Fanghowl Hand Forged Damascus Arming Sword | Cast Wolf Head Pommel | Dark Leather Grip and Brown Leather Scabbard | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1873

The Fanghowl is a single hand arming sword with a pattern welded Damascus blade, a straight blackened crossguard and a cast wolf head pommel with the jaws open and the ears laid back. The grip is wrapped in dark brown leather with a single raised band at its centre. A brown leather scabbard comes with it.

The wolf was not a simple villain in Norse thought, which is why it turns up on hilts. Odin kept two wolves, Geri and Freki, and fed them everything set before him at table while he lived on wine alone. At the other end of the scale sat Fenrir, the wolf the gods could not hold with iron and had to bind with Gleipnir, a fetter the dwarves made from six impossible things including the sound of a cat walking and the roots of a mountain. Between those two poles were the ulfhednar, the wolf coated warriors named alongside the berserkers in the sagas. A wolf on a sword hilt was a claim about the man carrying it. This one is forged and finished in the Czech Republic.

A single handed sword of this class is the usual first purchase, and how to buy a first sword covers what matters. Wolves in this tradition point at Fenrir, and Fenrir and his siblings is the background. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

What makes a sword an arming sword

An arming sword is the single hand, double edged, cruciform sword that replaced the Viking sword through the eleventh and twelfth centuries and stayed in service for four hundred years. Ewart Oakeshott, who built the typology most collectors use, sorted them mainly by blade shape rather than hilt: how quickly the edges taper, how far the fuller runs, how acute the point is. The change from the broad, parallel edged Viking blade to the tapering arming sword blade tracks a change in what people were wearing. Against mail and a padded garment underneath, a cut can be absorbed. A point that can find a gap cannot.

That is the shape here. The edges taper steadily from the guard, the fuller stops short of the tip so the last third of the blade stays solid and stiff, and the point is acute. The result is a sword that still cuts properly but has the thrust available, which is what a knightly sidearm needed. The single hand grip and the counterweighting pommel mean it was designed to be carried and used alongside a shield.

The steel and the pattern

The blade is forged from stacked and folded layers of 1095 high carbon steel and 15N20. The 1095 supplies the carbon that lets the blade harden and hold an edge. The 15N20 carries about two percent nickel, and because nickel shrugs off the acid used to finish the blade, those layers stay bright while the 1095 goes dark. The feathered pattern visible along this blade is the record of how the billet was manipulated before it was ground.

The blade is heat treated to 58 to 60 HRC. Above that range a long blade gets brittle in a way that matters when it is dropped; below it, the edge rolls. The hilt fittings are cast and then blackened and hand rubbed, so the raised detail on the wolf head catches light while the recesses stay dark. That contrast is done by hand and it is the reason no two wolf heads look quite the same.

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 the flat of the blade below the guard and the leather of the scabbard both take engraving cleanly. Details are on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

A cast pommel of this size sits a long way behind the hand, so it pulls the balance point back close to the guard. In practice that makes the sword feel much lighter than its weight suggests and quick to stop and redirect. The raised band on the leather grip gives the fingers something to register against, which matters on a single hand sword where the wrist is doing most of the work.

This is a sharp collector sword. It is not a blunt trainer and it is not built or certified for contact sparring or reenactment combat, and it should not be used for either. Handle it, display it, draw it for people, keep it away from anything you are not deliberately cutting.

Care

Both steels in the blade are carbon steels, so they rust. Wipe the blade after handling, especially if anyone else has been holding it, and keep a light film of oil on the surface. The blackened fittings should be dusted and wiped with a dry cloth only. Do not polish them with metal polish or an abrasive cloth, because the dark finish is a surface treatment and polishing will cut through it and take the contrast off the wolf head. Store the sword out of the scabbard when it is on display. Rust removal and oiling routines are on our steel care page.

Damascus wants oil more than plain steel does, because the etch that shows the pattern also opens the surface, and caring for a Damascus pattern covers what to use.

Made in the Czech Republic

This is a handmade piece from the Czech Republic, made in a workshop that still forges, grinds and finishes by hand instead of stamping parts out. The smiths there have kept the older way of working, and the wood, horn and leather are shaped and fitted by hand as well. Two pieces of the same design will never be identical, and that is part of what you are buying.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We handle the import ourselves, look over every piece when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done in the United States after the piece arrives, so your design goes on before we send it out.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The Damascus pattern is different on every blade because every billet folds differently. The blackening on the fittings is rubbed back by hand, so the exact balance of dark recess and bright highlight on the wolf head shifts from sword to sword. Leather tone and grain on the grip and scabbard vary because leather is a natural material. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Does it arrive sharp

Yes, sharpened on both edges. Ask in the order notes if you would rather have it blunt for display and we will leave the edges unsharpened at no extra charge.

Is the wolf head solid metal

Yes. The pommel is a solid cast piece fitted to the tang, not a hollow shell or a resin part. That weight is doing a job, because it is what balances the blade.

Will the dark finish rub off the wolf head

The high points on the wolf head and the guard will brighten with handling over the years, which most owners like. If you want it to stay as it arrived, handle it with clean dry hands and wipe it down afterwards, and do not use polish on it.

Can I hang this on a wall

Yes, and it looks its best displayed rather than boxed. Use a proper sword mount that supports the blade rather than a hook under the guard, and keep it out of direct sun and away from damp exterior walls.

Can I have my own runes on it

Yes. Use the rune converter on this page, or send us a design of your own. Say where you want it and we will place it on the blade or the scabbard.

How long is the wait

One to two weeks of processing, then free US shipping. If you are buying for a birthday or a wedding, tell us the date in the order notes before you buy so we can be honest about whether it will land in time.

What is in the box

• Fanghowl Damascus arming sword with cast wolf head pommel
• Dark brown leather scabbard over a wooden core
• Care card for carbon steel, blackened fittings and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in arming swords, Damascus swords and longswords, or read the guides on Oakeshott blade types and caring for a pattern welded edge.

Worth a look beside this

A near match for this one is the Runegrain arming sword, 37 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Brasswake arming sword, 37 inches overall. If this one is not quite right, there is the Rosehilt arming sword, 37 inches overall.

The Scrollward flamberge sword covers the other half of the same kit. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom Viking sword page.

For historical fencing rather than the wall, try the Valdris sidesword trainer and see our rapier versus sidesword guide for the details.