Grimtide Hand Forged Viking Short Sword with Triple Fullered Blade | 21 Inch Overall Length | Ribbed Leather Grip and Brown Leather Scabbard | Norse Collector Gift | RK-1813

Grimtide is a hand forged Viking short sword with a broad leaf shaped blade, three parallel fullers cut down each flat and a shallow etched panel at the ricasso. The crossguard is downswept, the quillons curving forward and flaring at the tips so they sit around the hand rather than straight across it, and the grip is a ribbed black leather roll finishing in a faceted steel pommel. A fitted brown leather scabbard comes with it.

Short swords like this are what most people in the Viking age actually owned. A full length sword was a wealthy man’s item, expensive in steel and expensive in the smith hours it swallowed. A blade of this length did most of the same work in a shield wall, where a long blade was a liability anyway because there was no room to swing it, and it cost a fraction as much. The archaeology is blunt about this. Long swords are rare in ordinary graves. Short blades are everywhere.

Forged, ground, heat treated and finished in the Czech Republic. It ships with the leather scabbard, a protective film of oil on the blade and a care card. Free shipping inside the United States and one to two weeks of processing while the multiple fullers are cut and cleaned up. Look for it with the short swords, and take in the seax knives on the way past.

Specifications

What three fullers do that one does not

Most fullered blades carry a single wide groove down the centre. This one carries three narrower ones side by side, and the reason is stiffness in two directions at once. A single central fuller leaves you with thick edges and a thin middle, which is strong against bending edge to edge but gives away a little flat to flat. Three ribs leave three lines of full thickness steel running the length of the blade, tying the flats together like the webs in a girder. On a short broad blade, where you cannot rely on length and taper for stiffness, that is a sensible trade.

The visible cost is labour. Each groove has to be cut, blended and polished separately, and any wobble in one of them shows up next to the other two. That is why you rarely see it on a mass produced blade.

There is a second effect worth knowing about. Grooves cut into a flat surface change how light travels across it, and three of them side by side break up reflections into bands instead of one broad sheet. On a mirror polished blade that reads as movement even when the sword is hanging still on a wall, and it is part of why multi fullered blades were prized as show pieces long after the structural argument had stopped mattering. The Frankish smiths who supplied much of the northern sword trade in the ninth and tenth centuries knew this perfectly well, and their export blades often carry more grinding work than any fight would ever justify.

The steel and the fittings

The blade starts as 1095 high carbon steel, forged to shape, normalised to settle the grain, then hardened and tempered back to 54 to 58 HRC. That is a working sword hardness. It takes a keen edge, it will not chip out along the thin flared tip, and it can be resharpened on any decent stone rather than needing diamond plates.

The guard and pommel are steel, filed and finished by hand. The grip is leather rolled into raised ribs over the tang, which is not just for looks. Ribs give a wet or gloved hand something to index against so the edge alignment stays where you put it.

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 short sword the etched ricasso panel is the natural home for a name or a date. See the engraving page for sizing.

Handling and balance

Short and broad means the balance sits only two or three inches ahead of the guard. The sword points where you look and it changes direction almost instantly, which is the whole argument for a blade this length. The downswept quillons give the hand a little cover on a bind without turning into a full basket that would slow the whole thing down.

This is a collector and display piece with a working edge. It is not sold for sparring and it should not be used in full contact work against another person.

Draw and carry matter on a blade this size. Worn on a belt at the hip it sits clear of the leg and comes out cleanly with either hand, which is the practical argument for a short sword over a long one for anyone who spends a day in kit rather than an hour. The scabbard throat is cut close enough that the sword stays put when you lean over, without needing a retention strap that has to be undone before the blade will move.

Care

High carbon steel and a mirror polish are a demanding combination, because a mirror shows every mark. Wipe the flats down after handling, keep a light film of mineral oil or paste wax on the blade and store it out of the scabbard if the room is humid. Leather is tanned with salts and a scabbard left on a blade for months will leave a shadow. Details on the steel care page.

Feed the scabbard and the grip with a neutral leather balm once or twice a year. Do not soak either and never dry leather with heat.

Made in the Czech Republic

The work behind this piece happens in a Czech Republic workshop that has kept to the old methods. Steel is forged and heat treated by hand, the grind is taken down by eye rather than by machine, and the handle, fittings and sheath are cut and finished one at a time. Because of that, every piece carries small marks of the hand that made it.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import direct, check each piece when it reaches us, and ship from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Engraving is added here in the United States after arrival, so the piece you receive is finished to your order.

A note on handmade variation

This short sword is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Three hand cut fullers will never sit at identical spacing twice, and the polish that follows them takes its own path. The leather grip ribs are rolled by hand and their pitch varies slightly. The scabbard leather comes from natural hide and its colour and grain change from panel to panel. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not. You can carry on with the gap between a display sword and a battle ready one, or look at the blade shapes guide while you are there.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a sword or a large dagger

It sits between the two, which is exactly where a lot of real Viking age blades sat. At around twenty one inches overall it is a short sword by any sensible reckoning, and it is worn and drawn like one.

Does it arrive sharp

Yes, with a working cutting edge. Tell us in the order notes if you want it left duller for display in a household with children and we will do that instead.

Is the scabbard fitted to this exact blade

Yes. Each scabbard is built around the blade it ships with, which is why it holds without a strap. Scabbards are not interchangeable between pieces.

Can the etched panel be replaced with runes

Yes. Choose the rune engraving option and your line takes the place of the existing panel rather than sitting next to it.

How heavy is it in the hand

Light for its bulk. The blade is broad but short, so most of the mass is close to the hand and it does not feel front heavy the way a long single handed sword can.

How long before it ships

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping within the United States.

What is in the box

• One Grimtide Viking short sword with triple fullered blade
• Fitted brown leather scabbard
• Protective oil film on the blade
• Care card for high carbon steel and leather
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in short swords, swords and Norse arms, or read the guides for how fullers are cut and why.

Compare it with these

In the same category sits the Sawglade short sword. A near match for this one is the Trinecrown short sword, 31 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Manecrest short sword, 26 inches overall.

Fitting out further, the Knotfell Viking sword belongs with it. Pick the steel, the length and the fittings yourself on the custom Viking sword page.