Braidfuller Hand Forged 1095 Carbon Steel Viking Arming Sword | 36 Inch Overall | Lobed Steel Pommel and Black Leather Scabbard | Norse Reenactment Gift | RK-2030

Braidfuller is a single hand Viking arming sword of the kind carried across Scandinavia and the North Sea trading world in the ninth and tenth centuries. The blade is broad at the shoulder, runs almost parallel for most of its length and then draws in to a rounded point, with a wide shallow fuller cut down the centre of both faces. Down that fuller runs a fine chevron band, a herringbone figure worked into the steel, and just above the guard sits a small struck sun mark. The hilt is a lobed steel pommel over a brown leather grip with raised cord risers, set against a straight steel cross guard.

The chevron in the fuller is a nod to something real. The best blades of the Viking age were pattern welded, which meant a smith took thin rods of iron and steel, twisted them, forge welded them together and ground the result flat. Where the twisted rods were cut back by the grinder they showed a repeating herringbone figure running the length of the fuller, and buyers learned to read that figure as the mark of a good blade. When cleaner bloomery steel became easy to get, the pattern stopped being structural and became decoration instead. That is exactly what you are looking at here, a modern carbon steel blade carrying the old braided figure as an inlay in the fuller. This sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the grind, the fit of the guard and the seat of the pommel, and ships it from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. It ships with the fitted black leather scabbard shown in the photographs.

Pommel, fuller and grip length are what separate a good Norse sword from a prop, and what to look for in a Viking sword goes through them. 1095 is the plain carbon steel we work in, and the steel glossary explains what the number means and why it takes an edge. A board from the round shields is what usually stands beside one.

Specifications

Dimensions are nominal. Every piece is finished by hand, so figures vary a little from one to the next.

What the fuller actually does

The channel running down the middle of this blade gets called a blood groove in films and that is simply wrong. It is a fuller, and it is a stiffness trick borrowed from the same logic that gives a steel joist its I shape. The material sitting in the exact centre of a blade contributes very little to how well that blade resists bending, because it sits on the neutral axis where the metal is neither stretched nor squashed. Take it away and you lose a lot of weight but almost none of the stiffness. On a sword this long that matters, because every ounce you remove from the middle of the blade is an ounce that no longer has to be swung and stopped. A Viking smith did not grind a groove into a finished bar either. He forged the fuller in, running the hot blade over a rounded swage so the steel moved sideways and came out wider as well as lighter. The fuller here is wide and shallow in the early medieval manner rather than narrow and deep, which is one of the quickest ways to tell a Viking age profile from a later one.

Steel, hardness and fittings

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC. That is a deliberate choice for a sword rather than a knife. A kitchen blade can be run hard because it never takes a lateral shock, but a sword this long has to bend and come back, so the heat treat is pulled down into the mid fifties where the steel stays tough and forgiving. Carbon steel is not stainless. It will take a patina and it will spot with rust if it is left wet or handled and put away, which is normal for the material and is dealt with by a wipe of oil rather than by worry. The fittings are steel, satin polished to match the blade rather than mirror bright, and the pommel is peened over the tang in the traditional way instead of being screwed on. The grip is leather over a wooden core with raised cord risers underneath, which is what gives it that ribbed feel and stops the hand sliding.

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. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so we can show you a proof before anything is cut. On this sword the usual places are the flat of the blade below the chevron band, the face of the pommel, or the leather of the scabbard. See the engraving page for what the rune converter can and cannot do with modern letters.

Handling and balance

A sword of this pattern is built to be held in one hand with the pommel sitting against the heel of the palm. The lobed pommel is not decoration, it is the counterweight, and it is what pulls the balance point back towards the guard so the blade feels lively instead of nose heavy. Expect the point of balance to sit a few inches ahead of the cross guard, which is where an early medieval cutting sword wants to be. Hold it with the fingers wrapped and the thumb along the grip rather than in a hammer fist and you will feel the edge track where you point it.

Be honest about what this is for. It is a display and reenactment piece, made to be worn, drawn, handled and hung on a wall. We do not describe it as battle ready and we do not suggest full contact sparring with it. For cutting practice or a fight group, buy a purpose built trainer instead.

Care

Wipe the blade down after handling. Skin leaves salt and moisture on carbon steel and that is where rust starts. A thin film of mineral oil, gun oil or camellia oil on a cloth is enough, and once a month is plenty for a sword that lives indoors. If a light bloom of orange does appear, a scrub with fine steel wool or a green pad and a drop of oil takes it straight off. Do not store the sword in the leather scabbard for months at a time, because leather holds moisture and the tanning salts are not kind to steel. Hang the sword and stand the scabbard separately. Feed the leather once or twice a year with a neutral leather cream and keep it away from radiators. Full detail on rust, patina and oiling is on 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 sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Nothing here is drop shipped out of an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking brings the pieces in, inspects each one, and holds it in the Memphis warehouse until it is sold. Processing takes one to two weeks, and that is real rather than padded, because a plain piece goes out faster than one that has to be engraved and proofed first. Shipping inside the United States is free. Returns are accepted for seven days. There is a lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The chevron band will sit at a slightly different height in the fuller. The lobes of the pommel will be a fraction different in depth. The leather on the grip and the scabbard is a natural material, so the tone runs from warm mid brown to a deeper reddish brown depending on the hide and the batch of dye. Hammer texture, polish direction and the exact profile of the point all vary because each one is worked by hand. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is the point of buying something made by a person.

Frequently asked questions

Is the blade sharp when it arrives

It arrives with a finished edge that is not honed to a shaving edge. This is a display and reenactment piece rather than a cutting tool, and we do not call it battle ready. If you want it sharper, any competent knife sharpener can take it further, but we would leave it as it is.

Is the chevron pattern real pattern welded steel

No, and we will not pretend otherwise. The blade is solid 1095 carbon steel and the herringbone band in the fuller is an etched inlay that copies the look of a genuine pattern welded core. If you want a true pattern welded blade, look at the Damascus swords in the range instead.

Will the scabbard fit if I have runes engraved on the blade

Yes. Engraving is cut into the surface of the steel, not raised above it, so it changes nothing about how the blade sits in the scabbard.

Can I wear it on a belt

The scabbard as supplied has no belt rig fitted. It is made to slide into a frog or a baldric, both of which are simple to add, and a plain leather frog is the usual answer for reenactment kit.

Will mine look exactly like the photographs

Close, but not identical. Steel finish, leather tone and the exact placement of the etched band vary a little from piece to piece because each one is worked by hand.

How long will it take to reach me

Processing is one to two weeks from our Memphis warehouse, plus transit. Add a few days if you have ordered engraving, because we send you a proof of the rune line before anything is cut.

What is in the box

• One Braidfuller Viking arming sword with a lobed steel pommel and a brown leather grip
• One fitted black leather scabbard with a fluted steel throat
• A light protective coat of oil on the blade for transit
• Protective wrap and a boxed carton sized for the piece
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See the rest of the Viking swords, the arming swords, the scabbards and sheaths and the guides if you want to read up before you buy.