Emberguard Hand Forged 1095 Steel Broadsword with Pierced Shell Guard | 37 Inch Overall and 31 Inch Blade | Helm of Awe Cut Shell and Red Panels and Knuckle Bow | Collector Gift | RK-2135

The Emberguard is a broadsword in plain 1095 high carbon steel built around a pierced steel shell hilt. The shell wraps the front of the hand, is cut through with shaped openings backed in deep red, and carries a Helm of Awe stave engraved across its lower face. A side ring stands out from the guard on the outer side, a knuckle bow runs from the shell up to the pommel, and the grip between them is black leather bound with two bands of tight silver wire. The pommel is a small faceted ball finished with a button. The blade is broad, straight, double edged and satin polished, and it ships in a dark brown leather scabbard.

The stave cut into the shell is Aegishjalmur, the Helm of Awe. Eight arms radiate from a centre point, each one a straight line crossed by a repeating series of small bars, and each arm ending in a fork. The name is Old Norse and appears in the Poetic Edda, where the dragon Fafnir claims he wore the aegishjalmr and that none dared come near him while he had it. The drawing itself is later, from Icelandic magical manuscripts of the seventeenth century. This sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the hilt assembly, the blade and the peen, and ships it from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse.

A cage around the hand changes how a sword carries, and how to buy a first sword covers what to weigh up. The helm of awe belongs to the same late Icelandic tradition as the vegvisir, and the guide to Norse symbols puts it in order. For a Scottish blade with more mass behind it, look at the claymores.

Specifications

The side ring and the road to the basket hilt

The ring standing out from the side of this guard looks ornamental and is not. It is one step in a long, gradual and very practical development, and once you can see the sequence you can date almost any European hilt by eye.

It starts with a plain crossbar. Then somebody adds a ring on the outer side, sitting over the gap where an opposing blade would slide into the hand. That ring is often called a port. Then a bar is run from the crossguard up to the pommel to protect the knuckles, and you have a knuckle bow. Then the ring is filled in with a plate and becomes a shell. Then more bars are added between the shell, the ring and the bow, and by the sixteenth century they have multiplied into the full swept hilt and the closed basket.

Each addition solved a specific way of getting hit that the previous version left open, and none of it was designed in one go by anyone. The Emberguard sits at the interesting midpoint. It has the shell, the ring and the bow, but the hand is still open at the back rather than enclosed, which is what makes it comfortable to hold and easy to pick up and put down.

The steel, the wire and the red

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC and left in a hand worked satin finish. That hardness is the correct band for a blade this long. Run harder it becomes brittle and takes a set or cracks rather than flexing back, which is a real risk on thirty one inches of steel.

The two bands of wire wrapped over the leather grip are functional. Wire bites into the palm far more than smooth leather does, so a sword with wire bands stays where you put it in a damp hand. It also stops the leather creeping under the hand over years of use. The red behind the piercings is a coloured backing set into the shell, and it is described here as a display finish rather than being claimed as enamel or inlay, because that is what it honestly is.

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 a chosen mark on the shell takes the place of the Helm of Awe. The satin blade flats and the scabbard face are the best alternatives if you want the stave kept. See the engraving page for placement and character counts.

Handling and balance

A shell hilt puts a good deal of steel behind your hand, and the effect is a sword that feels quicker than a broad thirty one inch blade has any right to. Slide your hand fully into the shell so the knuckle bow lies across the back of the fingers rather than resting on them, and hook a thumb along the flat of the guard if you like a firm index. The small ball pommel is there to finish the hilt and lock the peen rather than to act as a heavy counterweight, so most of the rearward mass is coming from the shell itself.

This is a hand finished collector and display sword. It is not sold as sparring equipment and no full contact claim is made for it. On a stand it shows well from the hilt end, which is unusual, because on most swords the blade is the whole story.

Care

Wipe the blade after handling and leave a light film of mineral oil on the steel, because 1095 rusts wherever sweat is left on it. Get oil into the cut lines of the stave, since fine engraving is exactly where a rust freckle takes hold. Brush dust out of the piercings occasionally rather than letting it pack in behind the red panels, and keep abrasive polish away from the red. Do not store the sword sealed inside its scabbard in a damp room, and feed the leather grip and scabbard with balm once or twice a year. Our steel care guide covers rust removal and long term storage.

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 made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Every piece is opened, checked and photographed before it is listed, then shipped from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Processing runs one to two weeks, which is honest for a hilt that has to be pierced, filed and fitted by hand. US shipping is free, 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 made by hand, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Each shell is pierced and filed individually, so the openings land a hair differently every time and the sweep of the knuckle bow varies slightly. The red reads warmer or deeper depending on the batch and the light. The wire bands are wound by hand and will not sit at identical spacing. The satin finish runs in its own direction. The length, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the blade Damascus

No. This one is plain 1095 high carbon steel in a satin finish. There is a Damascus bladed short sword on a similar shell hilt elsewhere in the range if that is what you want.

Are the red parts stone or enamel

Neither, and we will not claim they are. They are coloured backing panels set behind the pierced steel so the cut work reads clearly. It is a display finish.

What is the ring on the side of the guard

It is a side ring, sometimes called a port. It covers the opening where an opposing blade would otherwise slide down into the hand, and it is one of the steps between a plain crossguard and a full basket hilt.

Is it sharp when it arrives

It arrives with a working edge rather than a razor edge, which is the standard finish for a collector sword of this length.

Will my hand fit in the shell with a glove on

Yes. The shell is cut for a normal adult hand with room to spare and the back of the hand is left open, so a glove is not a problem.

How long until it arrives

One to two weeks of processing, then free US shipping on top. Tracking is emailed the day it leaves Memphis.

What is in the box

• One Emberguard 1095 steel broadsword with pierced shell hilt
• Fitted dark brown leather scabbard
• Protective oil film on the blade for transit
• Care sheet for carbon steel and leather
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

Browse more in arming swords, swords and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides on display swords and how to mount them.