Trinecrown Hand Forged 1095 Steel Viking Short Sword | 31 Inch Overall | Triquetra Engraved Disc Pommel and Cream Cord Grip with Tan Leather Scabbard | Norse Gift | RK-1905

Trinecrown is a short sword built on Viking lines, sized for one hand and for tight space. The blade is 1095 high carbon steel, double edged, satin polished, with a fuller running down the centre for most of its length. The crossguard is a plain steel bar with a slight droop toward the blade, the grip is bound in cream cord over a shaped core, and the pommel is a thick steel disc engraved on its face with a triquetra inside a ring. A tan leather scabbard is included.

The triquetra is three interlaced arcs, and it turns up on Norse rune stones, on Viking age coinage from York, and later all over insular Christian manuscript work. Because it is a single unbroken line looped three times, it has been read as a symbol of three things in one for at least a thousand years by several different traditions, none of which invented it. The honest position is that it is very old and it was reused constantly. Trinecrown is forged, ground, heat treated, hilted and finished by hand in the Czech Republic.

The best Norse blades of all carried a maker name in the fuller, which the Ulfberht blades covers. That three cornered knot is a triquetra, one of several covered in our run through the Norse symbols. A board from the round shields is what usually stands beside one.

Specifications

What a short sword is actually for

A shorter blade is not a lesser sword, it is a different tool, and the trade is entirely about space. A thirty inch blade gives reach in open ground. A twenty five inch blade gives you a sword you can still use with a shield up, in a doorway, on a ship deck or in a press of people where a longer sword has nowhere to go. The Romans built an entire military system around exactly that logic with the gladius, and Norse crews fighting from ship to ship faced the same constraint. The other advantage is speed. Take five inches off a blade and you take a disproportionate amount of rotational inertia with it, because the mass you removed was at the far end, so the sword changes direction noticeably faster than the numbers suggest.

1095 steel and how we treat it

1095 is about one percent carbon and almost nothing else, which is exactly what you want in a blade you intend to heat treat by feel. We normalise three times to refine the grain, quench in warm oil, and temper back to 54 to 58 HRC, which is deliberately below knife hardness so the blade flexes and returns rather than taking a set. On a twenty five inch blade the fuller matters less for weight than it does on a long sword, so ours is cut shallower and mainly stiffens the section. The guard and pommel are cut from bar, filed by hand and polished, and the pommel is peened over the tang so the whole hilt is drawn tight rather than glued or threaded.

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 or the leather. 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 Trinecrown that means the triquetra on the pommel face gives way to your design, or you can leave the pommel alone and have a rune line cut along the ricasso instead. The tan scabbard also takes a stamped line cleanly. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The balance point sits about three and a half inches ahead of the guard. On a sword under two pounds that gives something genuinely quick, and the heavy disc pommel means the point comes back on line almost by itself after a cut. The cream cord binding grips a dry hand better than smooth leather does and gives the palm a clear sense of which way the edge is facing without looking. The blade is sharpened. Trinecrown is sold for collecting, display and dry handling. We do not sell it for full contact sparring or for cutting against hard targets.

Care

Wipe the blade after handling, because 1095 will take a fingerprint etch into a satin finish inside a week in a humid room. Keep a light film of mineral oil on the steel and top it up monthly. The cream cord grip is the part that shows dirt fastest, so handle it with clean dry hands and clean it with a barely damp cloth rather than soaking it, since saturated cord loosens on the core as it dries. Do not store the sword in the leather scabbard for months at a time. Feed the tan leather twice a year with a neutral cream and keep it out of direct sun. Our rust and finish notes are in the guide to steel care.

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 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 Chicago, Illinois. 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. The engraved triquetra is cut by hand so its line weight and depth differ, the cord binding has its own tension and pitch, the tan leather takes dye with its own grain and will darken with handling, and the satin polish holds its own pattern. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

How does this compare to a full length Viking sword?

It is about five inches shorter in the blade and around half a pound lighter, which makes it noticeably faster in the hand and much easier to handle indoors or in a small display space.

Will the cream cord grip stay clean?

It will darken slightly with handling, which most owners like. Keep hands clean and dry, and clean it with a barely damp cloth rather than washing it.

Is the pommel engraving deep enough to feel?

Yes. It is cut rather than printed, so you can feel the line under a thumb and it will still be there long after the polish has worn.

Is it sharp when it arrives?

Yes, to a working sharp edge on both sides. We do not take a sword to a razor polish because a razor edge chips at the first hard contact.

Would this suit a smaller adult or a first sword?

It is one of the easiest pieces we make to handle. Under two pounds with a four inch grip, it suits a smaller hand and does not demand the strength a full longsword does.

Can I replace the triquetra with a family symbol?

Yes. Send us the artwork and we will cut it into the pommel face instead. Simple line designs reproduce best at that size.

What is in the box

• Trinecrown Viking short sword in 1095 high carbon steel
• Tan leather scabbard cut to this blade
• Care card covering oiling, cord grip cleaning and leather feeding
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the other short swords, the Viking swords, the full sword range, and the guides.

Also in this part of the catalogue

Next along the rack is the Silverhilt short sword, 26 inches overall. For a straight comparison, see the Knotlobe short sword, 26 inches overall. Worth putting side by side with this is the Tidebrand short sword, 28 inches overall.

If you are putting a set together, the Northstave arming sword sits alongside it. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom Viking sword page.