Leatherspine Hand Forged Damascus Dagger Sword | 30 Inch Overall with 23 Inch Blade | Wrapped Leather Handle and Olive Burl Wooden Scabbard | Collector and Display Gift | RK-511

Twenty three inches of double edged layered Damascus, a 7 inch grip wrapped in leather, 30 inches overall and 35 ounces in the hand. The Leatherspine is forged rather than cast, which is the difference between a sword you can hold with some confidence and a decorative casting with a blade shaped edge. It comes home in a scabbard turned from olive burl.

A leather wrapped grip is not a shortcut, it is the oldest solution to a problem that never went away. A sword grip is a wooden core fitted to the tang, and bare wood against a sweating palm is exactly the wrong surface, because wood polishes smooth with use and gets more slippery the longer you hold it. Wrapping the core in leather, usually over cord to give it ridges, does three things at once: it grips better when damp, it damps the vibration that travels back through the tang on impact, and it can be replaced when it wears without touching the sword itself. Surviving medieval hilts show cord and leather wraps far more often than they show bare wood, and every functional sword maker still does it.

This one is forged, hardened, ground and assembled in the Czech Republic, and it ships in its olive burl wooden scabbard with free shipping inside the United States.

Specifications

The centre of percussion, and what collectors actually check

Ask an experienced collector to assess a sword and they will not test the edge. They will hold it, move it, and look at three things.

The first is the point of balance, the spot where the sword sits level on one finger. On a piece like this it should be a few inches ahead of the guard. Too far forward and the sword drags. Too far back and it has no authority.

The second is the centre of percussion, which is a different thing entirely and much less well known. It is the point along the blade where an impact produces the least vibration back through the hand, and on a well made sword it sits roughly two thirds of the way toward the point. Every object with a handle has one, which is why a cricket bat or a tennis racket has a sweet spot. On a sword it exists because the blade is not rigid but a spring, and where you strike determines whether the shock is absorbed by the blade or transmitted into your wrist. Its position is a consequence of how mass is distributed along the blade, and that distribution comes from the distal taper, so a maker who taper grinds a blade properly is placing the sweet spot whether they think about it that way or not.

The third is the fittings. Look at whether the guard is tight to the shoulders with no gap, whether the pommel is properly peened or threaded down rather than glued, and whether the grip wrap is even and tight. Those three checks tell you more than any description. Our sword buying guide sets out the rest.

The double edged blade adds one more demand. Both edges have to be ground to the same width and both have to arrive at the point on the centre line, over 23 inches, freehand. There is no spine to hide behind.

Why Damascus and not stainless

The blade is pattern welded from 1095 and 15N20, forge welded into a single billet and drawn out to 352 layers before the profile is cut. The two steels take the etch differently, which is what produces the light and dark bands, and because the layers sit through the full thickness of the steel the figure is structural rather than applied.

For a sword this matters more than it does for a knife. A blade this long has to behave like a spring, bending under load and returning straight, and that requires a steel that hardens deeply and tempers back to toughness. Carbon steel does this. High chromium stainless does not, which is why stainless display swords have a well earned reputation for failing at the tang. The 1095 gives the hardness at 58 to 60 HRC and the 15N20 gives the toughness. The cost is that it will rust if it is neglected, which on a display sword means a wipe with an oiled cloth twice a year. The comparison is in Damascus versus stainless.

The wrapped leather grip

The grip is a shaped core wrapped in leather, and it fills the palm rather than sitting flat in it. Leather is the traditional material for exactly the reasons that still hold: it grips when it is damp, it takes the shape of the hand that uses it, and it deadens some of the vibration that would otherwise travel back through the tang.

It also wears in rather than wearing out. Leather darkens where it is handled and lightens where it is not, so over years the grip develops a record of how the sword has been held. Keep it dry, since leather that is repeatedly soaked and dried will stiffen and crack, and keep it out of direct sunlight. If it ever feels dry, a very light application of a leather conditioner is enough. Do not saturate it with oil, which softens leather past the point of being useful.

The scabbard is olive burl, a natural wood, and it does want the occasional wipe of light oil and the same protection from sun and damp. The method is in wooden handle care.

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 handle. 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 whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it.

On this piece the blade is the surface to use, since a wrapped leather grip is not a good engraving field. Twenty three inches of symmetrical double edged Damascus takes a full phrase down the centre line, which is exactly how inscribed medieval blades were laid out. Everything is cut here before the sword is packed. Details on the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

Damascus is carbon steel underneath the pattern, so treat it like carbon steel. Wipe the blade dry after handling, put a thin film of mineral or camellia oil on it twice a year, and keep it out of the scabbard for long spells in a humid room, since an enclosed wooden scabbard will hold moisture against steel.

Both edges need matching if the sword is ever dressed, so count passes rather than working by feel and take the stone to the blade in overlapping sections rather than dragging 23 inches of steel across a bench stone. Full detail in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so the piece that arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page. Twenty three inches of Damascus gives the pattern room to be individual and no two billets draw out alike. Leather is a natural material with its own grain and takes colour unevenly, and the olive burl scabbard is turned from a different piece of wood.

The dimensions, the weight, the steel, the layer count, the hardness and the build are the same on every one. The grain, the tone, the pattern and the exact profile are not, because each is worked by hand from natural materials. The character is the part you cannot repeat.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a sword or an oversized dagger

It sits deliberately on the boundary. The blade is double edged and symmetrical like a dagger, and at 23 inches with a 7 inch grip it handles like a short sword. We catalogue it as a dagger sword because both descriptions are honest and neither on its own is.

Can the leather wrap be replaced if it wears

Yes, and that is one of the advantages of a wrapped grip over a solid one. The wrap is a wearing surface over a shaped core, so it can be renewed decades from now without touching the blade, the fittings or the tang.

Is it sharpened

It arrives with a finished display edge on both sides rather than a cutting edge. It is sold as a collector and display piece and is not warranted for test cutting, sparring or contact of any kind.

How do I stop the leather drying out

Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from radiators, and do not let it get repeatedly soaked. If it feels dry after a few years, a very light wipe of leather conditioner is enough. Avoid soaking it in oil, which softens leather and ruins the grip.

What should I look at to judge the build quality

Balance point a few inches ahead of the guard, no gap where the guard meets the blade shoulders, a pommel that is properly secured rather than glued, an even tight grip wrap, and two bevels that match each other all the way to the point.

How long is the lead time

Processing is one to two weeks while the sword is forged, ground, wrapped and scabbarded by hand, plus transit, with engraved orders at the longer end. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are open for seven days from delivery.

What is in the box

• One Leatherspine Damascus dagger sword
• Olive burl wooden scabbard
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Related collections: Swords, Dagger Knives and Viking Swords. The how and why behind the steel is covered in the guides.

Other pieces in this group

In the same category sits the Lionheart sword, 40 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Troyblade sword, 40 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Powerblade sword, 40 inches overall.

Fitting out further, the Runemarch falchion belongs with it. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the custom Viking sword page.