Crimsoncage Hand Forged 1095 Steel Basket Hilt Broadsword | 38 Inch Overall | Pierced Steel Shell Guard with Red Liner, Wire Bound Grip and Brown Leather Scabbard | Highland Gift | RK-2110

The Crimsoncage is a basket hilt broadsword in bright polished steel. The guard is built from wide shell plates that have been pierced through and chiselled with a foliate pattern, joined by curved bars and a knuckle bow that sweeps up to the pommel. Behind that steelwork sits a deep red liner, and inside it a black grip bound with fine silver toned wire. The blade is plain polished 1095 with a long fuller, double edged and tapering to a spear point.

Almost every surviving Scottish basket hilt in a museum case has the remains of a liner in it, usually red or scarlet wool or leather, and the reason is entirely practical rather than decorative. A bare steel cage over bare knuckles is cold, noisy and painful, and any knock to the outside of the guard is transmitted straight into the hand. The liner damps that. This one is made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked by Ransack Viking, and shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse with the brown leather scabbard shown.

A cage around the hand changes how a sword carries, and how to buy a first sword covers what to weigh up. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. For a Scottish blade with more mass behind it, look at the claymores.

Specifications

What the piercing in the plates is for

The holes cut through the shell plates are not there to save steel, or not mainly. Three things happen when you pierce a guard. It gets lighter without getting weaker in the directions that matter, because the metal that remains is still continuous around the edges of each plate. It gets stiffer to the eye and to the touch, since the piercing forces the smith to leave ribs of material running between the openings. And it stops a plate ringing like a bell when it is struck.

Period Scottish hilts took this to extremes, with hearts, diamonds and circles cut through every plate until the guard looked like lacework. The Crimsoncage follows the same logic in a foliate pattern. Look closely and you will see the chiselled work is cut into the steel rather than stamped, so the tool marks run in the direction the chisel travelled and the pattern is very slightly different from one sword to the next.

Steel, the liner and the wire bound grip

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel at 54 to 58 HRC, polished bright with a fuller running most of its length. A fuller is not a blood groove, which is a modern myth. It is a stiffening rib in negative, the same idea as an I beam. Removing material from the centre of the flat while leaving the edges and the spine intact drops weight without meaningfully reducing stiffness, which is why nearly every long sword blade of the medieval and early modern period has one.

The liner inside the basket is a deep red, and it is what your knuckles rest against rather than the steel. The grip beneath is bound with fine wire in a tight spiral. Wire binding is a genuinely functional treatment. It gives grip when your hand is wet, it stops the underlying wrap from creeping under a hard cut, and it means a grip that has worn can be rebound rather than replaced.

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 Crimsoncage the widest clear surfaces are the flat of the blade above the ricasso and the outer face of the shell plate between the piercings, and both take a rune line cleanly. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

All the steel in a basket sits behind your hand, so the sword balances closer to the guard than its length would suggest and the point stays lively. That is the great advantage of the type and it is why basket hilts survived into the era of firearms as officers’ swords. The knuckle bow means you cannot slip your hand off the back of the grip, and the ball pommel gives your palm something to press against on a strong cut.

Check the fit before you order if you have unusually large hands, since a basket cannot be adjusted. This is a hand forged sword with a real edge, sold for display, collecting and controlled cutting practice on soft targets. It is not a full contact sparring sword and should not be crossed against other steel.

Care

A bright polished basket has a lot of surface area and plenty of corners where moisture can sit, so dry it properly if it is ever handled with damp hands and keep a light film of mineral oil on both the guard and the blade. Use a soft brush rather than a cloth to get oil into the piercings. Keep the red liner dry and away from oil, which will stain it, and dust it with a soft brush rather than a damp cloth. Feed the scabbard with leather balm two or three times a year and store the sword unsheathed for long periods. Rust removal and polishing notes are in our steel care pages.

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

The Crimsoncage is made by hand in the Czech Republic. A pierced and chiselled basket is among the slowest hilts to produce, because every opening is cut and every bar is bent and fitted individually before the whole assembly is joined and polished. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking buys these outright, brings them into the United States, unpacks and inspects each sword, and holds stock in our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Allow one to two weeks of processing. Shipping inside the United States is free, and the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

Hand made is not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. On a hilt like this the differences are obvious once you look. Every piercing is cut by hand so the openings vary slightly in size and spacing, the bars are bent by eye so no two baskets have quite the same curve, the red liner varies in shade between batches of material, and the wire binding is wound by hand at a slightly different pitch each time. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What is the red material inside the guard

It is a liner that sits between your knuckles and the steel, in the same place and for the same reason as the wool and leather liners found in period basket hilts. It is a lining material rather than a precious one.

Is the fuller a blood groove

No. It is a lightening and stiffening feature, the same principle as an I beam. The blood groove story has no basis in how blades were made or used.

Does it arrive sharpened

Yes, with a cutting edge. Ask in your order notes for a blunt edge and we will roll it before shipping for display or reenactment.

Can I replace the liner if it wears

Yes. Liners were always considered a consumable part of a basket hilt and any competent leather or upholstery worker can cut and fit a new one.

Will the polished basket rust

It can if it is neglected, since it is carbon steel rather than stainless. A light oiling a few times a year and a dry storage spot keeps it bright.

How quickly will it ship

Processing takes one to two weeks, then free shipping inside the United States. Returns are accepted within seven days of delivery.

What is in the box

• Crimsoncage basket hilt broadsword in polished 1095 high carbon steel
• Pierced and chiselled steel shell guard with knuckle bow and side bars
• Deep red liner and a wire bound grip with ball pommel
• Brown leather scabbard
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

See the rest of the swords, the wider Norse arms and the engraved and personalized pieces. Background reading lives in the guides.

Worth a look beside this

A near match for this one is the Cagebrand shell hilt sword, 38 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Gildwolf shell hilt sword. If this one is not quite right, there is the Shellwarden shell hilt sword, 28 inches overall.

The Flamewhorl flamberge sword covers the other half of the same kit. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom Viking sword page.

For historical fencing rather than the wall, try the Brekavik basket hilt sword and see our rapier versus sidesword guide for the details.