Stonewake Hand Forged 1095 Steel Viking Sword | Fullered Double Edged Blade | Steel Wheel Pommel with Twisted Brass Wire and Brown Leather Grip | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1792

This is a Viking age arming sword in the classic Northern European pattern. The blade is hand forged from 1095 high carbon steel, double edged, with a broad shallow fuller running most of its length to take weight out of the middle of the blade without taking away stiffness. The hilt is the part that dates it. A short straight lower guard, a stacked brown leather grip, and above it a thick steel upper guard and a heavy wheel pommel, both of them banded with twisted brass wire set into cut grooves. It ships with a brown leather scabbard.

The twisted wire inlay is worth a moment. Real Viking age hilts were decorated by cutting shallow parallel grooves into the iron and then hammering twisted wires of brass, copper or silver down into them until they locked in place by friction alone. No solder, no glue. Archaeologists can still date a hilt by the pitch of the twist and the number of wires. We cut and set ours the same way, which is why the brass sits flush and slightly proud in the light rather than sitting on the surface like plating. The sword is forged, ground, heat treated and assembled by hand in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

Why the fuller is there and what it is not

The groove down the centre of the blade gets called a blood groove more often than anything else, and that name is nonsense. It has nothing to do with blood and nothing to do with breaking suction. A fuller is a structural feature. Forging or grinding it moves steel outward from the centre line towards the edges, which is exactly the same trick an engineer uses when specifying an I beam instead of a solid bar. You lose a chunk of the mass from the middle where it contributes least to stiffness, and you keep the material out at the edges where bending resistance actually comes from.

The practical result on a sword this size is a blade that is noticeably lighter in the hand without becoming whippy, and one whose balance point sits nearer the guard. That is why Viking age swords feel so much livelier than their length suggests. On this sword the fuller is broad and shallow rather than narrow and deep, which is the older Northern pattern and the one you see on ninth and tenth century finds.

1095 high carbon steel and the heat treat

1095 is a plain high carbon steel with roughly one percent carbon and almost nothing else in the mix. That simplicity is why it has been the working smith’s steel for as long as anyone has been rolling it. It responds honestly to heat, it quenches predictably, and it takes and holds a keen edge. We bring this blade to 54 to 58 HRC. Harder than that and a long double edged blade gets brittle in exactly the places where a sword takes the worst loads, which is the guard and the first third of the blade. At this range the edge stays keen and the blade takes a knock without cracking.

The steel fittings are shaped and finished by hand rather than cast. That means the grooves for the brass wire are cut into solid stock, not moulded, and the wire is hammered home rather than dropped into a pattern.

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 near the guard and the face of the leather scabbard. Full detail sits on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The heavy wheel pommel is not decoration, it is the counterweight. Take it off and the sword would feel tip heavy and slow. With it in place the balance point moves back towards your hand, the blade turns quickly around the wrist, and the sword can be checked and redirected mid swing rather than having to be swung through. Viking age swords were made for one hand plus a shield, so the grip is short by later medieval standards and it fills the palm rather than allowing much sliding.

This is a sharpened collector and display sword. It is not sold as a full contact sparring weapon and should not be used for edge on edge drills against another blade or against a person. If you want something for contact work, that is a blunt trainer and a different tool entirely.

Care

Carbon steel rusts. Wipe the blade after every time you handle it, because a fingerprint left on polished 1095 will etch a visible grey ghost into the surface within days in a humid room. Keep a thin film of mineral oil on the blade. Do not leave the sword stored inside the leather scabbard for months at a time, because vegetable tanned leather is mildly acidic and holds moisture against steel. Feed the scabbard and the grip once or twice a year with a leather conditioner and let it soak in overnight. The brass wire will slowly dull to a warm gold, which most people prefer, and a light rub with a soft cloth brings it back if you do not. Our full method is under steel care.

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 Memphis, Tennessee. 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 sword is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The pitch of the brass twist will vary a little. The leather will take dye slightly differently from hide to hide and will read warmer or cooler brown. The satin polish will carry its own faint hand direction, and the hammer texture behind the fittings is never identical twice. The steel, the heat treat, the dimensions and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the sword sharp out of the box

Yes. It arrives with a hand put working edge on both sides. Handle it as you would any sharp tool and keep it scabbarded when it is not being looked at.

Is the brass wire plated on or actually inlaid

Inlaid. The grooves are cut into the solid steel fittings and twisted brass wire is hammered down into them so it locks by friction. It is not a plated finish and it will not flake.

Can I use this for reenactment combat

No. This is a sharpened display and collector sword. Reenactment contact work needs a blunt, rolled edge trainer built for it. Use this one for display, for handling and for cutting practice only if you are trained.

Is the scabbard included

Yes. The brown leather scabbard shown ships with the sword at no extra cost and is stitched and edge finished by hand.

Can I get runes on the blade

Yes. Use the rune converter on this page and we will cut your line into the flat of the blade near the guard, or into the scabbard if you prefer it there.

How long until it ships

Processing runs one to two weeks because each sword is forged and hilted to order. Shipping inside the United States is free.

What is in the box

• Hand forged 1095 high carbon steel Viking arming sword
• Brown leather scabbard, hand stitched and edge finished
• Steel wheel pommel and guard with hand set twisted brass wire
• Care card covering oiling, storage and leather feeding
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the rest of the Viking swords, the arming swords, the full Viking weapons range and the guides.