A hand forged sword is one where the blade was shaped under a hammer and heat treated as a blade, not cut out of plate and polished until it looks like one. The difference shows in the distal taper, in a fuller that runs true down the blade, and in a pommel that is peened onto the tang rather than glued to it. It also shows in the price, which is the honest part of the story.
The blades on this tag
This tag runs across Viking swords, arming swords, medieval longswords, messers, falchions, sabres, wakizashi and short swords. Overall lengths sit mostly between 27 and 46 inches, with blades from about 20 to 35 inches. Steel is either plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC or Damascus of 1095 and 15N20, forge welded and acid etched, at 58 to 60 HRC. Grips are leather wrapped, wood or bone, with steel or brass guards and pommels. Fullers, lobed pommels, disc pommels, wheel pommels and knotwork panels all appear, and a good number of the blades carry etched rune rows or engraved panels on the flat.
Buying your first one
Decide first whether it is going on a wall or into a hand, because that decision governs everything else. Length and balance matter far more than pattern for anyone who intends to move with it, and a 46 inch longsword is a very different object from a 30 inch short sword when you pick it up. If this is a first purchase, the first sword guide covers the traps, and the display against battle ready explainer defines the words that get thrown around loosely. Mounting is its own problem and the wall mounting notes will stop a blade coming down on a floor. Start in the arming swords for the medieval single hand shapes.
Handling and upkeep
Carbon steel swords rust. A blade left in a damp scabbard for a month will come out spotted, so store it out of the scabbard or wipe it with light oil before it goes back in. Peened pommels stay tight, but a leather grip loosens slightly as it dries, and a wrap of thin cord under the leather is the traditional fix. Do not swing anything at a tree to test it. That is how tips break and how people end up in an emergency room explaining themselves.
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.
