Cagebrand Hand Forged Damascus Basket Hilt Broadsword | 38 Inch Overall | Blackened Basket and Brass Banding with Etched Triquetra Panel and Black Scabbard | Highland Gift | RK-2104

The Cagebrand is a basket hilt broadsword built around a pattern welded Damascus blade. The guard is the piece that catches your eye first. Broad blackened plates are bound at their edges with polished brass, held apart by curved bars that wrap the whole hand, with a single brass rosette rivet on the outer plate and a triquetra etched into the panel beside it. Inside sits a ribbed grip, and the hilt finishes in a blackened ball pommel.

Basket hilts appeared when armour left the battlefield and not before. As long as a fighter wore a steel gauntlet, a simple crossguard was enough. Once gauntlets went out of use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the hand became the most exposed target on the body, and swordsmiths across Europe answered with cages, shells and bars, the Scottish broadsword being the most famous of them. This one is made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked by Ransack Viking, and shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse with the black scabbard shown.

A cage around the hand changes how a sword carries, and how to buy a first sword covers what to weigh up. That three cornered knot is a triquetra, one of several covered in our run through the Norse symbols. For a Scottish blade with more mass behind it, look at the claymores.

Specifications

How a basket hilt actually protects a hand

A cage looks like it works by simply being in the way, and partly it does. The more interesting part is what happens to an incoming edge that lands on it. The bars are curved rather than flat for the same reason a helmet is domed. A curved surface turns a blow into a glancing one and moves the energy sideways instead of absorbing it head on. The wide plates then cover the gaps between bars where a narrow point could otherwise slip through.

There is a cost, and it is worth being honest about. A basket fixes your hand in one orientation. You cannot roll the grip in your fingers the way you can on an open hilted sword, so basket hilt swordplay is built around wrist and shoulder rather than finger control. Historical baskets were usually lined with leather or cloth so the fingers did not sit against bare steel, and you will find the same principle in most surviving Scottish broadswords in museum collections.

The triquetra, the Damascus and the blackened finish

The triquetra is three interlaced arcs drawn without a break, found on Celtic manuscript work, on Norse carving and on the Jelling stone in Denmark. Because it is one continuous line it was read as a symbol of things that have no beginning or end, and later Christian art borrowed it wholesale. What it never was is a fixed religious badge with a single agreed meaning, so treat it as an old and handsome piece of interlace rather than a coded message.

The blade is 1095 and 15N20 forge welded together, folded, ground and acid etched at 58 to 60 HRC. The dark and bright lines are simply the two steels reacting differently to acid. The basket has a blackened oxide finish over the steel, which is a protective layer rather than a paint, and the brass banding at the plate edges is polished and left bright so it will pick up a warm patina as the sword is handled.

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, so runes ordered for the guard plate take the place of the triquetra. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, and on this sword the outer basket plate gives you the largest and flattest canvas. More detail is on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

A basket adds weight at the hilt, which is why basket hilt swords usually feel better balanced than their raw weight suggests. The Cagebrand carries its balance point close to the guard, so the tip is lively and the sword recovers quickly after a cut. The enclosed grip means you should check your hand fits comfortably before ordering if you have large hands, since a basket is not adjustable in the way an open hilt is.

This is a hand forged sword with a real edge, intended for display, collections and controlled cutting practice on soft targets. It is not sold as a full contact sparring sword and should not be crossed against another steel blade.

Care

Keep a thin coat of mineral or camellia oil on the Damascus blade and wipe it down after handling, since carbon steel corrodes and pitting flattens the pattern. Do not leave the sword sheathed for long storage. The blackened basket is more corrosion resistant than the bright blade but it is not immune, so give it the same light oil once in a while and never scrub it with an abrasive, which will strip the finish back to grey steel. Polish the brass only if you dislike the darkening. Our steel care notes cover the rest.

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

The Cagebrand is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Basket hilts are slow work because every bar has to be drawn, bent and fitted to the plates individually, which is exactly why so few makers offer them. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking buys these outright, brings them into the United States, unpacks and inspects each sword, and holds stock in our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Allow one to two weeks of processing. Shipping inside the United States is free, 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

Hand made is not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The Damascus pattern is unique to your blade and will never be repeated. The bars of the basket are bent by eye, so their spacing and curve vary slightly, the blackening takes differently across the plates, and the etched triquetra sits a fraction off from one sword to the next. The dimensions, the steels, the heat treat and the build stay the same every time. The character is not, and that is what separates this from a stamped reproduction.

Frequently asked questions

Will my hand fit inside the basket

The basket is sized for an average adult hand with room to spare. If you wear a large glove, message us before ordering and we will measure the internal width of the piece we are about to send you.

Is the blackening painted on

No. It is a chemical black oxide finish on the steel itself, so it will not chip like paint. It can be worn thin at contact points over many years of handling.

Is the blade sharp

It arrives with a cutting edge. Ask in your order notes and we will blunt it before shipping for display or reenactment use.

Is this a Scottish broadsword

It is built on the basket hilt broadsword pattern that Scotland made famous, with a Norse triquetra on the guard rather than the pierced heart and diamond shapes of a period Highland hilt.

Can runes go on the blade instead of the guard

Yes. The wide flat above the ricasso takes a rune line well, though the etched Damascus pattern makes engraving there less sharply visible than on the plain blackened guard plate.

What is the delivery time

Processing takes one to two weeks, then free shipping inside the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• Cagebrand basket hilt broadsword with a 1095 and 15N20 Damascus blade
• Blackened steel basket with polished brass banding and a brass rosette rivet
• Etched triquetra panel on the outer guard plate
• Black scabbard with banded fittings
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

See the rest of the swords, the Damascus swords and the wider Norse arms range. Background reading is in the guides.

Near neighbours in the shop

Worth putting side by side with this is the Crimsoncage shell hilt sword, 38 inches overall. In the same category sits the Nightcage shell hilt sword, 37 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Emberguard shell hilt sword, 37 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Nightbriar longsword. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Viking sword page.

Training at a HEMA club? Look at the Orveldt sidesword for drills and free play, and check our rapier versus sidesword guide as well.