Storvekk Hand Forged 51CrV4 Spring Steel Kriegsmesser with Long Two Hand Grip & Knuckle Bow | About 44 Inches Overall | Walnut Scale Grip and Care Cloth | Sparring Gift | RK-3045

The Storvekk is the big messer of this run. It carries a curved single edged blade out to a clipped point, a cross with a knuckle bow carried round to the cap, walnut scales held by five brass rivets, and a trumpet shaped butt cap that flares where the heel of your hand sits. The grip is the thing that sets it apart. It is proportionally about half again as long as the grip on a one hand messer, which is what lets the second hand get on and gives the piece its name.

Honest caveat on that name. Kriegsmesser is the label for the large two hand messer, and if this piece turns out small in absolute terms once it is in front of you, the fairer description is a grosses messer fitted with a knuckle bow. We would rather say that plainly than sell you a word. What is not in doubt is the proportion, because the grip really is long enough for two hands and the hilt really is built round a bow.

If you are new to the family, the messer guide covers where each size sits, and HEMA sword flex explained covers the tiers. The rest of the single edged trainers are in HEMA messers.

Specifications

Every figure below is a nominal build figure. This is made by hand, so treat each one as close rather than exact.

The kriegsmesser and what a long messer grip changes

The messer is a single edged sword built like a knife. It keeps a knife hilt, scales riveted to a flat tang rather than a pommel peened over a through tang, and it keeps a knife cross section. Johannes Lecküchner devoted a whole treatise to the langes messer in 1482, working the plays in the same language as the longsword material.

Lengthen that grip and the art changes shape. With one hand the messer is a cut and thrust sword for a single arm, fast and short ranged. Put a second hand on the butt and you gain leverage, so winding at the bind becomes a lever action rather than a wrist action, and a hard bind can be shoved off line instead of merely absorbed. The cuts land with the mass of both arms behind them and the reach goes up by the length of the second grip.

The knuckle bow is the other piece of the puzzle. On a one hand messer a nagel covers the hand from the side. Carry a bow from the cross round to the cap and the hand is covered from the front as well, which is what makes a long gripped messer safe to fence with hands forward.

Spring steel, the curve and the clipped point

The blade is 51CrV4 spring steel hardened to 49 to 52 HRC. This is the same choice we make across the trainer line and for the same reason. Spring steel at this hardness bends and returns instead of taking a set or snapping under a hard bind, where 1095 at 54 to 58 HRC is too hard for sparring and breaks. The steel glossary explains the alloy and steel and hardness explains the numbers.

The curve is shallow rather than dramatic. A messer curve is there to help the edge bite and to open the angle of a draw, not to make the sword a sabre, and a shallow curve keeps the thrust usable. The clipped point is the classic messer termination, where the back of the blade is cut away towards the point to bring the tip back in line with the edge and lighten the last few inches. On a blunt that clip is ground back to the same flat land as the edge and the tip is rolled and flared to about 15 mm across, so the geometry reads correctly without anything on the piece being sharp.

Flex is medium to strong tier. That is heavier than a feder, which is what you want on a long gripped messer, because two hands can put far more force into a bind than one and a light blade would whip. We do not publish a pound figure, because we do not measure every blade and we will not print a number we have not taken.

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 or the grip. On a messer the usual place is the blade flat near the cross, or the brass of the butt cap if you want the marking somewhere it will be seen in the hand. Elder Futhark has no sign for every sound in English, so the converter maps what it can and we cut what it gives back. If you want to read the alphabet before you choose, the Elder Futhark runes guide sets it out.

Engraving is priced by what you ask for. Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39 and a family crest is $49. All of it is cut in the United States after the piece has landed and passed inspection, so nothing leaves the Czech Republic already marked.

If you would rather have your own design 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. More on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Two hands on a messer feels different from two hands on a longsword. The lower hand is on a butt cap rather than a pommel, and the trumpet flare gives it something real to pull against, so the levering action comes from that flare as much as from the grip itself. The upper hand sits close under the cross with the bow around the knuckles, which means your front hand can stay forward in a bind without being exposed.

Mass sits forward of the cross as it does on any single edged cutting shape. That is what makes the cut feel like it is going somewhere. We do not publish a weight or a point of balance, because the photographs carry no scale and we do not weigh every example.

Care

Wipe the blade after every session. Sweat is what starts the spotting on spring steel, not damp air, and the flat land on the edge is the part that gets handled most. A light film of oil between sessions is enough and the care cloth in the box is for that job.

The walnut scales want the same treatment as any wood grip. Keep them out of standing water, let them dry naturally if they get soaked, and give them an occasional wipe of oil to stop the grain drying out. Check the five rivets for movement every few weeks, since a riveted hilt taking two hand leverage is worth watching, and a rivet that has worked loose is a defect and ours to fix. Everything else is in the care guide.

Made in the Czech Republic

Made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing here is drop shipped out of an importer catalogue straight to a customer. Every one is checked for hilt tightness, pommel seating and blade straightness at our North Babylon, New York warehouse, and ships from there. Shipping in the United States is free, returns run for seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

If you want the longer version of how the line is sourced and what we do and do not claim about it, the country of origin page lays it out, and order and shipping information covers timings.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand forged. It is not machine made, not cast and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page.

The curve is forged and filed by eye, so no two profiles are identical. Walnut is a natural material and the grain, the colour and the figure change from scale to scale. The brass rivets are peened by hand and the peen shows. The clip at the point varies a little in length. None of that is a defect.

Frequently asked questions

Whether this is a kriegsmesser or a grosses messer

It is built to kriegsmesser proportion with a grip about half again the length of a one hand messer grip and a knuckle bow. If the piece is small in absolute terms, grosses messer with a knuckle bow is the fairer name and we would rather say so.

Whether it is sharp

No. It is a blunt trainer with a flat edge land of about 3 mm and a rolled flared tip. The clipped point is ground to the same land.

Whether it can be used with one hand

Yes, but the grip and the balance are set up for two, so one hand work will feel heavy in the point. A one hand messer is a better tool for that.

What flex tier this sits in

Medium to strong, which suits two hand leverage. We do not publish a pound figure because we do not measure every blade.

Whether it is tournament legal

That depends on the ruleset you fence under. The rolled tip is built to the common 1.5 cm minimum, but we will not claim any event approves it.

Whether a scabbard is included

No. Nothing in this line ships with a scabbard and we do not sell one cut to this blade.

What is in the box

• The Storvekk kriegsmesser, about 44 inches overall
• A light protective coat of oil on the blade
• A care cloth for wiping down after sessions
• A care and storage card with the warranty terms

Explore the range

The single edged trainers are grouped in HEMA messers, with the whole line in HEMA swords. For two hands in a straight double edged blade look at HEMA longswords, and the older catalogue sits in messers. The written material is collected in the guides hub.

Close to this one

The nearest pieces by size and handling are Skarnvald grosses messer, about 39 inches overall, Jarnfeld sharp langes messer, about 38 inches overall, Brunhak langes messer, about 37 inches overall and Sturvang three bar sabre, about 37 inches overall.

The rest of the group is in the HEMA messer category and across the HEMA sword hub, and the custom sword builder takes a custom order.