Wardenoak Hand Forged Medieval Arming Sword with Engraved Arched Crossguard | 35 Inch Overall Length | Tan Leather Grip and Fitted Leather Scabbard | Knightly Collector Gift | RK-1814

Wardenoak is a hand forged medieval arming sword with a long straight double edged blade, a narrow fuller running most of its length and a crossguard that arches gently toward the point. The guard is cut with an engraved scrolling knotwork band, the grip is wrapped in tan leather over a long tang, and the pommel is a faceted scent stopper form in dark steel. A fitted brown leather scabbard ships with it.

The curved crossguard is worth a second look. Straight bar guards came first and never went away, but from the twelfth century onward smiths began bending the quillons toward the blade, and it was not a fashion. A guard curved forward catches a descending edge and steers it away from the fingers instead of stopping it dead, and it lets the hand ride further up onto the ricasso for extra point control without losing protection. That small change bought a swordsman a lot, which is why it spread across Europe within a couple of generations.

Forged, ground, heat treated, hilted and finished in the Czech Republic. It arrives with the leather scabbard, a protective oil film on the blade and a care card. Free shipping inside the United States. Processing is one to two weeks, most of it spent on the fuller and the guard engraving. It sits in the arming swords. The short swords cover the same ground from a different angle.

Specifications

What the pommel is really doing

People look at a pommel and see decoration or a place for a jewel. Its actual job is arithmetic. A sword is a lever with the hand near one end, and every ounce out at the tip costs you several times its weight in effort to move. Putting mass behind the hand shifts the balance point back toward the grip and, more importantly, moves the point of rotation, so the blade turns around a spot near your wrist rather than somewhere out in the air.

That is why this pommel is a solid faceted block rather than a thin decorative cap. It is also the mechanical anchor of the whole sword. The tang runs through it and is peened over the top, so the pommel is what holds guard, grip and blade in compression as one rigid assembly. A loose pommel is a loose sword, which is why we peen rather than thread.

The steel

1095 high carbon steel, forged to profile, normalised, hardened and then tempered back to 54 to 58 HRC. On a blade this long the tempering matters more than the hardening. An untempered 1095 blade at full hardness would be somewhere around 65 HRC and would snap rather than bend, and a twenty six inch blade has plenty of leverage to find out. Drawn back into the mid fifties it flexes and returns, holds an edge through normal cutting and can be brought back with a stone rather than a machine.

The fittings are steel, filed, engraved and given an antiqued grey finish so the knotwork on the guard stays legible instead of vanishing into a bright polish.

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 ricasso, the flat of the guard and the scabbard throat all take a line cleanly. See the engraving page for what fits.

Handling and balance

With a long tang, a heavy pommel and a narrow fuller taking weight out of the middle of the blade, the balance point sits around four inches ahead of the guard. The sword feels alive rather than tip heavy and it recovers quickly from a cut. The grip is long enough that a second hand can come onto the pommel for extra leverage, which is how most of these were actually used when the shield went down.

This is a display and collector sword with a working edge and a proper heat treat. It is not sold for sparring and it should not be used for full contact work against another person or another blade.

Care

1095 will rust if it is neglected. Wipe the blade after every handling session, keep a thin film of mineral oil or paste wax on the flats, and store the sword out of the scabbard if the room ever gets humid. A leather scabbard is tanned with salts that will mark a bright blade over months of contact. Hanging it horizontally on a wall is the kindest storage there is. See the steel care page for the full routine.

Give the grip and the scabbard a neutral leather balm once or twice a year. Never dry wet leather with heat, and never store the sword in a sealed plastic sleeve, which traps moisture against both.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Chicago, Illinois. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

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 knotwork on the guard is cut by hand and its spacing shifts a little from piece to piece. The fuller is ground by eye and its exact width and run out near the point will be your sword’s own. Tan leather takes dye unevenly by nature, so the grip and scabbard tone vary between hides. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not. We go further into it in buying a first sword, and pick it up again in how steel and hardness actually work.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes, it ships with a cutting edge. If you want it delivered blunt for a display room or a household with children, ask in the order notes and we will leave the edge unsharpened at no extra cost.

Can I use two hands on it

The grip is long enough for a supporting hand on the pommel, which is how a sword of this size was often handled. It is still primarily a single handed sword with a shield or a buckler in the other hand.

Is the tang full length

Yes. The tang runs the entire length of the grip and is peened over the pommel. There is no threaded rod and no rat tail tang hidden inside the handle.

Can I have runes on the blade instead of the guard

Yes. A rune line along the ricasso or down the fuller reads well against the satin finish. Say which you want in the engraving option.

Will the scabbard fit a different sword

No. Each scabbard is built around the blade it ships with, so it will not fit another piece even of the same pattern.

How long does shipping take

One to two weeks of processing while the sword is built and fitted, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• One Wardenoak medieval arming sword with engraved arched crossguard
• 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 arming swords, longswords and swords, or read the guides on balance points and pommel weight.

Close to this one

Also in this group is the Knotwheel arming sword, pattern welded Damascus. Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Awehelm arming sword, 35 inches overall. Another in the same line is the Serpentgleam arming sword, 36 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Palebriar messer. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the custom Viking sword page.

Want something you can actually fence with? The Aurnvik langes messer is blunt and made for it, and our HEMA messer range is worth a look before you buy.