Duskwing Hand Forged 1095 Steel Executioner Sword with Twin Raven Etched Blade | 25 Inch Blade and 36 Inch Overall | Wheel Pommel and Brown Leather Scabbard | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1713

The Duskwing is an executioner style sword: a broad, parallel sided fullered blade that ends in a rounded tip instead of a point, a straight steel cross, a long black leather wrapped grip for two hands and a domed steel wheel pommel. A pair of ravens is etched on the blade just above the cross. It comes with a brown leather scabbard with a steel throat and a belt loop. It is built to be handled and displayed, sharpened, balanced and finished by hand.

The two birds are Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory, the ravens that Odin sent out at dawn and worried over until they returned. Etched blades are not a modern affectation either. Northern European sword blades carried inlaid iron letters and figures from the ninth century onward, the Ulfberht group being the famous example, and the practice of marking a blade near the hilt where it would be visible above a scabbard throat has been continuous ever since.

Forged, ground, heat treated, assembled and sharpened in the Czech Republic. It ships with the fitted leather scabbard and a care card. It sits next to the arming swords. If the shape is not quite right, the Viking swords run close to it.

Specifications

What a wheel pommel is doing on the end of a sword

The pommel is not a decoration and it is not a hammer. It is a counterweight, and it is the single component that decides how a sword feels in the hand. Take the same blade and hang a heavier pommel on it and the point of balance walks back toward your fist, the tip becomes easier to lead and recover, and the sword feels lighter than it weighs. Hang a lighter one and the balance runs forward, the sword feels heavier, and it wants to keep travelling once you have started it moving.

The flat disc, what collectors following the Oakeshott system call a Type I wheel, appears across Europe from around the eleventh century and stays in use for four hundred years, because it puts the most mass in the smallest space directly behind the hand. The raised central boss you can see on this one stiffens the disc and gives the peen a seat. The tang runs the full length through grip and pommel and is peened over the top, which is the historic method and the only one that puts the assembly in compression rather than relying on a thread.

The steel and the fittings

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel, forged, normalised, quenched and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC. That range is deliberate for a long blade. Sword steel taken much harder becomes brittle in a way that matters over a long blade, and taken much softer it takes a set. At 54 to 58 the blade flexes and returns, holds a working edge and can be brought back with a stone rather than a machine. There is no chromium in 1095, so it is bright and it will spot if you leave it wet.

The cross and pommel are steel, filed and polished. The grip is a shaped wooden core wrapped in black leather over cord risers, which is what gives the wrap its ridged feel and stops the hand sliding in use. The scabbard is leather over a wooden core, which is the correct construction: the wood holds the shape and protects the edge, the leather protects the wood. The throat is steel and the belt loop is integral to the body rather than riveted on.

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, the leather or the wood. 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 where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it.

On a sword this long there is a lot of room. A rune line runs beautifully down the fuller, and a short name sits well on the ricasso or on the flat of the cross. If you want your own design where the ravens currently sit, it replaces them rather than joining them. Full details are on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The grip runs to roughly eight inches, long enough for both hands, with the wheel pommel behind it as a counterweight. There is no point to speak of, so the blade is shaped for a heavy straight cut rather than a thrust, which is the form executioner swords took in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Be clear about what it is. This is a sharpened collector and display sword, made and balanced by hand. It is not sold for sparring and it should not be used for full contact bouting, cutting drills against hard targets or any contact with another blade. Handle it the way you would handle any sharp tool with this much reach, keep it in the scabbard when it is not in your hand, and keep it out of reach of children.

Care

Wipe the blade down with an oiled cloth after every handling session. Skin oil is acidic and 1095 has no corrosion resistance, so fingerprints left on a bright blade will etch themselves into it within days in a humid room. A light machine oil, camellia oil or a purpose made blade oil all work. Full detail is on steel care.

Do not store the sword in the scabbard long term. Leather holds moisture against steel and a sword left sheathed for a year in a garage will come out marked. Store it out of the scabbard, oiled, on a rack or hanging, in a room you would be comfortable sleeping in. Feed the scabbard leather with a neutral balm twice a year. Clean the steel fittings with the same oiled cloth you use on the blade.

Made in the Czech Republic

Every piece we sell is made by hand in the Czech Republic. The smiths there work the way the trade has been worked for a long time, heating and hammering the steel, taking the bevels down by eye, and fitting the handle and the leather one at a time. There is no automated line anywhere in it, so small differences from one piece to the next are normal and expected.

Ransack Viking is a United States company based in Chicago, Illinois. We bring the pieces in ourselves, inspect them on arrival and ship them from our own warehouse. If you add engraving, that is carried out here in the United States before your order goes out.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The satin left by the final grind runs slightly differently on every blade. The fuller is cut by eye and its width and depth move by a fraction over the length. The leather on the grip and the scabbard takes the dye at its own rate, so brown can land anywhere from mid tan to a deep walnut.

What does not vary is the specification. Blade length, overall length, steel, hardness, construction and the fittings are the same every time. The character is what changes. If that is the part you care about, carry on with buying a first sword, then how steel and hardness actually work.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes. It arrives with a keen edge along the full length. Treat it as sharp from the moment you unwrap it and keep it sheathed when it is not being handled.

Can I use it for sparring

No. It is a sharpened display and collector sword. It is not sold or built for full contact sparring, blade on blade work or hard target cutting, and using it that way voids sensible safety as well as the warranty.

Is the scabbard included

It is. The brown leather scabbard with the steel throat and belt loop ships with the sword and is fitted to that individual blade.

What do the two birds mean

They are Huginn and Muninn, the ravens of Odin, whose names mean thought and memory. They are etched at the ricasso where a scabbard throat would leave them visible.

Can I get runes on the blade

Yes. Use the rune converter on this page and tell us where you want the line. The fuller takes a long rune line well and the ricasso takes a short name.

How long does shipping take

One to two weeks before it leaves the shop, because it is forged and fitted after you order. US shipping is free.

What is in the box

• One hand forged 1095 executioner sword with a twin raven etched blade
• One fitted brown leather scabbard with a steel throat and belt loop
• Care card covering oiling and storage
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the arming swords, the wider swords, the viking swords, and the guides for more on blade geometry and sword care.

Others in the same line

Worth putting side by side with this is the Wheelcrown arming sword, 37 inches overall. In the same category sits the Stormhilt arming sword, 36 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Stonecleave arming sword, 38 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Azurehewn Viking sword. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Viking sword page.

Training at a HEMA club? Look at the Brekavik basket hilt sword for drills and free play, and check our rapier versus sidesword guide as well.