Runeflame Hand Forged Damascus Viking Sword with Five Lobed Pommel & Rune Etched Fuller | 37 Inch Overall | Twisted Wire Grip and Brown Leather Scabbard | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1991

Runeflame is a Viking Age sword built to the shape that dominated northern Europe from roughly the eighth century to the eleventh. The pommel is a five lobed cap sitting on a straight upper guard, the lower guard is a thick straight bar, the grip is wound tight with coiled wire, and the blade is broad, double edged and cut with a wide shallow fuller that runs almost the full length. The blade is Damascus, and a line of Elder Futhark runes is etched down the flat beside the fuller. Every fitting is polished bright with a warm bronze tone.

The lobed pommel is the single most recognisable feature of a Norse sword and archaeologists use it to date finds. Jan Petersen sorted hundreds of excavated Viking swords in 1919 by hilt shape alone, and the lobed forms, where a curved cap is divided into three, five or seven rounded segments, sit near the heart of that sequence. The lobes are cast or forged as one piece with a hollow underside and then peened onto the tang, which is why so many survive intact when the blade beside them has rusted to a shadow. This sword is hand made in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the pattern weld, the peening, the wire wrap and the scabbard fit, and ships it from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. It arrives with the brown leather scabbard shown, fitted with a leather belt hanger.

Screen Norse kit gets the sword wrong more often than it gets it right, and the screen arms rated for accuracy rates the ones you have seen. The staves are Elder Futhark, the oldest of the Norse alphabets, and every Elder Futhark rune is written out with the name and sound of each one. A board from the round shields is what usually stands beside one.

Specifications

Pattern welding, the Ulfberht swords and what you are looking at

The rippling figure in this fuller is Damascus, made by forge welding alternating layers of 1095 and 15N20 into a billet, drawing it out, folding it and drawing it again until the layer count runs into the hundreds. The two steels carry different amounts of nickel, so when the finished blade is etched the 15N20 stays bright and the 1095 darkens, and the layer boundaries surface as the pattern you can see. The pattern is not painted on and it is not a coating. It goes all the way through the blade, which is why it survives sharpening.

This technique is the descendant of what Viking Age smiths actually did. Before bloomery iron could be made reliably clean, the answer to inconsistent steel was to weld many thin pieces together so that the weak spots of one layer were backed by the strong spots of the next. Some of the finest surviving Norse blades carry an inlaid inscription reading VLFBERHT, made from iron letters hammered into the fuller, and metallurgy on those blades shows crucible steel of a quality that European bloomeries of the period could not produce locally. Whoever made them had access to something better and signed the work. This sword carries a rune line rather than a Latin inscription, etched rather than inlaid, but it stands in the same tradition of putting words where the light hits them.

The wide shallow fuller is doing structural work too. On a broad Viking blade the fuller takes a meaningful percentage of the mass out of the middle of the blade while leaving the edges and spine intact, which keeps the sword quick without making it flimsy. Combined with the mass of the lobed pommel behind the hand, that is what gives a sword of this pattern its distinctive lively feel.

Damascus steel and the heat treat

The billet is 1095 and 15N20, taken to 58 to 60 HRC. That is harder than the plain carbon arming swords in our range and it is the right window for a laminated blade, because the alternating layers give the blade toughness through their structure and let the smith push hardness a little further than a monosteel of the same section would tolerate. Neither steel is stainless. The etch that reveals the pattern also leaves the surface chemically open, so a Damascus blade needs oil more than a polished one does.

The fittings are polished metal with a warm tone, and the wire on the grip is wound under tension and finished flush at both ends so there is nothing to catch a hand. The pommel is peened over the tang rather than glued or threaded, which is the traditional method and the one that stays tight.

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. This blade already carries a rune line beside the fuller, so your own line takes that place rather than joining it. Engraving is done here in the United States after the sword arrives. Placement options are set out on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Norse swords are shorter in the grip than people expect. The space between the lower guard and the lobed pommel takes a fist and very little more, which is exactly what the originals do, and it means the pommel sits against the heel of your hand rather than floating behind it. That contact is part of how the sword steers. The balance point sits a few inches ahead of the guard, far enough forward to give the cut authority and close enough back that the point still answers.

Treat this as a collector and display sword. The blade is genuinely forged and genuinely hardened, but it has not been proofed for full contact sparring against another blade and it should not be used that way. Draw it, handle it, hang it, keep it oiled.

Care

Damascus wants more attention than plain steel. Wipe the blade after every handling session, because an etched surface holds fingerprints in a way a mirror polish does not, and keep a light film of oil on it at all times. Mineral oil, camellia oil or a light gun oil are all fine. Never store it sheathed for long periods in a humid room, since leather draws moisture and holds it against the steel. If a haze appears, a soft cloth and a little more oil usually lifts it before it becomes a pit. Do not use an abrasive polish, which will flatten the etch contrast and dull the pattern. Detail on all of this is in our steel care notes.

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 sword is hand made in the Czech Republic. It is not drop shipped from an importer catalogue and it has not passed through three warehouses before reaching us. Ransack Viking brings the pieces in, unwraps every one, inspects the weld pattern for cold shuts, checks the peening at the pommel, the tension of the wire wrap and the fit of the blade in the scabbard, and only then does it go on the shelf in our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. Processing runs one to two weeks, and longer if you have added engraving, because that work is done here in the United States after the sword arrives. Shipping inside the United States is free. Returns are accepted within seven days. There is a genuine 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 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. Damascus is the clearest example of that: no two billets fold identically, so the figure in your fuller will not match the figure in ours. The number of lobes, the profile of the guard and the length of the fuller are the same every time. The pattern, the exact polish tone on the fittings, the tightness of the wire coils and the grain and colour of the scabbard leather all vary because each piece is worked by hand from natural materials. The steel, the dimensions and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Damascus pattern real or is it printed on?

It is real. The blade is forge welded from alternating layers of 1095 and 15N20 and then acid etched to bring out the boundary between them. The pattern runs through the steel, not across the surface, so sharpening will not remove it.

What do the runes on the blade say?

The etched line is a decorative Elder Futhark inscription applied by the maker and it is not a translated phrase we can attribute to a historical source. If you want a rune line that means something specific to you, use the rune converter and we will cut your own in its place.

Are the fittings solid brass?

We describe them as polished metal with a warm bronze tone because that is what we can see and confirm. We are not going to name an alloy we have not had analysed. They are solid, polished and peened properly at the pommel.

Will it come sharp?

It arrives with a working edge suited to a display sword rather than a shaving edge. Ask in the order notes if you would prefer it delivered blunt and we will take the edge off before it ships.

Is the scabbard included?

Yes. The brown leather scabbard shown in the photograph ships with the sword, with its leather belt hanger attached. There is nothing extra to buy.

How long will delivery take?

Processing is one to two weeks from our Memphis warehouse, a little longer if engraving is added. Shipping within the United States is free.

What is in the box

• Runeflame Viking sword with a 1095 and 15N20 Damascus blade
• Brown leather scabbard with a leather belt hanger
• Protective wrap and a padded shipping carton
• Care card covering oiling, etch protection and storage
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in Viking swords, Damascus swords, the wider sword range and our scabbards and sheaths. Background reading lives in the guides.