A reenactment sword has a different job from a display piece. It has to be the right shape for the century your group portrays, it has to survive being handled all weekend, and it has to look right in a line of people who have all read the same excavation reports. This archive is the Viking age end of that, plus the rest of the kit that goes with it.
The swords and what sits beside them
The swords run 35 to 37 inches overall with blades from 29 to 31 inches, which is the historical range. There is an Ulfberht style blade, an eleventh century form, a Carolingian pattern, a broadsword, a blackened warrior sword, one with a valknut engraved guard and blackened fittings, one with a brass dome pommel over a 29 inch fullered blade and an etched raven mark, an arming sword with a blackened knotwork pommel, oxblood grip and brass banding, and a battle sword with a lobed pommel, a straight crossguard and an etched knotwork fuller. All are plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC and most ship with a fitted leather scabbard. Around them sits the rest of a kit: a 30 inch planked round shield with a steel dome boss, an engraved knotwork roundel and a rawhide rim, a Damascus winged spear with a 12 inch head on a 72 inch ash haft, a 1095 spear with an 11 inch leaf blade on a 76 inch haft and a rune engraved socket, and a Viking seax with a 15 inch blade, an Elder Futhark rune line and an olive wood handle. Prices run from 269 dollars to 465 dollars.
Building the rest of the kit
Most groups will tell you to buy the spear and the shield before the sword, because that is what most people actually carried. Our notes on gear for reenactors cover what gets used and what sits in a bag. For what went over the top of it, the overview of Viking armour separates the evidence from the invention. The blades are in Viking swords and everything else Norse is in Norse arms.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. 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.
