Flamberge Swords

Why the edge waves

Take a straight sword blade and push a series of even curves into both edges so they mirror each other. That is a flamberge, or a flammard, and the shape has attracted more nonsense than almost any other sword form. The two claims you will hear are that the wave saws through flesh and that it causes a wound nobody can close. Neither survives contact with the sword itself. The undulations on these blades are shallow and long, more like a slow ripple than a bread knife, and a cut from one behaves much like a cut from a straight blade of the same weight.

What the wave does do is real but smaller. A curved section of edge meets a target at a slicing angle rather than square on, so the same push travels a longer path through the material. In a bind, where two blades are pressed together and sliding, the waves catch and release against the opposing edge instead of running smooth, which the fencer on the other end feels as a stutter through the hands. On the great two handed swords of the German schools, that stutter was useful when you were pushing aside a spear shaft or a polearm.

Mostly, though, it was expense. Forging a matched wave into both edges and then grinding the bevels around every curve is slow work, and it was slow work in 1580 as well. A waved blade said the owner could afford one. That is why the form shows up on parade swords, on the arms of officers, and in every fantasy illustration since.

Grinding is still the hard part. On a straight blade the edge runs along a wheel in one pass. On a flame blade the bevel has to follow the curve in and out at the same width and angle, and the ridge down the centre has to stay straight while the edges wander. Sight along the flat from the ricasso and you can see whether that was done properly.

The flamberges in this collection

Thirteen pieces, and they split three ways. By size, from a 27 inch short sword to a 43 inch longsword. By steel, eight in plain 1095 and five in Damascus. By what the guard is doing, which is where these get interesting.

Short and one handed flame blades

Four pieces under 34 inches. The shortest is a 27 inch Damascus short sword on a brass ring guard with a faceted pommel and a knotwork panel cut at the base of the blade. Beside it sits a 28 inch piece in 1095 with a blackened swept ring hilt and a teardrop pommel. A 33 inch flamberge carries a curved brass guard with closed ring terminals and a finger loop. The 36 inch arming sword has a scrolled steel crossbar and a shaped leather rain guard stamped with a Valknut. These you can pick up indoors without moving the furniture.

Hand and a half and two handed swords

The longer group runs 35 to 43 inches. Three sit at 35 inches with 28 inch blades and differ entirely at the guard. One has a straight cross with squared terminals, a disc pommel with a raised boss and a timber scabbard. One has a blackened reverse curved guard with two parrying hooks hanging below it. One has a brass bar with a side ring and a brass wheel pommel carrying a Celtic cross knot. Above those sit a 42 inch two handed sword on an S curved crossguard with cord risers under the wrap, and a 43 inch longsword that ships with a matching 15 inch dagger.

Flamberges in Damascus

Five blades are pattern welded from 1095 and 15N20, forge welded, acid etched and hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. On a flame blade the etch does something a straight blade cannot. The layer lines follow the wave, so the pattern bends with the edge and pools where the curve turns. The 38 inch piece pairs it with a flat polished steel bar guard cut with a knotwork panel and a steel wheel pommel. The 40 inch fantasy sword sets it against blackened steel swept forward into clawed terminals with a pair of standing barbs above the ricasso. The other 40 inch Damascus blade sits under a blackened swept hilt with a knuckle bow, side bars and curved quillons.

Guards with hooks and lugs

Three pieces carry something below the cross. One has two hooks hanging from a reverse curved guard, one has forward curved parrying lugs on a long straight crossguard, and one has barbs standing up above the ricasso. On the historical swords these came from, that hardware caught an opposing blade sliding down toward the hands, and on the two handed pieces it also gave you somewhere to put your off hand when you gripped the ricasso to shorten the sword. The squared unsharpened ricasso on the Damascus longsword here is there for exactly that reason.

Lengths, steel and fittings across the range

Every figure comes from the specification panel of a piece on this page. These are forged by hand and the listings say so, which is why several read as approximate.

Several listings give lengths as approximate. That is honest rather than evasive. A hand forged blade is ground to shape by eye and a quarter inch either way across a 32 inch blade is normal.

Sizing and reach

Overall length decides whether the sword fits your space. Blade length decides how it handles. The short swords here, at 20 and 21 inches of blade, are one handed and quick. The 26 to 29 inch group is arming sword territory, single handed on a grip of four to five inches, and it is the size most people mean when they say sword.

Above 31 inches of blade you are into hand and a half and two handed pieces with grips of eight inches or more. Those need two hands to control properly and they need floor or wall space to match. A 43 inch sword on a bracket wants a clear five feet of wall by the time you allow for the mount, and it wants a wall stud rather than a plasterboard anchor.

The wave itself adds nothing to reach. A 32 inch flame blade measures 32 inches point to ricasso along the straight line, not along the curve, so it reaches exactly as far as a straight blade of the same listed length.

Steel and hardness

Eight blades are plain 1095 high carbon hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, the working range for a long blade. It is tough, it flexes rather than snapping, and it sharpens on an ordinary stone. It also rusts, because there is no chromium in it.

The other five are Damascus, forge welded from 1095 and 15N20 and hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. The 15N20 carries nickel, which stands up to the acid etch better than the 1095 does, so the two steels finish at slightly different depths and the layers read as light and dark. As noted above, the wave stretches and compresses that pattern along the blade, and the effect is the main reason to buy one.

Neither steel is stainless and neither pretends to be. If you want the comparison set out properly, read Damascus versus high carbon steel, and steel and hardness for what those HRC numbers actually mean.

Sharp edges and display edges

Three of the longer swords here are listed with an unsharpened display edge and a rounded point. That is a deliberate choice on a two handed sword built to hang on a wall, and it is worth understanding before you order. A display edge is still hardened steel with mass behind it. It will not cut you the way a shaving edge will, but it will break a bone if you swing it into something.

Everything else on this page arrives with a working edge and a real point. Treat all of them as sharp until the specification panel tells you otherwise, and read display sword versus battle ready if the distinction matters to you.

Grips, guards and fittings

Grips are leather over a wood core, and the two handed pieces build cord risers under the wrap so your hands land in the same place. One grip is wire wrapped through the middle, which holds when your hands are damp. Pommels run from teardrops through wheels and discs to faceted blocks, and on a sword this length the pommel works as a counterweight rather than decoration.

Fittings are steel or brass, polished, satin or blackened. The blackened ones are a surface finish, not a coating, so never scour them. Guards are peened over the tang rather than screwed on, which is the right way to do it and also means a loose fitting is a job for someone with a hammer and not for you.

Care and storage

Wipe the blade after handling. Skin acid is what marks a polished flame blade first, and it shows in the hollows of the waves before it shows anywhere else, because that is where a careless wipe misses. Use a soft cloth and follow the curve rather than dragging straight down the blade.

Then oil it. A thin film of mineral oil wiped almost dry is enough. Do not store the sword in its leather scabbard for months at a time, because leather holds damp against steel and a snug scabbard through a wet season will leave you with a spotted blade. Hang the sword, stand the scabbard next to it. The knife care guide covers oiling, rust removal and storage, and it applies to a sword as much as to a knife.

Engraving

Most pieces here can be engraved after they arrive in the United States. On a flame blade the ricasso and the pommel are the usable flats, since the waved section is a poor surface for lettering. Several of these already carry etched work, a rune panel, a Celtic interlace band or a knotwork panel above the ricasso.

Text engraving is 19 dollars, a symbol is 39 dollars and a family crest is 49 dollars. Elder Futhark is a phonetic alphabet, so names are transliterated by sound and there is no rune for the letter C. Engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned, so check the spelling twice before you order.

Where these come from and how they ship

Ransack Viking is a US company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Memphis. Engraving is done in the US after arrival.

Because a wave is cut by hand, no two of these are identical. The depth and spacing of the undulations vary slightly, the etch figure on the Damascus varies more, and leather colour varies with the hide. The longer swords ship in a long box that someone has to be there to receive.

How to choose

Decide first whether this is a sword you want to hold or one you want to look at. To hold it, stay under 30 inches of blade and pick something with a sharpened edge. For a wall, go long, because a 42 inch flame blade across a chimney breast is the point of owning one.

Then choose the guard, since that is what carries the character. Plain crossbars read as historical. Brass ring guards read as renaissance. Blackened swept hilts and clawed terminals read as fantasy, and the barbed piece here is openly that. Steel is the last call. Plain 1095 covers eight of the thirteen and is the sensible default. Damascus costs more and shows the wave better than anything else can. Prices on this page run from 349 to 669 dollars.

Browse related categories

• Longswords, straight bladed and two handed
• Arming swords, the single handed medieval standard
• Zweihanders, the great two handed swords
• Fantasy and movie swords
• Damascus swords in forge welded 1095 and 15N20
• Sword stands and display mounts

Guides worth reading first

• How to buy your first sword
• Display sword versus battle ready
• How to display swords and axes safely
• Damascus versus high carbon steel