Manecrest Hand Forged 1095 Steel Lion Head Short Sword | 26 Inch Overall with 20 Inch Fullered Blade | Brass Guard and Pommel, Knotwork Etching and Leather Scabbard | Collector Gift | RK-1957

The Manecrest is a short sword with a cast brass lion head pommel, a brass crossguard, a black leather wrapped grip and a broad polished blade. A band of Norse interlace runs along the fuller for about a third of the blade length. It comes with a brown leather scabbard with a brass throat.

Animals on sword hilts are older than heraldry and they were never only decoration. A beast at the pommel puts a face at the one point of a sword that an onlooker can always see, which is why zoomorphic pommels turn up on Celtic anthropomorphic hilts, on Migration period rings, and later on European officers swords in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where a lion head pommel became so standard it survives on ceremonial patterns today. The lion is the most reused of all of them because it reads instantly at a distance. It is forged, ground, heat treated, cast, fitted and finished by hand in the Czech Republic, and it ships with the leather scabbard shown and our lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings.

Short blades are easier to live with than long ones, and how to buy a first sword covers why. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. Single edged blades of similar length sit in the messers.

Specifications

Why a short sword and not a long knife

People use the two words loosely, but the difference is real and it lives in the guard and in the cross section. A long knife has one edge, a spine you can put a thumb on, and a guard that only needs to stop your hand sliding forward onto the blade. A short sword has two edges, a symmetrical cross section, and a guard that has to defend against another blade coming down at you. That is why this one has a full brass cross rather than a small bolster, and why the blade is ground with a fuller down the centre and matching bevels on both sides.

Twenty inches of blade is a length that has been reinvented over and over because it works in exactly the situations a long sword does not. Roman legionaries, Greek hoplites, Norse crews on a crowded deck and eighteenth century boarding parties all settled on something close to this. It is long enough to reach past an arm and short enough that a wall, a doorway or a shoulder to shoulder line does not take the sword away from you.

Steel and brass

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel at 54 to 58 HRC, hand ground with a wide fuller running most of its length. The fuller takes idle steel out of the middle of the section and drops the weight without giving up meaningful stiffness, which on a broad blade like this one is the difference between a sword and a bar.

The furniture is brass, and brass earns its place on a sword hilt for four separate reasons. It casts cleanly, so fine work like a lion head comes out of the mould with the detail intact. It does not rust. It is softer than the blade steel, so it will never chew a blade sitting against it in the scabbard throat. And it takes a patina rather than corroding, so it ages into a warm dull gold instead of pitting. Ours is polished bright at dispatch. Left alone it will soften over a year or two, and a brass polish takes it back whenever you want.

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 the Manecrest the interlace band in the fuller is the existing design, so runes there would take its place. There is also clean space on the blade flats either side of the fuller and on the scabbard leather, and either of those keeps the interlace. See the engraving page for what is possible.

Handling and balance

A brass lion head is heavier than it looks and that is doing real work here. It sits directly behind the hand and pulls the balance point back to roughly two inches ahead of the guard, which makes a broad twenty inch blade feel nimble rather than nose heavy. Held properly the muzzle of the lion presses into the base of your palm and the whole sword rotates around your wrist.

The grip is short and it is meant to be filled completely. This is a sharp forged sword and it is not for sparring or reenactment. Do not use it in contact work against another person or against another blade. Cutting practice on soft targets is fine.

Care

Wipe the blade after handling and keep a light film of mineral, camellia or gun oil on it. A polished carbon steel blade shows a rust spot faster than a dark one, so do not leave fingerprints on it overnight. Keep the oil off the brass, since it is not needed there and it collects dust. Our full notes are in the steel care guide.

Do not store the sword sheathed for long periods. Leather is tanned with mildly acidic compounds and it holds damp, and both of those work on a blade left inside it for months. Feed the scabbard once or twice a year with a leather balm, and if the brass throat ever picks up a green bloom, that is normal brass verdigris and comes off with a soft cloth and a little polish.

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 is hand made and not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The mane on the lion is finished with hand files, so the depth and flow of it will differ from one to the next. The interlace etch, the exact width of the fuller, the tone of the brass and the grain of the scabbard hide all vary. The blade length, the steel, the heat treat and the construction are the same on every one. The character is not, and that is what you are paying for.

Frequently asked questions

Is the lion head solid brass or plated

Solid cast brass, filed and polished by hand. There is no plating to wear through.

Is it sharp when it arrives

Yes, on both edges, with a working edge rather than a razor. A short broad blade holds a working edge far better than a very thin one.

Will the brass go dull

Yes, over months, and most owners like it. Brass polish and a soft cloth take it back to bright whenever you want it bright.

Can I wear this on a belt

The scabbard is a carrying scabbard rather than a full belt rig, so it does not come with a frog or hangers. Any standard sword frog sized to the scabbard mouth will do the job.

Is this suitable for stage or reenactment use

Not for contact. It is sharp, which rules it out of combat reenactment and stage fighting. It is fine for display, for dress and for cutting practice.

How long before it ships

One to two weeks of processing, then transit. Free shipping inside the United States. Engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Manecrest lion head short sword in 1095 high carbon steel
• Brown leather scabbard with brass throat
• Protective oil film on the blade for transit
• Care card and lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

More in short swords, gladius swords and swords, or read the guides on fullers, hilt furniture and blade care.

Also in this part of the catalogue

Next along the rack is the Grimtide short sword, 21 inches overall. For a straight comparison, see the Silverhilt short sword, 26 inches overall. Worth putting side by side with this is the Sawfeather short sword, 24 inches overall.

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