Sawglade Hand Forged Polished Steel Sawback Short Sword with Stacked Leather Grip | Domed Oval Pommel and Etched Chevrons | Black Leather Sheath | Norse Collector Gift | RK-2070

The Sawglade is a single edged short sword with a deep upswept belly, a clipped point and a long row of saw teeth cut into the spine. The blade is plain high carbon steel taken to a bright mirror polish rather than pattern welded, so the flat reads as one clean unbroken surface, broken only by an etched trio of chevrons and a small compass roundel set just forward of the guard. In length and mass it sits between a heavy fighting knife and a full sword, which is exactly where most working blades in European history actually lived.

Saw teeth on the back of a blade are not a modern film invention. Nineteenth century European engineer and pioneer troops carried short sidearms with a sawback spine so that one piece of steel could serve as a sidearm and as a field tool, cutting brush, sawing tent poles and clearing obstacles. The teeth on this piece follow that idea, cut as a real row rather than a scalloped decoration. The Sawglade is made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked over by Ransack Viking, and shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. It arrives with the fitted black leather sheath shown in the photographs.

Short blades are easier to live with than long ones, and how to buy a first sword covers why. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. Single edged blades of similar length sit in the messers.

Specifications

What the saw teeth on the spine are actually for

A sawback spine is one of those features people assume is decorative until they use one. The teeth are cut on the thick unsharpened back of the blade, which is the only part of a single edged blade with enough material behind it to take a set of teeth without weakening the piece. Because the spine is already the strongest section, cutting teeth into it costs almost nothing in strength while adding a second working surface to a blade that would otherwise be dead metal on that side.

The teeth here are raked, which means each one leans towards the point rather than standing straight up. That gives a cutting stroke on the push and a clean release on the pull, so the saw bites into green wood, cord and hide instead of skidding. It will never replace a proper carpentry saw on seasoned timber, and it is not meant to. What a sawback does well is rough field work: notching a stake, opening a bundle, working through fibrous material where a knife edge would bind. On a blade of this size the row runs far enough back that you can hold the grip normally and still get real stroke length.

Plain high carbon steel and why the polish matters

This blade is 1095 high carbon steel, hardened and tempered to a working range of 54 to 58 HRC. That is deliberately not the hardest a steel can be taken. Carbon steel in the high fifties holds a clean edge through real cutting and still bends rather than chips when it meets something it should not, which matters on a long single edged blade that gets used with the whole arm rather than the fingers. It is a simple steel with a long record, and it sharpens on anything from a river stone to a diamond plate.

The finish is a bright polish rather than an etched pattern. This piece is not pattern welded and it is not Damascus, and we would rather say so plainly than let a photograph imply otherwise. A polished plain carbon blade shows its geometry honestly: you can read the grind lines, the transition into the clip and the flat behind the edge without any pattern distracting the eye. It also means the surface is uninterrupted, which is why the etched chevrons and roundel above the ricasso stand out as cleanly as they do.

Plain carbon steel will take a patina and will spot with rust if it is left wet. That is the trade for the edge behaviour, and it is easily managed with a wiped film of oil. Stainless would resist the weather better and would not hold an edge the same way on a blade this long.

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 Sawglade that means your engraving would take the place of the chevrons and roundel on the flat rather than being added next to them. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives in Chicago, so it adds a little to the lead time. Full details are on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The large domed pommel on this piece is doing real work. A single edged blade with a deep forward belly wants to run away from the hand, and the mass behind the grip pulls the balance point back towards the guard so the sword feels controllable rather than nose heavy. The result is a piece that turns quickly in the wrist and recovers well from a cut, which is what you want from a blade of this length.

The stacked leather grip is worth a word too. Leather washers pressed onto the tang and turned down to shape give a slightly compressible surface that grows warm in the hand and does not become slick the way a hard polished grip can. It is a construction used on working blades for well over a century for exactly that reason. Hold it with the web of the hand up against the pommel collar and the sword sits naturally at the angle the belly wants to cut at.

This is a hand made collector and display piece with a real edge. It is not sold as a full contact sparring sword and should not be used for cutting drills against hard targets or for any kind of contact work against another blade.

Care

Wipe the blade down after handling. Fingerprints on polished carbon steel are acidic and will etch a mark into the surface within days if they are left. A light film of mineral oil, camellia oil or any purpose made blade oil is enough, applied with a soft cloth and wiped almost dry. Store the sword out of the sheath if it is going to sit for months, because leather holds moisture against steel over time.

The leather sheath wants a wax or cream leather dressing once or twice a year, worked in with a cloth and buffed. Do not soak it, and do not dry it near a radiator or a fire if it does get wet, as forced heat will shrink and harden the fibres. The steel throat and chape can be polished with the same cloth you use on the blade. There is more detail in our steel care guide.

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 short sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the grind, the guard fit, the pommel seating and the sheath before it goes on the shelf, and ships it from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Nothing here is drop shipped straight from an importer catalogue to your door without being looked at first, which is the whole reason we hold stock rather than passing orders through. Shipping inside the United States is free. Processing usually takes one to two weeks, and adding engraving extends that. Returns are accepted within seven days. 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 piece 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 polish will carry its own faint working marks, the etched chevrons will sit a fraction differently on the flat, the leather washers of the grip will have their own grain and tone, and the exact curve of the belly varies a little because it is ground by eye. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is the point of buying something a person made rather than something a machine stamped.

Frequently asked questions

Is this Damascus steel

No. This blade is plain 1095 high carbon steel with a bright polish. It is not pattern welded and we do not describe it as Damascus. If you want a pattern welded blade, look at the Damascus swords section, where the layered pattern is etched into the surface and visible across the whole flat.

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes. It arrives with a working edge that will cut. It is not a razor and we would not want it to be on a blade this long, because a very fine edge on a chopping profile rolls the first time it meets anything hard. Treat it as sharp from the moment you open the box.

Can I actually saw with the spine

On green wood, cord, hide and fibrous material, yes. On seasoned hardwood it will work but slowly, and a real saw will beat it every time. Think of it as a field feature rather than a workshop tool.

Does the sheath have a belt loop

The sheath is a fitted leather scabbard with a steel throat and chape rather than a belt sheath with a loop stitched on the back. It is made to carry on a frog or a hanger, or to sit alongside the sword on display.

Will mine look exactly like the photographs

Close, but not identical. The profile, the fittings and the sheath are the same. The polish, the leather tone and the precise placement of the etching vary because each one is finished by hand.

How long does it take to arrive

Processing is normally one to two weeks from our Chicago warehouse, then standard free shipping within the United States on top. If you add rune engraving or your own design, allow extra time for the cutting to be done here before it ships.

What is in the box

• Sawglade polished steel sawback short sword
• Fitted black leather sheath with steel throat and chape
• Light protective oil film on the blade
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

More in short swords, swords, Norse arms and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides.

Worth a look beside this

If this one is not quite right, there is the Sawreave short sword, pattern welded Damascus. Also in this group is the Chainfell short sword, forged from 1095. Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Duneglint short sword, high carbon steel.

From the same corner of the shop, there is the Bronzeleaf gladius. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom Viking sword page.