Crimsonhilt Hand Forged 1095 Steel Knightly Sword | Octagonal Engraved Pommel Set with a Red Stone | Oxblood Leather Grip and Scabbard | Crusader Gift | RK-1878

The Crimsonhilt is a medieval knightly arming sword built to be looked at. The blade is mirror polished 1095 high carbon steel, broad at the shoulder and tapering to a rounded point through a wide shallow fuller. The hilt is where the money went: a large octagonal disc pommel in a bright silver tone finish, every facet engraved with fine scrollwork, with a faceted red stone set in a bezel at its centre. The grip is oxblood leather over a wooden core between polished ferrules, and the straight crossguard carries more small red stones at its tips and centre. A matching oxblood leather scabbard is included.

A jewelled pommel on a medieval sword was not only display. Pommels of exactly this disc form were sometimes hollowed out and used as reliquaries, sealed around a fragment of bone or cloth, which turned the sword into an object you could legally and religiously swear on. That is why so many medieval oath ceremonies involve a hand on a sword hilt rather than a book, and why the cruciform hilt shape carried so much weight in Christian Europe: held point down, an arming sword is a cross. Roland’s Durendal in the Song of Roland is described with relics sealed into its golden hilt. This sword is forged and finished in the Czech Republic.

A single handed sword is the piece reenactors ask about most, and what reenactors actually want covers what gets used and what gets shelved. 1095 is the plain carbon steel we work in, and the steel glossary explains what the number means and why it takes an edge. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

Why the pommel is this big

A disc pommel of this size looks decorative and it is, but the size is set by physics before it is set by taste. A sword is a lever pivoting somewhere near your hand, and where that pivot sits decides whether the sword feels alive or dead. Add mass behind the hand and the balance point walks back toward the guard, the tip gets easier to start and stop, and the sword stops trying to drag your wrist around. Take the pommel off a finished sword and it turns instantly into an unmanageable bar of steel.

Medieval smiths tuned this deliberately. Ewart Oakeshott catalogued pommel forms with letters, and the flat disc types he labelled H and I dominate the arming swords of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries precisely because a disc gives the most mass for the least volume sticking out into the world. Faceting the disc into an octagon, as here, keeps that mass while giving the engraver eight flat panels to work on and giving the palm a shape it can register against on a downward cut.

Materials and finish

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, then ground and polished through progressively finer stages to a mirror. There is no coating on it. What you are looking at is bare steel taken to a fine finish, which is why it is so bright and why it needs oil.

We should be straight about the fittings. They are polished steel in a bright silver tone finish, not sterling silver, and the stones are faceted red set stones in bezels rather than cut gemstones. They are set properly and they are secure, and they give the hilt the colour and glitter that a jewelled medieval hilt needs. The engraving on the pommel facets is cut work, so the lines hold shadow and do not soften with handling. The grip and scabbard leather are dyed a deep oxblood that reads almost black in low light and clearly red in sun.

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 flat of the blade below the guard is the best place for a rune line or a motto, since the pommel facets already carry scrollwork. The scabbard leather also takes tooled or engraved lettering. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

With a pommel this heavy the balance point sits very close to the guard, which makes the sword feel far lighter in the hand than its overall weight suggests and gives it a fast recovery. The grip takes one hand with the heel of the palm against the pommel disc, and the flared tips of the crossguard give the hand a clear boundary.

This is a sharp display and collector sword. It is not a blunt reenactment trainer and it is not certified for sparring or any kind of contact use. Stones set in a hilt are secure for handling and display but no set stone survives being struck. Treat it as the presentation piece it is.

Care

A mirror polished carbon steel blade shows everything. Wipe it down with a clean dry cloth after any handling and leave a very light film of oil on the surface, and handle it with a cloth where you can. Clean the fittings with a dry soft cloth only. Do not use liquid metal polish anywhere near the set stones, because polish residue dries white in the bezels and around the engraving and is very hard to get out again. Feed the grip and scabbard leather with a leather balm once or twice a year. Do not store the sword in the scabbard long term. Our steel care page has the full routine.

If it is going on a wall, hanging swords and axes safely covers mounts, fixings and what not to do.

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 is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The scrollwork on the pommel facets is cut by hand, so its depth and spacing vary slightly. Set stones differ a little in tone and in how they catch light. Leather is a natural material, so the oxblood dye takes differently on different hides and the grain is never identical. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Are the red stones real gemstones

They are faceted red set stones in proper bezels, not certified cut gemstones, and we would rather say so plainly. They are set securely and they look the part on a jewelled medieval hilt.

Are the silver coloured fittings solid silver

No. They are polished steel finished in a bright silver tone. That is a stronger material for a sword hilt than silver would be, and it does not tarnish the way silver does.

Does it arrive sharp

Yes, sharpened on both edges. Ask in the order notes and we will send it blunt instead, which many people prefer on a display sword.

Can I hang it on a wall

Yes. Use a mount that supports the blade rather than a single hook under the guard, and keep it out of direct sunlight so the oxblood leather does not fade unevenly.

Is the scabbard the same leather as the grip

Yes, both are the same oxblood dyed leather, so they match when the sword is sheathed. The scabbard is built over a wooden core, not a soft sleeve.

How soon will it ship

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping in the US. If you need it for a specific date, tell us in the order notes before ordering and we will be honest about whether we can make it.

What is in the box

• Crimsonhilt 1095 steel knightly sword with engraved octagonal stone set pommel
• Oxblood leather scabbard over a wooden core
• Care card for polished carbon steel, set fittings and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in arming swords, longswords and swords, or read the guides on Oakeshott pommel types and looking after a polished blade.

Close to this one

Another in the same line is the Palecrest arming sword, forged from 1095. Next along the rack is the Wynthorn arming sword, 37 inches overall. For a straight comparison, see the Slatewick arming sword, 36 inches overall.

The Coilwyrm Viking sword covers the other half of the same kit. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the custom Viking sword page.

For partner drills and sparring we carry the Storvekk kriegsmesser, and our HEMA messer range is a good place to start.