Staveholm Hand Forged Damascus Viking Sword | 35 Inch Overall with 29 Inch Blade | Runic Arched Guard and Olive Leather Grip and Brown Scabbard | Norse Collector Gift | RK-2120

The Staveholm is a Damascus bladed Viking sword built on the broad, evenly tapered pattern that dominated northern Europe from the ninth century onward. The blade is wide at the shoulder, carries a long shallow fuller down the centre and runs to a rounded point rather than a needle tip, which is how most surviving blades of the period were actually shaped. The crossguard is a shallow arch of blackened steel edged in brass and cut with a line of Elder Futhark. The olive green leather grip is bound between two brass ferrules under a faceted steel pommel, and three small brass roundels sit low on the blade near the tip.

One thing worth knowing about a blade like this: the earliest Norse smiths did not fold and stack steel for decoration. Bloomery iron came out of the furnace uneven, some of it hard and some of it soft, and welding bars of different carbon content together was the practical way to average out the good metal and the bad. The rippling surface that resulted became a mark of quality only later, and a good blade was valuable enough to be named, willed to a son and remembered in a saga. This sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the grind, the fittings and the peen before it goes on the shelf, and ships it from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. It arrives with the brown leather scabbard shown in the photograph.

Screen Norse kit gets the sword wrong more often than it gets it right, and the screen arms rated for accuracy rates the ones you have seen. For how a patterned blade compares with a plain one in use, Damascus against high carbon puts the two together. A board from the round shields is what usually stands beside one.

Specifications

Why the guard is arched and not straight

Look at the crossguard on this sword and you will see it curves gently toward the blade rather than sitting flat across it. That shape is not a stylistic flourish. On a sword carried edge down in a scabbard, an arched guard sheds rain and grit away from the mouth of the scabbard instead of funnelling it in, and it seats more cleanly against a scabbard throat that has been shaped to match. In the hand it does something else useful. The forward curve keeps the ends of the guard slightly ahead of your knuckles, so a blade sliding down the edge is pushed out and away rather than straight back along your fingers.

The runic line cut along the face of the guard follows a long habit in the Norse world of putting writing on the part of an object a person actually looks at. Inscriptions turn up on guards, on pommels, on scabbard mounts and on the flats of blades. They were makers marks, owners names, short protective phrases and sometimes nothing more than the futhark itself written out in order, which appears to have been thought powerful on its own.

The steel and how it was worked

The blade is pattern welded from 1095 high carbon steel and 15N20 nickel bearing steel, forge welded into a billet, drawn out, folded and drawn again. The two steels take an acid etch differently, which is why the layers read as light and dark once the blade is finished and etched. Hardened and tempered, the finished blade sits at 58 to 60 HRC, which is hard enough to hold a working edge and still forgiving enough not to chip under normal handling.

The pattern goes all the way through the blade rather than sitting on the surface. Sharpen it, and the pattern will still be there on the new bevel. That is the difference between a genuine forge welded blade and a laser etched imitation, and it is the reason the visible grain follows the fuller and swirls around the edge bevels rather than repeating in a printed loop.

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 you can see the engraving page for what fits on a guard, a pommel or a scabbard face and how deep we cut.

Handling and balance

The point of balance sits a few inches ahead of the guard, which is where a broad Viking pattern blade wants to be. That forward mass is what gives the sword its cutting authority and its distinctive feel in the hand, and it is quite different from the point balanced feel of a later thrusting sword. Grip it with the pommel resting against the heel of your hand and let the wrist stay loose. The faceted pommel is a real counterweight, not decoration, and it lets you check a cut and bring the blade back on line without fighting the sword.

This is a hand finished collector and display piece. It is not sold as sparring equipment and should not be used for full contact cutting against another person or another blade. Treat it as a sword to display, to handle carefully and to hand around, and it will last indefinitely.

Care

Carbon steel rusts. Wipe the blade down after handling, because fingerprints hold salt and moisture against the steel, and put a thin film of mineral oil or a light gun oil on it before it goes back in the scabbard. Leather holds damp, so store the sword out of the scabbard if the room is humid and give the scabbard a light feed of leather balm once or twice a year. Brass will dull to a warm tone on its own and can be brought back with a soft cloth. Our steel care guide covers rust removal and long term storage in more detail.

Damascus wants oil more than plain steel does, because the etch that shows the pattern also opens the surface, and caring for a Damascus pattern covers what to use.

Made in the Czech Republic

This sword is made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue and nothing is picked at random from a warehouse pallet. Each piece is opened, inspected and photographed before it is listed, then shipped from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Processing takes one to two weeks because pieces are made in small runs rather than held in bulk. US shipping is free. Returns are accepted within 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 made by hand, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The Damascus pattern is unique to the billet the blade came from and no two blades carry the same swirl. The leather on the grip and the scabbard will vary in tone, the brass will sit at a slightly different warmth, and hammer texture and file marks will fall in their own places. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is the point of buying something a person actually made.

Frequently asked questions

Is the sword sharp when it arrives

It arrives with a working edge rather than a razor edge. That is normal for a sword of this pattern and it is what most collectors want, because a very fine edge on a long blade is fragile and easy to damage in handling. If you want it sharper, a fine stone and a light hand will take it further.

Is the Damascus pattern real or etched on

It is real. The blade is forge welded from 1095 and 15N20 and the pattern runs through the full thickness of the steel. Sharpening it will not remove the pattern.

Is the scabbard included

Yes. The brown leather scabbard shown in the photograph ships with the sword and is fitted to this blade.

Can I have my own runes cut into it

Yes. Use the rune converter on this page for Elder Futhark, or choose your own design in the engraving option. On this sword the guard already carries a runic line, so a chosen engraving would replace that line rather than sit next to it. The scabbard and the pommel are also available surfaces.

Can I hang it on a wall

Yes, and most owners do. Use a bracket rated well above the weight of the sword and mount into a stud or a solid fixing rather than plasterboard alone. A sword that falls off a wall will dent, and so will your floor.

How long will delivery take

Processing runs one to two weeks because these are made in small batches, then US shipping is free and takes the usual few days on top. You will get a tracking number when it leaves Memphis.

What is in the box

• One Staveholm Damascus Viking sword
• Fitted brown leather scabbard
• Light protective oil on the blade for transit
• Care sheet for carbon steel and leather
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in Viking swords, Damascus swords and Norse arms, or read the guides for help choosing between a display sword and a working blade.