HEMA Swords

What Historical European Martial Arts actually is

HEMA is the reconstruction of European fighting systems from the books the masters left behind, mostly German and Italian manuscripts and printed manuals running from the late fourteenth century to the duelling texts of the eighteenth. Clubs read the plays, test them against a partner, then fence at speed in protective kit to find out what survives contact.

That last part is what separates a HEMA sword from a display sword. These buyers train two or three nights a week and their gear wears out. A piece bought for this has to be built around impact from the first sketch, which means spring steel rather than a hard cutting steel, a blunted edge land rather than a grind, and a tip wide enough that it cannot find a gap in a mask.

It also means the vocabulary is specific. Nobody in this sport searches for a medieval sword. They search for a feder, a langes messer or a spadroon, then filter by flex and tip shape. Everything here is named the way the sport names it.

The families on this page, and what separates them

Forty nine pieces sit here across eight leaf categories plus three that belong to none of them, split by hilt and purpose rather than by period.

Feders and blunt longswords

These two get confused constantly and they are not the same thing. A feder is a purpose built fencing tool with a narrow blade, a widened base called the schilt standing above the cross, and hilt mass tuned so it handles like a sword despite how thin the blade is. A blunt longsword is a sword shape with the edge left unground and the point turned over, so it keeps the real profile taper and the real fuller. The feder is the safer sparring tool, the blunt is the better teacher of the bind.

Arming swords and sideswords

The arming swords are the single handed cruciform blades of the medieval sources, usually carried with a buckler. Six sit here, from a migration era form with a broad shallow fuller to the widest bladed piece in the range. The sideswords are the later Bolognese answer, where the hilt grows finger rings, a knuckle bow and counterguard bars while the blade stays broad enough to cut.

Messers and the knife hilt family

A messer is built like a knife rather than like a sword. The tang is a flat slab with wooden scales riveted to either side of it, there is no peened pommel over a through tang, and a stud called the nagel projects sideways from the quillon block to shield the back of the hand. Nine pieces sit in that group, from a short bauernwehr up to a two handed kriegsmesser. Two dussacks sit nearby in the sabre group, a form that came out of the Hussite wars when the Czech tesak entered German usage.

Rapiers, smallswords and spadroons

The rapiers are long, narrow and built to load on a thrust, with hilts running from paired shell plates through pierced dishes to a solid cup. The smallswords and spadroons replaced the rapier as civilian dress arms in the eighteenth century, the smallsword built purely for the point and the spadroon keeping a straight single edge that can still cut. This is the one part of the range where hilt decoration is period correct rather than fantasy creep.

Sabres and the curved blades

The sabres cover the curved single edged trainers, a hanger form with a D knuckle bow, a three bar guard and a stirrup hilt, plus the two dussacks. They are the quickest family here to pick up, because the guard does most of the hand protection for you.

The three that sit outside

A montante at about 66 inches, a flame bladed greatsword of the same length and a rondel dagger trainer at about 18 inches sit in the hub without a leaf category. The montante is the two handed sword of the Iberian sources, carried over the shoulder and never in a scabbard. The rondel deserves a warning rather than a sales line: it is banned in the dagger event at the London HEMA Open.

Flex, and the tip rules that go with it

Flex is how much the blade bows when the point is loaded, and it is the most useful number in this sport. Too stiff and every thrust that lands is a hard shove into a partner's ribs. Too soft and the point wanders in the bind and the blade takes a permanent set early in its life.

The market sells flex in four tiers, and every listing here names a tier rather than a measured figure because nothing has been put on a test rig. Light sits around 15 to 21 lb of load and suits controlled drill. Medium sits around 25 to 29 lb and is the daily training band most clubs put a first sword in. Strong or tournament flex runs from about 30 lb upward. Stiff or no flex belongs to harnischfechten and armoured work.

Tip shape is the other half of the safety picture and it is checked at the gear table rather than taken on trust. The Berlin HEMA Cup requirements permit spatulated or rolled tips with a minimum diameter of 1.5 cm across all four categories, do not allow rounded tips on rapier and sabre, and ask that longsword blades show a clearly distinguishable edge, back and flats. Every listing here states its tip shape plainly so you can measure it against your own ruleset. No piece is sold as tournament legal, because legality belongs to a ruleset and not to a product page.

Steel and hardness, and why this line is not 1095

The rest of this shop runs on 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC and on forge welded Damascus. That story is right for a cutting sword and wrong for a sparring one. At 54 HRC and above a blade is hard enough to hold a fine edge and brittle enough to crack when two of them meet at full speed. HEMA blades are spring steel, hardened to roughly 49 to 52 HRC, soft enough to bend a long way and elastic enough to return straight.

Almost every steel piece here is 51CrV4, a chromium vanadium spring steel, hardened to 49 to 52 HRC. The four sharps are the exception, ground with a real edge for test cutting and made in 1095 at 54 to 58 HRC, and each says on its own page that it is not a sparring tool. One nylon waster and one leather dussack carry no hardened steel blade at all.

What you will not find here is stainless steel, a rat tail tang, cast furniture or chrome plating. If a blade in this sport is going to fail, it should bend first and give you warning.

How to choose your first one

Ask your club first. Most groups teach one system and the sword follows the syllabus, not the other way round. A German longsword club will want a feder, an Italian rapier group a rapier that suits your reach, a Bolognese class a sidesword and a buckler.

If the answer is longsword, start with a feder in the medium tier rather than a blunt. It is kinder to a partner, it is what most longsword events accept, and the schilt protects the hands in a way a plain cross does not. A blunt longsword is the better second purchase.

Check length against your own body rather than a chart. The traditional rapier fitting is to stand the point on the floor and see where the quillons fall, and around the navel is right. Then read the tip and flex lines on the listing. Those two decide whether a piece is usable at your club far more than the shape of the pommel does, and a nylon waster is an honest way to start if you are not yet sure the sport will stick.

Lengths, blade types and flex across the range

Every figure in the table below is taken from the specification panel of a product on this page. Nothing is estimated. Sizes vary piece to piece because each blade is forged and ground by hand, so read a stated length as nominal rather than exact.

Care

Spring steel rusts the same way high carbon does. Wipe the blade down after every session, because sweat gets on it through a glove and hand oil marks it overnight. Keep a light film of mineral oil on the flats and the ricasso, store the sword flat or hanging rather than standing on its point, and never leave it in a bag with a damp jacket.

Check the hilt before a session rather than after. A peened pommel works loose slowly and the first sign is a faint rattle at the cross, and riveted messer scales do the same. Blunt tips spread over months of thrusting into a mask, so dress a spread lip back with a file and measure again. Blade sets are normal on spring steel and come out over a knee with steady pressure rather than a hammer. The care guide covers rust, oil and storage.

Where these are made

Everything here is made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Every piece is checked for hilt tightness, pommel seating and blade straightness at the North Babylon, New York warehouse and ships from there. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns run for seven days.

The lifetime warranty covers defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed. It does not cover a blade bent in normal sparring, because that is what spring steel is meant to do. Engraving is carried out in the United States after the sword arrives, so send the exact spelling with the order.

Browse related sword categories

• Feders with schilts, rolled tips and medium flex blades
• Blunt longsword trainers with real fullers and profile taper
• Single handed arming sword trainers for sword and buckler
• Messers, bauernwehrs and kriegsmessers with riveted scale grips
• Bolognese sideswords with finger rings and knuckle bows
• Rapier trainers with shell, dish and cup hilts
• Sabre trainers and dussacks with bar and stirrup guards
• Smallswords and spadroons for eighteenth century fencing

Guides worth reading first

• What HEMA is and how a club actually trains
• How to choose your first HEMA sword without wasting money
• HEMA sword flex explained, tier by tier
• HEMA tournament gear rules and what gets checked
• What a feder is and why it is not a blunt longsword
• Blunt against sharp training swords, and which you need
• Synthetic against steel trainers for a first year fencer
• The steel glossary, spring steel against high carbon