Brasslight Hand Forged 1095 Steel Brass Hilted Sword | Bell Pommel and Downswept Guard | Ribbed Bone Toned Grip with Engraved Knotwork Bands | Fantasy Collector Gift | RK-1802

An arming sword built with a full brass hilt. The blade is hand forged 1095 high carbon steel, double edged, with a wide shallow fuller and a long even taper, and it carries an engraved knotwork band across the ricasso just below the guard. Everything above the blade is brass. A downswept crossguard with flattened tips, an engraved ferrule at the base of the grip, and a tall bell shaped pommel that flares out and then closes at the top. The grip between them is ribbed in a pale bone tone. A dark scabbard ships with the sword.

Brass hilts have a longer history than most people assume. Bronze and brass fittings appear on European swords from the Bronze Age onwards and never really go away, because a copper alloy has one property iron does not. It can be cast, chased and worked cold into complex shapes without any of the heat treatment steel demands, and it stays looking like precious metal without being one. For a sword that was meant to be seen as much as used, that made brass the obvious choice. This one is forged, ground, engraved and hilted by hand in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

What a pommel is actually holding together

People assume a pommel is glued or screwed on. On a properly made sword it is neither. The tang, the unsharpened extension of the blade that runs up through the whole hilt, passes through the guard, through the grip and through the pommel, and it emerges from the top with a small amount of steel to spare. That excess is then hammered over with a light ball peen until it spreads and locks, exactly like a rivet. The whole hilt is squeezed together in compression by that one operation.

It is why a sword built this way rattles when a component shrinks and why an old sword with a loose hilt can often be tightened by re peening rather than being taken apart. It is also why the pommel material matters structurally. A cast pommel with a thin wall cracks under peening, so a brass pommel of this size has to be solid stock rather than a hollow shell, which is the difference between a sword and a wall hanger.

1095 high carbon steel and solid brass

The blade is 1095, a plain high carbon steel of about one percent carbon with nothing else in the mix to complicate the heat treat. We take it to 54 to 58 HRC, keen enough to hold an edge and tough enough that a long blade will flex and return rather than crack near the guard.

The fittings are solid brass, worked and engraved rather than plated. That distinction matters over time. A plated finish is a thin skin over a different metal and once it wears through at a corner it cannot be repaired. Solid brass can be polished back a hundred times, and when it eventually dulls to a deep antique gold that is a patina rather than damage. The engraved knotwork on the ferrule and on the ricasso is cut by hand with a graver, so it sits below the surface and holds a shadow line.

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, so a custom ricasso engraving takes the place of the existing knotwork band. Brass takes a graver more easily than hardened steel does, so the guard and the pommel are both excellent surfaces if you want something deeper cut. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Brass is roughly the same density as steel, so a brass pommel of this size does the same counterweight job a steel one would. The balance sits close to the guard and the sword feels quick for its length. The tall bell pommel also gives the heel of the hand something to press against, which lets you lever the blade around in a bind without regripping.

It is a sharpened display and collector sword. It is not sold for battle ready sparring and should not be used for contact drills against another blade or against a person. Reenactment contact uses purpose built blunts with rolled edges.

Care

The steel and the brass want opposite things. Wipe the blade after handling and keep a light film of mineral oil on it, because 1095 will take a permanent grey etch from a fingerprint left overnight in a humid room. The brass, meanwhile, wants to be left largely alone. It will darken to a warm antique gold over months and that patina protects the surface underneath. If you prefer it bright, a little metal polish on a cloth restores it, but keep polish off the blade and off the grip, and do not polish the engraved bands hard or you will start rounding the cut lines. Do not store the sword sheathed in a damp room. Our steel routine is under steel care.

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 Memphis, Tennessee. 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 or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Brass varies in tone between batches and starts warming from the day it is polished, so yours may already read deeper than the picture. The two engraved bands are cut freehand and their line weight varies. The sweep of the guard is forged by eye and will never be perfectly symmetrical. The steel, the heat treat, the dimensions and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Does it come sharp

Yes. Both edges get a hand put working edge before the sword ships. It is not a blunted display copy.

Is the hilt solid brass or brass plated

Solid brass throughout, guard, ferrule and pommel. That is why the pommel can be peened over the tang and why the fittings can be polished back indefinitely.

Will the brass go dull

It will darken to a warm antique gold over months, which is what brass does and what most owners want. A light metal polish brings it back to bright if you prefer.

Can I spar with it

No. It is a sharpened collector and display sword. Contact work needs a purpose built blunt trainer.

Is the pommel glued on

No. The tang runs through the whole hilt and is peened over the top of the pommel like a rivet, which holds the entire assembly in compression.

Can I have my own engraving instead of the knotwork

Yes. Use the rune converter or choose your own design. Your engraving replaces the existing band rather than sitting next to it.

What is in the box

• Hand forged 1095 high carbon steel sword with a full solid brass hilt
• Downswept brass crossguard, engraved brass ferrule and tall bell pommel
• Hand engraved knotwork band across the ricasso
• Ribbed pale bone toned grip and a dark scabbard
• Care card covering oiling, brass patina and storage
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

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