Tevrand Hand Made High Density Nylon Waster Longsword with Bolted Steel Cross & Ball Pommel | About 47 Inches Overall | Red Cord Grip and Care Card | Training Gift | RK-3046

The Tevrand is a nylon waster in longsword form. The blade is moulded high density nylon with a matte finish and no grind lines anywhere on it, because nothing about it is ground. It comes out of the mould in its finished shape, with a moulded central groove running down the flat. That groove is a moulding feature that stiffens the section and takes mass out of the middle, and it should not be confused with a forged fuller, which is a different thing made a different way.

The fittings are steel and they are fitted by hand. The cross is bolted straight through the blade with two bolt heads visible on the flat, which is the honest way to hang a steel cross on a moulded blade and far stronger than anything glued or pinned. The pommel is a polished steel ball on the tang section at the bottom, and the grip between them is red cord, laid long enough to take two hands with room to move.

If you are deciding between this and steel, read synthetic versus steel trainers, and how to choose your first HEMA sword if you are starting from nothing. The steel longsword trainers sit in HEMA longswords.

Specifications

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

Where a nylon waster earns its place in a club bag

The wooden waster is as old as the art. Fencing schools have always trained with something that is not the real thing, and the modern synthetic is that same idea in a material that survives being hit for years. What a nylon longsword gives a club is the ability to drill at speed and at pressure without the cost, the noise or the maintenance of a steel blade, and to do it in a hall where steel would be a problem.

It is the tool for three specific jobs. It is what you put in a new member’s hands on their first night, because nobody should learn the wards holding something they are frightened of. It is what you take to a demonstration, a school visit or an outdoor event where steel is either banned or a bad idea. And it is what you use for slow work and for technical drilling where you want repetitions rather than intensity.

What it does not do is replace a feder for hard sparring. Synthetics behave differently in the bind, they do not ring, and they do not teach the reading of pressure that steel teaches. Plenty of clubs run both and treat them as separate tools rather than a ladder.

Moulded nylon, the bolted cross and how it behaves in the bind

High density nylon is used for trainers because it is tough rather than hard. It absorbs impact and returns to shape, it does not chip the way wood does, and it does not corrode at all, so a waster left in a damp bag for a fortnight comes out exactly as it went in. The matte finish is the surface the mould leaves. There are no grind lines because there is no grinding, and the absence of them is a sign the piece is what it says it is.

The moulded central groove runs down the flat and does two jobs. It stiffens the blade against bending flat to flat and it takes mass out of the middle so the piece does not sit dead in the hand. Call it a groove rather than a fuller, because a fuller is forged or ground into steel and this is a shape the mould made.

The steel cross is bolted right through the blade and the two bolt heads on the flat are the proof of it. A bolted cross does not creep under repeated binding the way a glued or pressed fitting does, and if a bolt ever works loose it can be seen and dealt with rather than failing quietly. The ball pommel is polished steel and sits at the bottom of the tang section as a counterweight. If you want the spring steel story, that belongs to our steel trainers and not to this blade.

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 this one the marking goes on the steel, either the flat of the cross or the ball of the pommel, since a cut line on moulded nylon does not hold its edge well. 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

A nylon waster feels livelier in the hand than a steel blade of the same length, because nylon is lighter than steel and the mass that is there comes mostly from the fittings. The steel ball pommel is doing real work in that arrangement, pulling the balance back towards the hand so the piece does not feel like it is all point.

In the bind it gives more than steel does and gives it sooner. That is worth knowing before your first session with it, because a bind that would hold on a feder can slip on nylon and a wind that relies on steady pressure can run out of blade. We do not publish a weight or a point of balance, since the photographs carry no scale and we do not weigh every piece.

Care

The nylon needs almost nothing. It does not rust, it does not need oiling and it does not mind being wet. Wipe it down when it gets dirty and keep it out of prolonged direct sun, since ultraviolet light is the one thing that ages nylon over years. Do not leave it in a hot car, because heat is the other thing that will slowly change its shape.

The steel fittings do need attention. Wipe the cross and the ball pommel dry after a sweaty session and give them the occasional light oil, because they are steel and steel corrodes. Check the two bolt heads for movement every few weeks and tell us if one is turning, because a loose fitting is a defect and defects are ours to fix with no end date and no receipt. General handling and storage advice is in the safety and storage 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 assembled and finished by hand. The blade is moulded, but the cross is bolted, the pommel is seated and the grip is wrapped by hand, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page.

Nylon colour and matte texture vary slightly between mouldings, the cord wrap will not sit at the same pitch twice, and the red will shift a shade between batches of cord. Bolt heads sit proud by a hair more or less. None of that is a defect.

Frequently asked questions

Whether the blade is steel

No. The blade is moulded high density nylon. Only the cross, the bolts and the ball pommel are steel.

Whether the groove down the blade is a fuller

Not in the forged sense. It is a moulded groove that stiffens the section and removes mass. A fuller is forged or ground into steel, and nothing here is forged or ground.

Whether it can replace a feder for sparring

Not for hard steel sparring. It is for beginners, for drilling, for demonstrations and for halls where steel is not allowed. Many clubs run both.

What gear is needed with it

A mask and gloves at minimum. Nylon is softer than steel but a thrust with a moulded tip still carries force and eyes are eyes.

Whether it is tournament legal

That depends on the ruleset. Some events run synthetic divisions and many longsword tournaments allow only purpose built feders. Check the rules of the event you are entering.

Whether it can be sharpened

No, and it must never be. There is no edge on it, nylon takes no edge worth the name, and cutting a nylon blade weakens the moulding.

What is in the box

• The Tevrand nylon waster longsword, about 47 inches overall
• A care card covering nylon and steel fitting care
• The warranty terms against defects in the fittings and the assembly
• Your engraving slip if you ordered personalisation

Explore the range

The steel two handers are in HEMA longswords and the purpose built sparring blades are in feders, with the whole training line in HEMA swords. The older catalogue of two handers sits in longswords. The written material is collected in the guides hub.

Also in this part of the catalogue

Sitting alongside it in the catalogue are Vernholt hand and a half, about 47 inches overall, Vardholt hand and a half, about 47 inches overall, Myrkvald longsword, about 47 inches overall, Rundholm montante, about 66 inches overall and Ravnstad feder, about 48 inches overall.

See the HEMA longsword category and the HEMA sword hub for the full spread, and the custom sword builder if none of them is right.