Stavemark Hand Forged High Carbon Steel Arming Sword | 35 Inch Overall with 29 Inch Blade | Collector and Display Gift | RK-1337

This is a single handed arming sword with a line of Elder Futhark cut along the flat of the blade beside the fuller. Inscribed blades are not a modern invention. The best known example in Britain is the seax of Beagnoth, dredged out of the Thames in 1857 and now in the British Museum, which carries the complete Anglo Saxon futhorc inlaid down one side in wire together with the name Beagnoth. Nobody knows whether Beagnoth made the blade or owned it. What the object proves is that a northern European smith in the ninth century thought a row of runes belonged on a weapon, and went to the enormous trouble of cutting channels and hammering brass and silver wire into them to put it there. Later medieval smiths did the same with Latin invocations and with the famous VLFBERHT maker mark. A sword has almost always been a thing people write on.

This one is forged, ground, hardened, etched and fitted by hand in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The blade is 1095 high carbon steel taken to a mirror polish, with a narrow fuller and the rune line worked into the flat beside it. The hilt is a black leather grip with cord banding between a straight steel cross and a turned steel wheel pommel engraved with a radial sunburst. It ships in a black leather scabbard with a steel throat. Shipping inside the United States is free.

Specifications

What makes an arming sword an arming sword

The arming sword is the single handed knightly sword of roughly the eleventh to the fifteenth century, and the name is late. Medieval writers just said sword. It got its modern label because it was the blade a man wore as part of being armed, the sidearm carried alongside whatever he actually fought with, and the defining features are all consequences of that role. The grip is one hand long, about four inches, because the other hand held a shield. The cross is straight and simple, wide enough to stop an opposing blade sliding onto the fingers but not so wide that it fouls the scabbard mouth or the shield rim. The pommel is a substantial wheel or disc, and it exists to counterweight the blade so that the point of balance sits three or four inches ahead of the cross, which is what lets you recover from a cut without dropping the point.

Change any one of those and you get a different weapon. Lengthen the grip and you have a longsword. Widen and shorten the blade and you have a falchion or a messer. Drop the pommel mass and you have something that swings hard once and is then out of position. This blade is the classic arrangement, broad enough at the shoulder to cut properly and tapered enough to put a point into a gap.

Why 1095 high carbon steel and not stainless

1095 is about nine tenths of one percent carbon with almost nothing else in it, and that plainness is why it makes a good sword. It moves cleanly under the hammer, it quenches predictably and it tempers back to the range a long blade wants. We run this one at 54 to 58 HRC, softer on purpose than a pocket knife, because a sword has to flex when a cut lands badly and come back straight rather than break. Stainless steels rely on a heavy chromium content for corrosion resistance, and at twenty nine inches that chromium costs toughness in the shoulder and tang, which is exactly where a failure is dangerous. Carbon steel patinas and will rust if left wet. That is the deal. The full comparison is in Damascus versus stainless.

The banded leather grip and wheel pommel

The grip is leather wrapped over a shaped wooden core with cord laid under the wrap in bands. The cord is not decoration. Risers under a leather wrap give your fingers something to register against, so you can feel the edge alignment of the sword without looking at it, and they stop the hand sliding in a long session. It is the same reason a modern tool handle is textured. The core takes the tang and the shape, the leather takes the wear.

The wheel pommel is turned steel engraved with a radial sunburst on both faces and peened over the tang, which puts the whole hilt under compression and locks it. Its real job is mass at the far end of the lever. There is a wooden core inside the grip, so treat it the way you would any wooden handle: keep it dry, keep it out of hot cars and direct sun, and do not soak it. Our note on wooden handle care covers it, and a light leather balm on the wrap once a year keeps it supple.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this sword the rune line already on the blade is the obvious place, and your text replaces it. We will send you a proof of the rune row before we cut. Details on the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

Dry the blade after every handling and wipe it with light machine oil or a hard paste wax. A mirror polish shows fingerprint etching faster than any other finish and skin oil is acidic, so a print left overnight in a humid room can mark permanently. Do not store the sword in the scabbard for months. Vegetable tanned leather holds moisture and tanning salts against steel and a black dyed scabbard is no different. Hang the sword or lay it on a rack. Our page on steel care applies to plain carbon blades too. When the edge dulls, take it back with a coarse then a fine stone at a shallow angle from the cross toward the point as set out in sharpening with a whetstone, then re oil.

Forged in Memphis

Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. The blade is forged, ground, heat treated and etched in our own shop in Memphis, Tennessee, the pommel is turned and engraved here, the grip is cored and wrapped here and the scabbard is cut and stitched in the same building. That is why we can tell you which bench a sword came off. Most orders leave in seven to ten working days, then two to five days in transit. Custom rune work adds about a week. If we are behind you will hear it from us instead of waiting in silence.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The exact spacing and depth of the etched rune line, the way the cord bands sit under the leather, the tone of the black dye and the precise line of the fuller all vary because each piece is worked by hand from natural materials. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that variation is what tells you a person made it.

Frequently asked questions

What do the runes on the blade say?

The stock inscription is an Elder Futhark transliteration and we will tell you exactly what it reads if you ask before ordering. If you want your own name, a date or a short phrase instead, use the rune converter above the add to cart button and your line replaces it.

Is it sharp?

Yes, it arrives with a working edge that will cut paper and light rope. Ask in the order notes for a blunt display or reenactment edge and we will leave a rounded quarter inch instead, at no extra cost.

Can I spar with it or use it in a fight scene?

Not sharp. Order it blunt if it is going to be handled in choreography, and even then never make edge to edge contact. For cutting practice it is fine against bottles, mats and pool noodles. Do not throw it.

Will the rune etching wear off?

No. It is etched into the steel to a real depth rather than printed on the surface, so polishing and normal handling will not remove it. Aggressive sanding of the flat eventually would, so do not take abrasives to the inscription.

What is the difference between this and a Viking sword?

Mainly the hilt and the taper. A Viking age sword has a short thick cross, a lobed or brazil nut pommel and a broad blade with almost parallel edges. This is a later knightly arming sword with a long straight cross, a wheel pommel and an even taper to a point. The runes are a decorative nod to the Norse world rather than a claim that the shape is Viking.

How long does shipping take?

Free inside the United States. Seven to ten working days in the shop, then two to five in transit, plus about a week if you order custom rune engraving.

What is in the box

• One hand forged 1095 high carbon steel arming sword with etched rune line, 35 inches overall
• Black leather scabbard with steel throat
• Light protective oil coat on the blade for transit
• Care and sharpening card
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse the rest of the arming swords, our engraved and personalised pieces, the Viking swords and everything under swords. Background reading is in the guides.