Czech forge refers to where these pieces are actually made. Ransack Viking is a US company based in North Babylon, New York. Pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from New York. Engraving is done in the US after arrival. Central Europe has an unbroken trade supplying reenactors, museums and film, and that is the reason the shapes here are right rather than approximate.
What comes out of these shops
Viking swords with fullered blades around 29 to 30 inches and etched panels. Pattern welded blades in Damascus of 1095 and 15N20, forge welded and acid etched, at 58 to 60 HRC. Double bit felling axes on walnut hafts. Riveted medieval helmets in 18 gauge mild steel with brow bands and perforated visors. Mail, spears, hammers and knives. Plain steel work is 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC. Hafts are ash, oak, walnut and hickory, drifted and wedged rather than glued.
What the forge work looks like up close
Hammer marks left visible on the flats of some pieces rather than ground away. A helmet built from riveted plates instead of a pressed shell. An axe with a proper drifted eye so the head seats on a taper and stays put. A sword pommel peened over the tang and visible as a dome of steel. None of that shows in a photograph, which is exactly why it gets skipped by people making things to a price. The vocabulary is set out in the steel glossary, and the material behavior of steel, wood and leather in the materials guide.
Inspection before it ships
Every piece is opened and checked in New York, because a long shipment is hard on a wooden haft and on leather that was cut damp. Anything that fails does not get listed. The armor and helmets are in the Viking armor and specifically in the medieval helmets.
Variation between pieces
Hand work means listed dimensions are the piece as measured rather than a machined spec. Two axes of the same model differ slightly in head weight and haft grain. Two Damascus blades never carry the same pattern. Helmets vary a little in shell shape. That is the nature of the work and it is the reason people want it.
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.
