Rosehilt Hand Forged Damascus Medieval Sword | 37 Inch Overall with 31 Inch Blade | Collector and Display Gift | RK-1342

This is a single handed medieval sword with a blade forge welded from 1095 and 15N20, a rosewood grip, a bone cross and ferrule and a faceted brass pommel carrying a cross emblem. The faceted pommel is the detail worth pausing on. Medieval pommels were not decorative afterthoughts and the shapes were not arbitrary. Oakeshott catalogued them as carefully as he catalogued blades, from the Viking derived brazil nut and tea cosy forms of the eleventh century through the flat wheel of the thirteenth to the multi lobed, faceted and scent stopper pommels of the fourteenth and fifteenth. Each one is a different answer to the same question: how do you get enough mass onto the end of the tang without making the sword ugly, uncomfortable or hard to draw. Faceting a pommel keeps the mass and breaks up the volume, so the sword balances properly without a slab of metal sitting against the wrist.

The billet is stacked, welded, drawn and etched by hand in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The hilt is a turned rosewood grip between a carved bone ferrule and an arched bone cross, closed by a faceted brass pommel peened over the tang. It ships in a brown leather scabbard. Shipping inside the United States is free.

Specifications

How a sword hilt is actually held together

A medieval hilt is not glued and it is not screwed. It is a stack of separate parts threaded onto the tang and locked by deforming the very end of the steel. On this sword the order is cross, ferrule, grip, pommel, and once all four are on, the last quarter inch of tang is heated and hammered over the top of the pommel so that it spreads into a rivet head. That single operation puts the entire assembly under compression. Everything below it is squeezed together, and it stays squeezed for as long as nothing shrinks.

That is why the ferrule matters. The carved bone collar sitting between the cross and the rosewood grip does two jobs. It spreads the load of the peening across the end grain of the wood so the grip does not crush, and it stops the wood butting directly against the steel cross, where the difference in how the two materials move with humidity would eventually open a gap. It is also why we tell you to keep the grip out of hot cars and away from radiators. A hilt loosens when one part in the stack shrinks, and wood is always the part that shrinks first. Done properly the assembly outlives everybody, and that is how original swords in museum cases still have tight hilts eight hundred years later.

Why Damascus and not stainless

Our Damascus is a forge welded laminate of 1095 and 15N20, folded and rewelded to build the layer count. The nickel in the 15N20 resists the ferric chloride etch and stays bright while the 1095 beside it darkens, and that difference is the whole pattern. It is a carbon steel, so it takes a patina and will rust if it is neglected, and in exchange the folding refines the grain and the blade runs at 58 to 60 HRC with genuinely long edge life. Stainless steels rely on a heavy chromium content for corrosion resistance, and at thirty one inches that costs toughness in the shoulder and tang, which is where a sword failure is dangerous. Stainless also cannot be etched to a real pattern, so stainless Damascus is a printed surface. The argument in full is in Damascus versus stainless.

The rosewood grip

Rosewood is chosen here for three reasons. It is dense, so it holds a turned shape and a crisp shoulder against the bone ferrule without crushing under the peening. It is oily by nature, which makes it far more stable in changing humidity than an open grained wood and gives it a low sheen that improves rather than wears away with handling. And it has a deep reddish brown figure that sits well against bone and brass, which is why it has been a first choice for hilt and handle work for centuries.

Care is simple. Wipe it with a dry cloth after handling and give it a thin coat of oil once or twice a year, worked in and wiped off rather than left to sit. Do not wash it, do not soak it and do not leave the sword in a hot car or against a radiator, because it is dimensional movement in the wood that eventually loosens a peened hilt. Our short guide to wooden handle care covers everything you need. The bone needs only a dry wipe, and the brass will dull to an antique gold on its own unless you polish it.

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 faceted brass pommel already carries a cross emblem, and your chosen design replaces it. The bone ferrule and the rosewood grip will both take a fine cut line if you would rather have the personalisation there. See the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

An etched Damascus surface is very slightly open, so it wants a little more care than plain steel. Dry the blade after handling and wipe it with light machine oil or a hard paste wax before it goes away. Do not leave a fingerprint on it overnight in a humid room. Never store the sword sheathed for long stretches, because vegetable tanned leather holds moisture and tanning salts against steel and rust starts inside the scabbard where you cannot see it. A haze can be lifted with a clean cloth and oil without harming the pattern, which runs through the blade rather than sitting on it. Read steel care, and when the edge needs work use a coarse then a fine stone at a shallow angle as set out in sharpening with a whetstone, then re oil.

Forged in Memphis

Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. The stack is welded and the blade drawn in our own forge in Memphis, Tennessee, the heat treat is run here, the bone and rosewood are turned and carved here, the brass is cut and filed here and the scabbard is made in the same building. A Damascus blade with a four part fitted hilt is slow work, so allow twelve to sixteen working days before it ships plus two to five days in transit. Custom engraving adds about a week, and if we are behind you will hear it from us.

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 Damascus figure is unique to the billet and differs from one face of the blade to the other. Rosewood varies enormously in colour and figure from board to board, bone varies in tone, brass settles to whatever patina the air gives it and the exact facets of the pommel are filed by hand. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the hilt going to come loose?

Not if you look after the wood. The tang is peened over the pommel so the whole hilt sits under compression, and a properly peened assembly stays tight for decades. What loosens a hilt is the wooden grip shrinking, which is caused by heat and dry air, so keep the sword out of hot cars and off radiator shelves.

Is the Damascus pattern genuine?

Yes. It is a forge welded stack of 1095 and 15N20 and the layers go right through the steel. The acid etch only develops contrast that is already in the metal.

Is the sword sharp?

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

Can I cut with it?

Against soft targets, yes. Bottles, tatami and pool noodles are fine. Do not cut into steel, hardwood or bone, do not spar with it and never throw it. At 58 to 60 HRC the edge is hard and will chip if you abuse it.

What is the difference between this and a longsword?

Grip length and how it is used. This is a single hand sword with a grip of about four and a half inches, made to be carried at the hip and used with the other hand free. A longsword has a grip long enough for both hands, a longer blade and a completely different set of techniques behind it.

How long does shipping take?

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

What is in the box

• One hand forged 1095 and 15N20 Damascus medieval sword, 37 inches overall
• Brown leather scabbard
• Light protective oil coat on the blade for transit
• Care and sharpening card for pattern welded steel
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse every pattern welded blade in Damascus swords, the rest of the arming swords, the two handed longswords and everything under swords. Background reading is in the guides.