Boneclasp Hand Forged 1095 Steel Skull Sword | 38 Inch Overall | Blackened Skull Guard and Chevron Etched Blade with Black Leather Scabbard | Fantasy Display Gift | RK-1939

The Boneclasp is a fantasy sword built around a cast skull that sits where the guard would normally be, with a pair of heavy quillons curling out from behind the jaw in opposite directions like horns. The whole hilt is finished in a dark blackened tone, the grip is a long black wrap over a shaped core, and a disc pommel closes the end. The blade is bright and broad with a band of chevron braid etched down the flat near the ricasso, and the sword ships with a black leather scabbard with a wide leather band at the throat.

Sculpted hilts are older than the fantasy genre by several centuries. European hunting swords and court swords of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries routinely carried cast beast heads, grotesques and figures on the pommel and quillon block, made by exactly the same lost wax process used here. A carved hilt was how a cutler showed what his shop could do, and it is the one part of a sword where a maker could work as a sculptor rather than a smith. This one is forged and assembled in the Czech Republic.

Nothing here claims to be historical, and display or battle ready is worth reading before you decide what you want it to do. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. If you would rather have something historical at the same length, look at the claymores.

Specifications

How a sculpted guard is made

A skull like this one cannot be forged. Forging moves metal in broad strokes and it is the wrong process for undercuts, eye sockets and teeth. What you do instead is carve the shape in wax at full size, build a heat proof shell around the wax, melt the wax out and pour metal into the void it leaves. That is investment casting, or lost wax, and it is the oldest precision metalforming process we have. There are cast bronze figures from the Indus valley made this way more than four thousand years ago.

The reason it matters here is that casting is what makes the curled horn quillons possible. Look at where they leave the skull. They spring from behind the jaw, curve outward and then hook away in opposite directions, and there is no way to draw that shape out of a bar under a hammer without leaving a weak point at the root. Cast as one piece with the skull, the quillons and the block behind them are a single body of metal with no join to fail.

Be clear about what those quillons are for on this sword. They are a sculptural feature. On a historical hunting sword a down swept quillon would catch a boar’s tusk or an opposing blade, but a cast decorative guard should not be trusted to take that kind of shock, and we would rather say so than let anyone find out the hard way. The skull is there because it looks the way it looks.

1095 high carbon steel and the blackened finish

The blade is 1095, hardened and tempered into the 54 to 58 HRC band and ground flat with a secondary bevel. At 28 inches it is stiff enough to hold its line and long enough to look like the real thing on a wall or in a photograph. It is finished satin so the etched chevron panel reads clearly against it.

The dark tone on the skull, the quillons and the pommel is a blackened oxide finish rather than paint. That is worth knowing because a painted casting chips at every high point and reveals bright metal underneath, while an oxide finish wears gradually and evenly. Over time the raised parts of the skull, the brow and the cheekbones, will start to lighten from handling. That is normal, and on a piece like this it usually improves the look because it puts highlights exactly where a sculptor would have put them.

This is not officially licensed merchandise for any film, game or franchise, and it is not a replica of any specific fictional sword. It is our own design.

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 rune line on the blade takes the place of the chevron braid panel. The leather of the scabbard is a good second surface if you want to keep the blade as it is. See the engraving page.

Handling and display

The balance point sits close in, about three inches ahead of the guard, because there is a lot of cast metal at the hilt. That makes the sword feel much lighter than its weight suggests and it hangs well on a horizontal mount without the point drooping.

Be honest about what this is. It is a hand forged blade with a genuine heat treat, sold for collecting, display, costume and photography. It is not sold for battle ready sparring, it is not built for contact work against another person or another blade, and the cast guard in particular is not designed to absorb impact. Hang it, photograph it, wear it as part of a costume, and cut nothing harder than a water bottle on a stand.

Care

Keep a light film of mineral oil on the bright part of the blade and wipe it after handling. Bare 1095 spots from skin salt faster than most people expect, and the etched panel will hold moisture in its cut lines if the blade is put away damp.

The blackened castings need very little. Wipe them with a dry cloth and do not use abrasive polish on them, because an oxide finish is thin and polishing takes it straight off. If you want to slow the wear on the high points, a trace of oil on a cloth wiped over the skull does the job. Feed the scabbard leather twice a year with a neutral balm and keep it out of direct sun. Full guidance is on our steel care page.

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

Every piece we sell is made by hand in the Czech Republic. The smiths there work the way the trade has been worked for a long time, heating and hammering the steel, taking the bevels down by eye, and fitting the handle and the leather one at a time. There is no automated line anywhere in it, so small differences from one piece to the next are normal and expected.

Ransack Viking is a United States company based in Chicago, Illinois. We bring the pieces in ourselves, inspect them on arrival and ship them from our own warehouse. If you add engraving, that is carried out here in the United States before your order goes out.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Each casting is cleaned up and blackened by hand, so the depth of the dark tone across the skull and the exact crispness of the teeth and sockets vary from one to the next. The etched chevron panel differs slightly in weight and the leather of the scabbard has its own grain. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this from a film or a game?

No. It is our own design and it is not licensed by, endorsed by or associated with any franchise. Anyone selling you a sword as official merchandise should be able to name the licence.

Is it display only or is the blade real?

The blade is genuinely forged and heat treated 1095 steel, so it is a real blade. It is still sold as a display and collector piece, because the cast guard is not built to take impact.

Does it arrive sharp?

It ships with a working edge by default. A great many buyers ask for it blunt because it lives on a wall, so say the word in the order notes and there is no extra charge.

Will the black finish chip?

It is an oxide finish rather than paint, so it wears rather than chipping. The raised parts of the skull will brighten slowly with handling.

Can I wear the scabbard?

Yes. A wide leather band sits around the throat of the scabbard, so it can be carried from a belt or a baldric, which suits costume use.

How long is the wait?

One to two weeks of processing, then free shipping inside the United States with tracking.

What is in the box

• One Boneclasp skull sword with a 1095 high carbon steel blade
• One fitted black leather scabbard with a wide leather band at the throat
• A protective film of oil on the blade for transit
• Care notes for high carbon steel, blackened castings and leather
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

More in this vein: fantasy and movie swords, short swords, swords and sword stands and displays. Background reading lives in the guides.

Others in the same line

Worth putting side by side with this is the Trineclaw movie sword. In the same category sits the Ramskull movie sword, 36 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Thornfang movie sword, 38 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Hollowmoon scimitar. You can have this made your way instead on the design your own page.