Snowhilt Hand Forged 1095 Steel Knightly Arming Sword with White Leather Grip & Celtic Knotwork Guard | 37 Inch Overall | Brass Toned Fittings and Tan Leather Scabbard | Wedding Gift | RK-1994

Snowhilt is a single hand knightly arming sword built pale rather than dark. The blade is bright polished 1095 with a long shallow taper to the point, the guard is a broad rectangular bar carrying a raised band of Celtic plaitwork engraved along both faces, the grip is wrapped in white leather between polished ring ferrules, and the pommel is a wide disc with a white leather inset in its centre. Every metal fitting is polished to a warm brass tone, which is what gives the sword its particular look: cream, gold and steel rather than the black and iron of most medieval pieces.

Pale hilts are historically real and not a modern conceit. Bone, ivory, antler and light woods all appear on European sword grips, and bleached or alum tawed leather, which is treated with aluminium salts rather than tannins, comes out a pale cream colour and was used across medieval Europe for gloves, bindings and fine cases. A white gripped sword read as an expensive object precisely because pale materials show every mark and only someone who did not have to work with the thing could keep one clean. This sword is hand made in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the engraving, the ferrule seating and the leather, and ships it from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. It arrives with the tan leather scabbard shown, with its integral belt hanger.

A single handed sword is the piece reenactors ask about most, and what reenactors actually want covers what gets used and what gets shelved. Insular knotwork travelled with the Norse and came back changed, and the symbols guide covers the shapes that recur. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

How to read the knotwork on the guard

The band running along this guard is plaitwork, the simplest and oldest member of the interlace family that runs through Irish, Pictish, Anglo Saxon and Norse art. The rule that governs it is strict and it is what separates real interlace from decoration that merely looks tangled: the strand alternates over, under, over, under without exception, and wherever a band appears to end it either turns back on itself or joins another strand, so the whole pattern is continuous. Once you know that, you can check any piece of knotwork in a second. Follow one ribbon with your eye. If it ever crosses the same way twice in a row, the carver got it wrong.

On this guard the plait is a three strand band with the ribbons running the length of the bar, cut as a raised design against a textured recessed ground so that the ribbons stand proud and take the light while the background stays matte. That is the same relief logic used on carved stone crosses and on cast metalwork mounts, where the contrast between a polished raised element and a punched or stippled ground does the work that colour would do in a manuscript.

1095 steel, warm toned fittings and white leather

The blade is 1095, a plain high carbon steel with roughly one percent carbon and almost no alloy content. It is the standard for hand forged blades because it works honestly, quenching cleanly and taking a mirror polish that stays even across a wide flat. This one is at 54 to 58 HRC, which is the correct band for a blade of this length: hard enough for a real working edge, soft enough that thirty inches of steel flexes and returns rather than taking a set.

We describe the fittings as polished metal with a warm brass tone. That is what we can see and confirm from the pieces in front of us, and we are not going to name an alloy we have not had analysed. What we can say is that they are solid, machined and polished cleanly, that the ring ferrules on the grip are fitted tight against the leather rather than floating, and that the pommel is properly seated on the tang.

The white leather on the grip and in the pommel inset is the part that needs the most honesty. Pale leather stains. It will pick up dye transfer from a dark glove, ink from a hand that has been writing, and oil from skin, and unlike a black grip it shows all of it. Treat it the way you would treat a pale leather watch strap: handle it with clean dry hands, keep it away from newsprint and denim, and it will stay looking like the photographs for years.

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 guard already carries the plaitwork band, so a rune line usually goes on the bright flat of the blade below the guard instead, where there is a clear run of polished steel and nothing competing with it. A date on the blade and the knotwork left alone on the guard is the combination most people choose. Engraving is done here in the United States after the sword arrives. Placement options are on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The grip takes a full fist with a small amount of room to slide, which is what a one hand medieval sword should offer, and the ring ferrules give your hand positive stops at both ends so it does not creep under load. The disc pommel sits behind the hand as a counterweight and pulls the balance point back toward the guard, so the point lifts easily and the sword changes line from the wrist rather than the shoulder.

This is a collector, ceremonial 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. It suits a wall, a stand, a handfasting or a wedding table far better than it suits a field.

Care

1095 is not stainless and a bright polish shows a fingerprint faster than any other finish. Wipe the blade after every handling and keep a thin film of oil on the steel. Mineral oil, camellia oil or a light gun oil all work. Do not leave it sheathed for long stretches in a damp room, because leather draws moisture and holds it against a blade. The warm toned fittings need nothing but a dry microfibre cloth. The white leather on the grip and the pommel inset should be cleaned only with a barely damp cloth and left to dry naturally, never soaked and never treated with a dark conditioner that will tint it. The tan scabbard takes a neutral leather cream once or twice a year. Our steel care notes cover the blade side in detail.

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 sword is hand made in the Czech Republic by people who make blades for a living. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking brings the pieces in, unwraps every one, checks the polish for scratches, the crispness of the engraved plait, the seating of the ferrules against the white leather, the fit of the pommel on the tang and the way the blade sits 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 with 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. Leather is a natural material and pale leather shows its origin most clearly of all: the white on your grip may run a shade warmer or cooler than ours and the grain will not match. The polish tone on the fittings varies with the buff. The engraved plait is cut to the same pattern but the depth of the ground and the exact register of the band along the bar shift a little from guard to guard. The tan of the scabbard varies with the hide and the batch of finish. The steel, the dimensions and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Will the white grip stay white?

With clean dry hands and sensible storage, yes. Pale leather does not tolerate dye transfer from dark gloves, denim or newsprint, and it does not tolerate being soaked. Wipe it with a barely damp cloth and let it dry naturally. Do not use a coloured conditioner on it.

Are the fittings solid brass?

We describe them as polished metal with a warm brass tone because that is what we can confirm by eye. We will not name an alloy we have not had tested. They are solid, well finished and properly fitted.

Is this suitable as a wedding or handfasting sword?

It is one of the better pieces in the range for it. The pale grip and warm fittings photograph well against most colour schemes, the engraving option lets you put both names or the date on the blade, and it hangs on a wall afterwards rather than going in a drawer.

Is it sharp out of the box?

It arrives with a working edge rather than a razor edge. If it is going to be handled at an event or by guests, ask in the order notes and we will deliver it blunt.

Is the scabbard included?

Yes. The tan leather scabbard shown in the photographs ships with the sword, with its integral belt hanger. There is no separate charge.

How quickly will it ship?

Processing is one to two weeks from our Memphis warehouse and longer with engraving, since that is cut here in the United States after the sword arrives. If you have a wedding date, tell us in the order notes and we will confirm before we take the work on. Shipping within the United States is free.

What is in the box

• Snowhilt knightly arming sword in 1095 high carbon steel
• Tan leather scabbard with an integral belt hanger
• Protective wrap and a padded shipping carton
• Care card covering blade oiling and pale leather cleaning
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in arming swords, the wider sword range, our engraved and personalised pieces and wedding and groomsmen gifts. Background reading lives in the guides.