Oathstone Hand Forged Knightly Arming Sword | Broad Fullered Double Edged Blade | Triskele Engraved Disc Pommel with Russet Leather Grip and Matching Scabbard | Medieval Collector Gift | RK-2015

The Oathstone is a single hand arming sword of the kind carried across northern Europe from the eleventh century onward. The blade is straight, double edged and cut with a broad shallow fuller that runs most of its length. The crossguard is a plain bar of polished steel with slightly flared ends, the grip is bound in russet leather over a shaped core with a raised riser at its middle, and the pommel is a round steel disc engraved with a triple spiral.

Swords of this family were the everyday sidearm of the mounted and the well off for the better part of four hundred years, and they survive in enormous numbers because so many of them were dropped in rivers. The Thames, the Witham and the Danube have all given up dozens. What makes them fascinating is how little the shape changed. A blade found in a Norwegian grave and one pulled out of an English riverbed three centuries later are close enough in profile that only the pommel really dates them, which is why Ewart Oakeshott built his whole typology around pommel and guard shape rather than blade shape. The form worked, so nobody replaced it.

Every Oathstone is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks each one for grind, fit and finish, and ships from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. It arrives with its russet leather scabbard and a lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

Insular and Norse fittings get mixed up constantly on screen, and the arms on screen rated for accuracy sorts out which is which. The triskele is the three legged spiral and it is older than the Norse use of it, which the symbols guide explains. Wider blades of the same centuries sit in the broadswords.

Specifications

What the disc pommel is actually doing

People assume the pommel is where a sword is decorated. It is really where a sword is tuned. A blade on its own is desperately point heavy, and swinging one feels like swinging a shovel. Put a lump of steel behind the hand and the balance point walks backward toward the guard, and suddenly the same blade turns on a wrist instead of an arm. Move the balance a couple of inches and you change the entire character of the sword, which is why medieval pommels come in so many sizes and shapes for blades that are otherwise near identical.

A flat disc like this one is the classic answer for a single hand blade. It puts its mass out at the edges of a wide flat circle rather than bunched in a ball, so it gives you counterweight without adding much bulk against the wrist, and it sits comfortably against the heel of the hand. Look at the grip and you will see a raised band around its middle. That is a riser, and it is not decorative either. It stops the hand creeping up or down the grip under load and gives you a fixed reference point so the edge alignment stays where you set it. The triple spiral cut into the pommel face is a Celtic and Norse carving motif, engraved into the steel rather than stamped or plated.

The steel and how it is hardened

The blade is hand forged from 1095, a plain high carbon steel with no chromium or vanadium in it. That simplicity is the point. It hardens predictably through the section, it grinds cleanly, and it takes a bright polish that alloyed stainless steels cannot match. It is also the steel most likely to behave the way a smith expects it to, which matters more on a long blade than on a short one.

Hardness is 54 to 58 HRC. That is deliberately not as hard as we take our Damascus knives, and on a long sword blade that is the correct decision. A long blade that is too hard is brittle in bending, and a bent sword can be straightened while a snapped one cannot. At this hardness the edge holds well through normal use and the body has enough temper to take a knock and recover.

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 the Oathstone that means the triple spiral on the pommel face can be swapped for your own mark, or a line of runes can run down the fuller and leave the pommel as it is. The scabbard leather takes a stamped line as well. See the engraving page for lettering sizes and lead times.

Handling and balance

Hold it with the disc pommel resting against the base of the palm rather than gripping tight in the middle of the leather. With the hand set against the riser the balance sits close in front of the guard, which is what gives an arming sword its quick recovery and its reputation for feeling lighter in the hand than it does on a scale. The flared ends of the crossguard give the index finger something to register against if you hook it over the guard, which many people find natural and which shows up in medieval fighting manuals.

This is a hand forged, hardened sword sold as a display and collector piece. It is not sold as a sparring sword and no claim is made that it is safe for contact. Do not strike it against another blade, a shield or a hard target.

Care

1095 is carbon steel with nothing stainless in it and a bright polished blade shows every fingerprint. Wipe the blade with a dry cloth after handling and lay on a thin film of mineral oil or blade oil before it goes back into the scabbard. Leather holds moisture and tanning residue against steel, so do not store the sword sheathed for months on end. A wall rack with the blade in open air is kinder to it. Surface rust lifts with oil and a nylon pad rather than abrasive paper. There is more detail in steel care.

The russet leather on the grip and scabbard wants a thin feed of leather balm once or twice a year, worked in and buffed off. Keep it out of direct sunlight, which fades and cracks dyed leather faster than anything else, and never dry wet leather next to a radiator.

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 arming sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic by people who forge, grind, engrave and stitch leather for a living. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking buys the pieces outright, inspects each one on arrival in Memphis, and ships the ones that pass. They are made in small runs rather than held by the pallet, so allow one to two weeks of processing before an order leaves. Shipping inside the United States is free.

A note on handmade variation

This is a hand made sword, not a machine made or bulk produced one, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The fuller is ground by hand and its width wanders very slightly along the blade, which is normal and is what a hand ground fuller looks like. The triple spiral on the pommel is engraved individually. Russet leather takes dye unevenly by nature, so the grip and the scabbard on your sword may read a shade lighter or warmer than the ones in the photographs, and they will darken with handling. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the groove down the blade a blood groove

No, and it never was. It is a fuller, and it is a stiffness and weight measure. Grinding a shallow channel down the middle takes steel out of the part of the section that contributes least to rigidity, so the blade loses mass without losing much stiffness.

Does it come sharp

Yes, with a working edge finished by hand. If you want it delivered blunt for display in a house with children, add a note to your order and we will send it that way at no extra cost.

Can I use this sword for sparring

No. It is hand forged, hardened and hand finished, but we do not sell it as a sparring sword and it must never be brought into contact with another blade or a hard target. It is a display and collector piece.

Will the leather match between the grip and the scabbard

They are cut and dyed as a pair so they start close, and both will darken with handling and time. Small differences in tone are normal in vegetable dyed leather and are not a defect.

Can I replace the spiral on the pommel with my own design

Yes. Choose your own design in the engraving option and name the pommel as the location. Your design replaces the triple spiral rather than sitting beside it. Runes can go down the fuller instead if you would rather keep the pommel as it is.

When will it reach me

Allow one to two weeks of processing while the piece is checked and any engraving is cut, then normal transit time. Shipping within the United States is free and it goes out from our Memphis warehouse.

What is in the box

• Oathstone knightly arming sword
• Russet leather scabbard matched to the grip
• Blade lightly oiled for transit
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in arming swords, Viking swords and swords, or read the guides.