brimhalt feder, and our guide to blade flex is a good place to start.