Trinefold Hand Forged Damascus Viking Sword with Triquetra Lobed Pommel | Five Lobe Steel Hilt | Brown Leather Grip and Mounted Scabbard | Celtic Collector Gift | RK-2055

The Trinefold is a Viking sword with a triquetra cut into the crown of its pommel. The pommel is a five lobed polished steel casting, one tall central lobe with two lower ones on each side, and the knot sits in a ring on the central lobe where it faces out whenever the sword is carried or hung. Below it the grip is brown leather over a full tang, the lower guard is a gently arched steel bar, and the blade is pattern welded and broad, with a shallow fuller down the centre and a small etched knot device just below the guard. It comes with a brown leather scabbard mounted with a polished steel throat and a rounded steel chape.

The triquetra is older and stranger than most of the symbols sold as Norse. It is a single unbroken line looped into three arcs, and it appears first on Insular metalwork and in Irish and Northumbrian manuscripts, then travels north with the same craftsmen and traders who carried the rest of that decorative language into Scandinavia. It is cut on the Funbo runestone in Uppland and worked into Norse mounts and brooches, which is why it belongs on a Viking hilt even though it did not start there. This sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the grind, the hilt assembly and the scabbard fit one piece at a time, and ships it from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse.

Pommel, fuller and grip length are what separate a good Norse sword from a prop, and what to look for in a Viking sword goes through them. That three cornered knot is a triquetra, one of several covered in our run through the Norse symbols. A board from the round shields is what usually stands beside one.

Specifications

Reading the triquetra properly

Draw a triquetra and you will find you never lift the pen. Three arcs cross one another so that each loop passes over one neighbour and under the other, and the line closes back on its own beginning. That single unbroken path is the whole point of Insular interlace, and it is the reason the same figure was later borrowed by Christian artists for the Trinity and by modern designers for everything from album covers to tattoos. In its original setting it is a puzzle of continuity rather than a creed.

What it is not is a Valknut. Those get confused constantly. A Valknut is three straight sided triangles locked together, angular and pointed, and it carries a strong association with Odin and the slain. A triquetra is curved, made of arcs, and reads as knotwork rather than as geometry. On this sword it is cut into the steel and darkened so the over and under of the weave stays legible even at arm’s length, and the ring around it holds the design tight on a lobe that is not much wider than a thumbnail.

Pattern welded steel, distal taper and the fuller

The blade is forge welded from alternating layers of 1095 high carbon steel and 15N20. Nickel in the 15N20 resists the etchant, so those layers stay bright while the 1095 darkens, and the folded structure of the billet reads as a long grain down the blade. Hardened and tempered it sits at roughly 58 to 60 HRC. No two blades carry the same figure, because the billet is drawn out under a hammer rather than rolled to a pattern.

Two things make a broad blade like this feel lighter than it looks. The first is distal taper, the gradual thinning of the blade from shoulder to point, which removes steel from the far end where it costs the most in swing weight. The second is the fuller, the shallow groove down the centre. Steel in the middle of a flat blade does very little to resist bending, so taking some of it out drops weight and keeps stiffness, which is the same reasoning that makes an I beam stiffer per pound than a solid bar. It is not a blood groove and it never was.

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 a rune line runs down the blade below the guard, taking the place of the small knot device, and the engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives. The triquetra on the pommel is cut before the hilt is assembled and is not changed. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The grip is short by modern taste and correct by Viking age standards. A period hilt was built to hold the hand in one place between the guard and the pommel rather than to let it travel, and the heavy five lobed pommel counterweights a broad blade so the balance point stays close to the guard. Pick it up and it turns from the wrist rather than the elbow, which is what makes a sword of this type quick despite its width.

This is a collector and display sword and a reenactment prop for drill and photography. It is not built for full contact sparring and should not be brought edge to edge against another blade. If you hang it in the scabbard, take the weight through the scabbard body so the leather is not held in a bend for years at a time.

Care

An etched Damascus surface is open at a microscopic level and will spot if it is left damp or handled and put away. Wipe the blade after every session, then put a thin film of mineral oil or light gun oil over the whole flat and work a little into the fuller, which is where oil drains out and moisture gathers. Lift any rust spot with oil on a soft cloth rather than abrasive paper, since abrasive cuts through the etch and leaves a bright scar in the pattern. Our steel care guide has the whole routine.

The brown leather scabbard should be fed once or twice a year with a neutral conditioner, kept out of direct sun and away from radiators, and never used for long term storage in a humid room. Wipe the steel throat and chape dry after handling and bring them back occasionally with a metal polish on a cotton cloth.

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

Blade, hilt and scabbard are all made by hand in the Czech Republic. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and relabelled. Ransack Viking buys the pieces, checks each one in Memphis and ships from our own warehouse, with free shipping inside the United States. Processing takes one to two weeks because every sword is inspected and any engraving is cut before it goes out. Returns are accepted within seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

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. Every Damascus blade carries its own grain, because the billet is folded and drawn by hand. The depth of the triquetra cutting, the tone of the etch, the exact swell of the five pommel lobes and the colour and grain of the brown leather all shift a little between one sword and the next. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is what you are buying when you buy something worked by hand.

Frequently asked questions

Is a triquetra a Viking symbol or a Celtic one?

Both, in the end. It begins in Insular art in Ireland and Northumbria and travels into Scandinavia with the same decorative language, where it turns up on runestones and on Norse metalwork. It is not the same thing as a Valknut.

How sharp is it when it arrives?

It comes with a working edge rather than a razor edge, which is normal for a display and reenactment sword and safer in transit. A fine stone will take it further if you want.

Is the Damascus pattern etched on or forged in?

Forged in. The blade is welded from 1095 and 15N20 and the layers run all the way through, which is why the pattern shows on the edge bevel and the spine as well as the flat.

Will the grip fit a large hand?

Viking grips are short by design and a large hand will fill this one completely, with the heel of the hand riding onto the underside of the pommel. That is how the type was meant to be held rather than a fault.

Can I have the pommel knot changed?

No, the triquetra is cut before the hilt is assembled. Any rune line or design you order is cut on the blade instead, replacing the small knot device below the guard.

How long does shipping take?

Processing is one to two weeks while the sword is checked and any engraving is cut. Shipping inside the United States is free and goes out from our Memphis warehouse.

What is in the box

• One Trinefold pattern welded Damascus Viking sword with an engraved triquetra pommel
• Matching brown leather scabbard with polished steel throat and rounded chape
• Elder Futhark rune engraving or your own Viking design where ordered
• 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 Viking swords, Damascus swords and swords, or read the guides.