A curved sword trades the straight thrust for the draw cut. Bend the edge and every stroke slices along its length instead of chopping straight down, which is why cavalry, sailors and horse archers all ended up with some version of the same idea. This page collects the curved blades in the catalogue under one roof: sabres, scimitars, talwars, shamshirs, a cutlass, a falchion, and the Japanese blades that belong to the same family.
The curves on offer
Overall lengths run from 28 to 40 inches, with blades between 24 and 33 inches, so there is a real spread between a short cutlass you can swing indoors and a shamshir that needs a room. The deepest curves are the Persian shamshirs at 36 to 39 inches overall. The talwars and tulwars sit at 34 to 38 inches with the disc pommel and the broad belly. Scimitars run 33 to 37 inches, several with brass cross guards, hooked or lobed pommels and riveted hardwood or rosewood grips. The sabres are the most practical of the lot: a cavalry pattern at 33 inches overall with a three bar steel guard and a ribbed black leather grip, a brass hilted piece with leaf shaped quillons, and one with scrolled brass quillons and a matching brass mounted scabbard. A Viking falchion with an engraved valknut and a Viking scimitar with a knotwork cut crossguard bring the shape into the Norse side of the range. Blades are plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC, and most listings ship with a fitted leather scabbard. Prices run from 335 dollars to 615 dollars.
Buying and sharpening one
Curved blades are harder to look after than straight ones, because the angle at the belly is not the angle at the tip and a flat stone will lie to you. Our notes on sharpening a curved blade cover how to follow the arc without flattening the edge. If the family names blur together, the piece on what a scimitar actually is untangles which term belongs to which region, since most of them get used interchangeably by sellers who should know better. To shop by shape, the deep bellied blades are in scimitars and the cavalry patterns are in sabres.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in North Babylon, New York. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from New York. Engraving is done in the US after arrival: text 19 dollars, symbol 39 dollars, family crest 49 dollars.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
