Runegrain Hand Forged Damascus Arming Sword | 37 Inch Overall with 30.5 Inch Blade | Dark Leather Scabbard and Brass Throat | Collector and Display Gift | RK-1408

The Runegrain is a hand forged Damascus arming sword, the single handed knightly sword that stayed in service across Europe for the better part of four hundred years. What makes this one worth a second look is the inscription running up the flat of the blade. Inscribed blades are not a modern invention. Some of the most famous swords ever excavated, the Ulfberht group found across northern Europe, carry a maker name inlaid into the fuller in iron letters, and the best of them were made from crucible steel far purer than anything else available in the ninth century. Inscribing a blade was a claim about who made it and what it was worth, and it was carried on for centuries afterwards with mottoes, prayers and letter groups nobody has yet decoded.

This sword is forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee. The blade is Damascus, 1095 and 15N20 forge welded in hundreds of alternating layers, etched to raise a tight wood grain figure, with an Elder Futhark line etched along the upper flat. The cross guard sweeps down towards the blade and finishes in quatrefoil terminals, with a knotwork engraved block where the guard meets the ricasso. The grip is dark leather over a wood core with turned brass rings, capped by a large spherical brushed steel pommel. It ships with the fitted dark leather scabbard shown, mounted with a brass throat.

Specifications

What makes an arming sword an arming sword

The name is a description of where it was worn rather than what it does. An arming sword was the sword you had on you while armed, meaning while wearing armour and carrying a lance, a poleaxe or a shield. It was the sidearm, not the primary weapon, and every dimension follows from that. A blade of thirty inches is long enough to reach past a shield but short enough to draw across the body while mounted. A single hand grip leaves the other hand free. A cross guard rather than a cage is correct here, because the hand is inside a gauntlet and needs nothing more than something to stop it sliding forward.

The blade profile is the interesting part. It tapers in width from the guard to the point and it also tapers in thickness, which is called distal taper. Width taper gives you a point that can find a gap in armour. Distal taper moves mass backwards towards the hand, so the sword accelerates and stops quickly instead of swinging like a bar. Get both tapers right and a sword weighing two and a half pounds handles like something much lighter. Get them wrong and the same weight feels dead. This is the single largest difference between a forged sword and a blade cut from flat stock.

The quatrefoil terminals on the guard are a late medieval touch. Rounding and widening the ends of the cross does two things: it stops a thrust sliding off the end of the quillon and past the hand, and it puts a small amount of weight out at the extremities where it steadies the sword in the bind. Decoration and function arriving at the same answer again.

Why Damascus and not stainless

The blade is built from two steels rather than one. Bars of 1095 and 15N20 are stacked, welded together at yellow heat, drawn, folded and welded again until the layer count is in the hundreds. Both steels harden to a similar figure so the finished blade behaves as a single homogeneous piece, but 15N20 carries around two percent nickel and nickel shrugs off the acid used to finish the blade. Etch the polished surface and the nickel bearing layers stay bright while the 1095 darkens, and the internal structure of the steel becomes visible on the outside. The pattern is not applied. It is the steel.

Stainless offers none of that and costs you performance for the rust resistance. Its chromium carbides interrupt the matrix and make long blades either brittle or, if left soft to compensate, prone to bending permanently. A Damascus blade hardened to 58 to 60 HRC keeps its edge longer and springs back true. The trade is that it will rust when neglected. Oil it. The comparison is set out in Damascus versus stainless.

The grip, the brass rings and the pommel

The core is shaped wood, covered in dark leather, with turned brass rings set into the wrap at intervals. The rings are not just decorative banding. They divide the grip into sections the fingers can register against, which keeps the hand from creeping forward under a heavy cut without you having to grip hard. Because there is wood under the leather, this handle wants the same treatment as any wooden handle: no long spells in a damp basement, no storage against a radiator or in direct sun, both of which shrink a core and slacken the wrap. See wooden handle care for the routine.

The spherical pommel is heavy on purpose. On a single handed sword the pommel is the counterweight that pulls the balance point back to within a few inches of the guard, and the more blade you have out front the more mass you need behind the hand. A brushed rather than mirrored finish on the sphere is deliberate too, since a highly polished ball reflects like a mirror and reads as a bright blob in any photograph or display case.

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. That matters particularly on this sword, because the blade already carries a rune line. If you order your own inscription, yours takes the place of the one shown rather than being added below it. There is also the knotwork block at the guard, which can carry a design instead. See the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

An etched Damascus surface is very slightly textured, and texture holds moisture in a way a mirror polish does not. Wipe the blade after handling and keep a thin film of mineral or camellia oil on it, working it into the etched areas rather than just across them. Do not store the sword in the scabbard for months at a stretch, because leather retains a little moisture and holds it against the steel. If the pattern ever dulls it can be re etched rather than polished away. Full detail on the steel care page.

The edge arrives sharp and ready to use. To refresh it, use a whetstone and follow the existing bevel with long even passes down the full length of each side, then strop. Do not take a power tool to a hardened blade, since the heat will ruin the temper faster than you can see it happening. The method is in sharpening with a whetstone.

Forged in Memphis

Made in our Memphis, Tennessee shop. Nothing drop shipped from an importer catalogue with our label added at the end. We weld the billet, draw and grind the blade, etch the pattern and the rune line, forge and file the guard, turn the pommel, wrap the grip and build the scabbard around the finished blade. Damascus takes longer than plain steel because the billet has to be made before the sword can be started. Stock pieces ship within a few days. A made to order Damascus arming sword runs three to five weeks, plus a few days for custom engraving.

A note on handmade variation

This piece is hand forged, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Damascus is the least repeatable thing we make. The swirl, spacing and contrast of the grain depend on how that particular billet moved under the hammer, and no two behave the same way. Add to that the tone of the leather, the exact depth of the engraved knotwork and the way the quatrefoils are filed, and you get a sword that is unmistakably the same model and unmistakably its own object. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What do the runes on the blade say

The line shown is Elder Futhark lettering used as a decorative inscription. If you want a specific meaning, use the rune converter on this page and we will etch your own words in place of it.

Is the sword sharp when it arrives

Yes, with a working edge. Not a razor edge, which would chip on first contact with anything hard. You can take it further on a stone if you prefer.

Can this be used for cutting practice

It is a functional hardened blade, so light cutting on bottles or a rolled mat is reasonable. It is not built for edge on edge sparring against another steel sword, and we do not recommend that.

Will the Damascus pattern on mine match the photograph

No, and it cannot. Every billet patterns differently. The style of the figure will be the same tight wood grain, but the specific swirls will be unique to your blade.

What is the difference between an arming sword and a longsword

Grip length and how it is used. An arming sword has a single hand grip and was carried alongside a shield or another weapon. A longsword has a grip long enough for both hands and a longer blade to match, and it is a primary weapon rather than a sidearm.

How long does shipping take

Free shipping inside the United States. In stock pieces go out within a few days. Made to order Damascus takes three to five weeks in the shop, and engraved work a little longer.

What is in the box

• Runegrain hand forged Damascus arming sword in 1095 and 15N20
• Fitted dark leather scabbard with brass throat
• Care card covering oiling, etch care and storage
• Elder Futhark rune engraving or your own Viking design if selected at checkout
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Browse the arming swords, the Damascus swords, the Viking swords and the full sword range, or read the guides.