Ringwolf Hand Forged 1095 Steel Hand and a Half Sword | 47 Inch Overall | Side Ring Guard, Knotwork Ricasso Wrap and Steel Scabbard | Highland Collector Gift | RK-1735

A hand and a half sword in 1095 high carbon steel, built around a guard that does something unusual. A long straight cross bar ends in a small scroll at each tip, a pair of closed rings stands out from the ricasso just above it, and between the rings sits a section of blade covered in leather and tooled with a knotwork band. The blade is plain polished with a long taper, a central fuller and an etched knotwork panel at its base, the grip is spiral wrapped, and it comes with a polished steel tube scabbard.

That leather covered section above the guard is called the ricasso, and it is the most misunderstood part of a big sword. It is left unsharpened on purpose. A swordsman in a press does not always have room to swing, and dropping the second hand up onto the ricasso shortens the sword by a foot in an instant and turns it into something that can be used at grappling distance. Scottish and German two hand swords of the sixteenth century almost all carry one, usually leather covered exactly like this so the hand has grip. This sword is forged, ground, heat treated and fitted in the Czech Republic. It is catalogued with the longswords, and the arming swords sit one click away.

Specifications

Rings, scrolls and a hand above the guard

Ring guards look ornamental and they are not. A closed ring set beside the ricasso gives an opposing blade something to run into instead of sliding down the bar and onto the fingers, and it gives the hand a positive place to hook a thumb when the sword is used one handed. The long cross bar below the rings, with a small scroll at each tip, does the main work of the guard and keeps an opposing blade off the lower hand.

The leather on the ricasso is what makes the second grip usable. Bare steel above a guard is slippery and cold and nobody puts a hand there willingly. Wrapped in leather it becomes a second handle, and the knotwork tooling is not just decoration because a textured surface grips better than a smooth one. On the original Highland and Continental two handers the same section was often bound in cord under the leather to build it up into a comfortable diameter.

Where the second grip matters is in close work. From a bind the fastest way to control an opponent blade is to shorten your own and lever theirs aside, and you cannot do that from the far end of a long grip. The ringed guard then sits between your two hands like a crossbar, which is exactly the geometry the old manuals draw.

1095 high carbon steel

Sword steel is not knife steel, even when it carries the same number. A knife wants to be hard because its whole job is a fine edge on a short blade that will never flex much. A sword three feet long has to bend and come back. Take 1095 up to knife hardness across a blade that long and it becomes a glass rod: it will hold a beautiful edge until the moment it snaps.

So this blade is tempered back to 54 to 58 HRC, which is where a long blade wants to live. That range still takes and keeps a proper edge, and it gives the steel enough toughness that a flex returns to straight rather than staying bent or breaking. The blade is hardened through and then drawn back in a controlled temper, and it is finished with a satin polish rather than a mirror, because a satin surface hides handling marks and shows the taper of the grind honestly.

It is a sharp sword and it will cut. It is sold as a collector and display piece, and it is not made for sparring. Full contact drill needs a purpose built blunt.

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 this sword the two obvious places are the flat of the blade just below the ricasso, and the leather of the ricasso itself, where lettering can be tooled in rather than cut. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The grip takes both hands comfortably and one hand at a pinch. Held in one hand the sword is nose heavy, which is normal for a blade this long, and it is not how the sword is meant to be carried. Two handed it comes alive: the lower hand near the pommel steers and the upper hand under the guard supplies the power, and the point recovers much faster than the length of the blade suggests it should.

The point of balance sits a few inches ahead of the guard. That is a compromise between a sword that cuts hard and one that changes direction quickly, and it is the setting most hand and a half swords of this shape were made to. If you shift your lower hand up onto the ricasso the effective balance moves back towards you and the sword feels like a completely different thing, which is the point of having a ricasso at all.

Display it flat on a stand rather than resting on its point. A sword standing on its tip carries its whole weight on the smallest part of itself.

Care

1095 is high carbon steel and it rusts. Wipe the blade with a clean dry cloth every time you handle it, then run a thin film of mineral oil or blade oil over the whole surface with a cloth or a paper towel. Fingerprints left overnight on bare carbon steel will start to etch. There is more on steel care.

The steel scabbard is a transport and display fitting, not a storage locker. Do not leave the blade in it for months at a time, because a metal tube traps humid air against the steel and the mouth of the scabbard is the first place a rust ring appears. Feed the leather on the grip and the ricasso with a light leather balm two or three times a year, worked in with a cloth and buffed off, and keep the balm off the blade. If surface rust ever shows, a little oil and 0000 grade steel wool takes it off without cutting into the satin finish.

Made in the Czech Republic

This is a handmade piece from the Czech Republic, made in a workshop that still forges, grinds and finishes by hand instead of stamping parts out. The smiths there have kept the older way of working, and the wood, horn and leather are shaped and fitted by hand as well. Two pieces of the same design will never be identical, and that is part of what you are buying.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We handle the import ourselves, look over every piece when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done in the United States after the piece arrives, so your design goes on before we send it out.

A note on handmade variation

This sword 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 rings on the guard are formed and closed by hand, so their exact circle and the exact curl of the scrolled tips will be their own. The leather on the ricasso and the grip is natural hide and it will take the dye and the tooling at its own depth, so the knotwork will read a shade lighter or darker than the one in the picture. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not. If you want the longer version, look at the Tolkien swords and then at why a full tang matters.

Frequently asked questions

Is the scabbard included

Yes. The polished steel tube scabbard comes with the sword.

Is it sharp

Yes, it arrives sharpened. Treat it as you would any sharp blade.

Can I use it for reenactment or sparring

No. It is a sharp collector and display sword. Reenactment and full contact drill need a blunt sword built for the purpose.

Why is the section above the guard covered in leather

That is the ricasso and it is left unsharpened so a hand can go there. The leather gives that hand grip and the knotwork tooling adds texture.

Can it be used one handed

It can be held one handed but it is nose heavy that way. The grip is built for one and a half hands and the sword is much better behaved with both.

Will mine look like the photograph

The size, the steel and the build will match. The exact form of the hand closed rings and the tone of the leather will be their own.

What is in the box

• Ringwolf hand forged 1095 hand and a half sword
• Polished steel tube scabbard
• Blade wiped and oiled for transit
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the longswords, the swords, the Anglo Saxon and Celtic pieces and the guides.

Worth a look beside this

Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Oathstone Anglo Saxon piece. Another in the same line is the Flaxwhorl Anglo Saxon piece, 31 inches overall. Next along the rack is the Knotbone Anglo Saxon piece, 14 inches overall.

Fitting out further, the Riverclaw bowie knife belongs with it. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom seax page.

Our HEMA line includes the Vandrekt feder for drills and sparring, and our guide to blade flex is the place to look next.