Wheelgird Hand Forged 1095 Steel Knightly Arming Sword | 37 Inch Overall | Wheel Pommel and Straight Cross Guard with Brown Leather Scabbard | Medieval Collector Gift | RK-1934

The Wheelgird is a knightly arming sword of the plainest and most useful kind. A straight steel cross with a small cut line pattern at its centre, a brown leather grip with a raised band at the middle, a wheel pommel with a raised centre boss, and a bright fullered blade with no decoration on it at all. It comes with a brown leather scabbard shaped to the blade. There is nothing on this sword that is not doing a job, which is precisely why the type stayed in service across Europe for something close to four hundred years.

Ewart Oakeshott, who built the classification most collectors still use, made the point that the arming sword is best understood through its pommel and cross rather than its blade, because the fittings changed while the blade shape drifted. A wheel pommel with a raised centre boss and a plain straight cross of this proportion sits comfortably in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the period when a sword like this hung on the belt of a man who fought mainly with a lance or a poleaxe. This one is forged, ground, heat treated and finished in the Czech Republic.

If you have seen the phrase battle ready and wondered what it covers, display or battle ready explains it. 1095 is the plain carbon steel used here, and the steel glossary explains what the number means and why it takes an edge. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

What the wheel pommel is for

People assume a pommel is a counterweight and stop there. It is a counterweight, but the shape of a wheel does two more things that a plain lump could not.

First, the disc is wide and flat in the plane of the blade and thin across it. That means the mass sits where it does the most good, resisting the blade rotating out of line during a cut, while staying narrow enough that it does not foul the wrist when the hand rolls over. Try holding a sword with a spherical pommel and one with a wheel and the difference in how freely the wrist moves is immediate.

Second, the raised boss at the centre of the wheel is where the tang comes through and is peened over, so the peen sits on a solid shoulder of steel rather than on a thin disc. A great many surviving medieval swords have failed at the grip or the scabbard and are still perfectly sound at the pommel.

The straight cross is the third part of the same idea. It is long enough to shelter the hand from a blade sliding down the edge, short enough not to catch on a shield rim or a saddle, and it is set square so the flat of the guard tells your hand which way the edge is pointing without you looking. Grip the sword blindfolded and you will still know the edge alignment. That is the design working.

1095 high carbon steel, ground plain

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel taken to 54 to 58 HRC. The blade carries a central fuller and a distal taper, and the two together manage the weight. The blade is noticeably thicker at the shoulder than it is a hand span from the point, and that thinning along the length is what keeps a 30 inch blade from feeling like a crowbar.

Distal taper is the detail most reproduction swords skip because it is slow to grind and invisible in a photograph. It is also the single thing that most changes how a sword feels. A blade of constant thickness with a good balance point still swings like a bar of steel. A blade that thins properly toward the tip carries its mass where the hand can control it.

The finish is satin rather than mirror. That is a deliberate choice on an undecorated sword. A satin surface reads as tool marks and honest grinding rather than as jewellery, it hides handling far better, and it is what a working sword of this period would actually have looked like a month after it left the cutler.

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. The Wheelgird arrives with a plain blade, so the whole upper blade, both faces of the wheel pommel and the leather of the scabbard are open ground. A short inscription along the blade near the guard is the most common request on this sword. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The point of balance is roughly three and a half inches ahead of the cross. That is close in, and it is what makes an arming sword of this pattern feel so different from a longer war sword. The point comes up quickly, the sword changes line with the wrist alone, and thrusting feels natural rather than like an afterthought.

This is a sharp, hand forged sword sold for collecting, display and controlled solo target cutting. It is not sparring equipment and it is not built for contact work against another person or another blade. Anyone doing partnered drills needs blunt rebated steel made specifically for that.

Care

1095 is bare steel with nothing between it and the air. Wipe the blade after handling, because a fingerprint left overnight in a humid room will start to etch itself into the surface. Keep a light film of mineral oil or camellia oil on the blade and top it up every couple of months, more often if the sword hangs in a garage or a basement.

Take the sword out of the scabbard for storage. Leather traps humidity and its tanning residues mark bright steel over time. Feed the scabbard twice a year with a neutral balm and keep it out of direct sun. Our steel care page covers the full routine for plain carbon as well as pattern welded blades.

If it is going on a wall, hanging swords and axes safely covers mounts, fixings and what not to do.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This arming 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 satin grind lines run slightly differently on each blade, the wheel is turned by hand so its face is never identical twice, and the leather on the grip and scabbard varies in grain and in the depth of the brown. The length, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What does the fuller do?

It takes weight out of the centre of the blade while the edges keep their stiffness, the same idea as an I beam. Together with the distal taper it keeps a 30 inch blade quick in the hand.

Does it arrive sharp?

Yes, with a working edge. Tell us in the order notes if you would rather have it shipped blunt for display and we will leave it unsharpened at no extra charge.

Is this sword good for a beginner collector?

It is one of the better first swords precisely because it is plain. There is no decoration to distract from the shape, and the wheel pommel and straight cross are the reference points everything else in medieval swords is described against.

Will the scabbard fit a belt?

The scabbard body is plain, so it hangs from a frog, a lashed suspension or a baldric rather than sliding onto a belt directly. Any standard medieval sword belt arrangement will carry it.

Can it be hung on a wall?

Yes. Use a horizontal two point mount supporting the blade near the cross and near the point. Avoid hanging it by the scabbard alone, since leather will stretch under a constant load.

How long is the wait?

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping within the United States with a tracking number.

What is in the box

• One Wheelgird knightly arming sword in 1095 high carbon steel
• One fitted brown leather scabbard
• A protective film of oil on the blade for transit
• Care notes for high carbon steel and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Nearby on the rack: arming swords, swords, longswords and sword stands and displays. Background reading lives in the guides.

Other pieces in this group

Also in this group is the Ivorycrest arming sword, 37 inches overall. Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Emberknot arming sword, 36 inches overall. Another in the same line is the Discthane arming sword, 38 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Silverthorn movie sword. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the custom Viking sword page.

For a sharp historical pattern, see the Hallvarn bauernwehr from our HEMA line, which is not made for sparring, and check our blunt versus sharp guide too.