Broadkeel Hand Forged 1095 Steel Fantasy Greatsword | 50 Inch Overall | Slab Sided Blade and Rune Etched Panels with Black Leather Scabbard | Cosplay Display Gift | RK-1946

The Broadkeel is an oversized fantasy greatsword. The blade is a broad slab of steel nearly as wide as a forearm, chamfered along both long edges, closed at the far end with a squared and bevelled tip rather than a point, and marked with two lines of Elder Futhark runes running down its length. The hilt is deliberately small against it, a short cross, a black bound grip and a brass collar under a compact pommel. It ships with a long black leather scabbard.

Real two handed swords were nothing like this, and the comparison is worth making. A Landsknecht zweihander of the sixteenth century ran five to six feet overall and weighed six to eight pounds, which is far lighter than most people guess and lighter than a modern audience expects a huge sword to be. The reason fantasy greatswords look the way they do is that a drawing does not have to obey mass, and the shape that reads best on a page became the shape audiences now recognise. This one is forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

Why an oversized blade is built blunt and squared

The squared end on this blade is a design decision, not an unfinished point, and understanding why explains most of what makes an oversized sword work.

Start with mass. Steel weighs what it weighs. A blade five inches wide and thirty nine inches long carries several times the metal of an ordinary sword blade, and there is no clever grind that makes that go away. The only lever a maker has is thickness, so a slab blade like this is kept thin through the section and chamfered at the edges rather than being ground to a true cutting bevel. That keeps the weight in a range a person can actually lift with two hands.

Then consider the tip. A fine point on a blade this wide would need a very long taper, and a long taper on a thin wide slab produces a whippy, fragile tongue of steel that will bend the first time it touches anything. Closing the end square and bevelling it gives you a fully supported end that is stiff, safe to be near, and impossible to bend by accident. Every serious oversized display sword is built this way, and one that is not should be treated with suspicion.

The last piece is the hilt. It looks undersized because it is, and that is intentional. Making the grip and pommel small exaggerates the blade by contrast, which is the whole visual effect of the fantasy greatsword. A proportionally correct hilt on this blade would look ordinary.

1095 high carbon steel worked large

The blade is 1095 hardened and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC. Heat treating a piece of steel this size is a genuinely different job from heat treating a normal blade, because a wide flat slab wants to warp as it cools and a warped slab cannot be straightened the way a narrow blade can. The answer is a slower, more controlled quench and a longer temper, which is why a piece like this takes longer to make than a sword twice its apparent complexity.

The finish is satin rather than mirror. On a surface this large a mirror polish shows every ripple in the steel and every wave in the grind, and satin reads as honest metal instead. The chamfers along the long edges are ground crisp, because on a slab blade those two lines are the only thing giving the eye a sense of thickness.

The two rune lines are masked and chemically etched after the blade is finished, so they are bitten into the steel to a real depth. They are laid out to break up the large flat area, which is a practical as well as a decorative choice on a blade with this much unbroken surface.

This is our own design. It is not licensed by, endorsed by or associated with any film, game, series or franchise, and it is not a replica of any specific fictional weapon.

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, so your text replaces the existing rune lines rather than being added beneath them. There is more usable surface on this blade than on anything else we make, so a long inscription that would not fit elsewhere fits here. See the engraving page.

Handling and display

Be straightforward about this one. It is a display sword. It is heavy, it is enormous, and it is not built for cutting, sparring or contact work of any kind. The edges are chamfered rather than sharpened, the tip is squared, and none of that is going to change with a stone.

What it is very good at is being looked at. It photographs extremely well because the flat blade catches light in one clean sheet, it works as a costume piece if you are prepared to carry the weight, and on a wall it dominates a room in a way no normal sword does.

Mount it with that weight in mind. Use a three point horizontal mount if you can, or a two point mount rated well above the sword weight, and fix it into studs rather than into plasterboard anchors. A sword this size coming off a wall is a serious event.

Care

Keep a light film of mineral oil on the blade and wipe it after handling. There is a great deal of exposed surface here and bare 1095 has no corrosion resistance built in, so a large flat blade left unattended in a humid room will freckle before a narrow one does.

Dry the etched rune lines properly if the blade ever gets damp, because cut strokes hold water. Feed the scabbard leather twice a year with a neutral balm and do not store the sword sheathed for long periods. Our steel care page covers plain high carbon steel as well as pattern welded.

Forged in Memphis

The Broadkeel is made in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The blade is forged and ground here, hardened and tempered here with the slow controlled cycle a slab this size needs, and masked and etched here. The cross, collar and pommel are fitted and the tang peened here, and the long scabbard is cut, wet formed and stitched in the same building. No part of it is a rebadged import.

Processing runs one to two weeks and this piece often sits at the longer end of that because of its size. Shipping inside the United States is free and it travels in a long braced carton. Every piece carries a lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This greatsword 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 their own way across a surface this large and no two blades catch the light identically. The etched rune lines vary slightly in weight, the brass collar tones differently, and the leather of the grip and the scabbard has its own grain. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp?

No. The long edges are chamfered and the tip is squared and bevelled, which is how an oversized display blade should be built. It is not sold as a cutting sword and it will not be sharpened to order.

How heavy is it really?

Heavy enough that you should plan to hold it with two hands and not for long. It is a display piece first and a costume piece second, and anyone wearing it for a convention day should think about a back rig rather than a hand carry.

Is this from a video game?

No. It is our own design, unlicensed and unconnected to any franchise, and it is not a replica of a specific fictional sword.

Can I put my own text down the blade?

Yes, and this is the best piece we make for it because there is so much room. Your inscription replaces the existing rune lines rather than being added under them.

What mount does it need?

A horizontal wall mount fixed into studs, rated comfortably above the weight of the sword. Do not hang it from plasterboard anchors and do not hang it above where people sit.

How does something this long ship?

In a long braced carton with the blade protected along its full length. United States shipping is free and processing is one to two weeks.

What is in the box

• One Broadkeel fantasy greatsword in 1095 high carbon steel
• One fitted black 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 Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

More oversized and display steel: fantasy and movie swords, longswords, swords and sword stands and displays. Background reading lives in the guides.