Crimsonring Hand Forged High Carbon Two Handed Side Ring Sword with Raven Stamped Burgundy Leather | Polished Steel Ring Guard and Parrying Hooks | Matching Leather Scabbard | Reenactor Gift | RK-2173

This one has a more complicated hilt than most swords in the range. It is a two handed sword with a long burgundy leather grip, a crossguard whose arms curve toward the blade and carry a side ring on each face, and a faceted steel pommel. Ahead of the guard the ricasso is sleeved in the same burgundy leather, stamped with a raven with its wings swept back, and closed by a pair of curved parrying hooks. The blade is 1095 high carbon, mirror bright, double edged and running to a sharp point.

Side rings appear on European swords from the late fifteenth century onward, and they exist for one reason. Fencers had begun putting the index finger over the crossguard to get better point control, which is faster but leaves that finger exposed to an opposing edge. The ring is a guard for that finger and nothing more. Once you know what it is for, the whole hilt reads as a record of how people actually fought. Made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked by Ransack Viking, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse with a matching burgundy leather scabbard.

A big two handed sword is a piece reenactors ask about often, and what reenactors actually want covers what gets used and what gets shelved. The raven is Odin’s bird before it is anything else, and the two ravens sets out the sources. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

Why the rings are there

A plain cross hilt assumes you hold the sword with all four fingers behind the guard. That grip is safe and strong but it puts the hand a long way back from the blade, and the further back the hand sits the less precisely the point can be placed. Somewhere in the fifteenth century fencers started hooking the index finger over the guard and around the ricasso to shorten that lever. Point control improved immediately.

The cost was a finger sitting in the open, on the wrong side of the only thing protecting the hand. The answer was to add a ring around it. From there the arms race ran on for two hundred years, ring by ring and bar by bar, until you arrive at the full swept hilt rapier. This sword sits at the beginning of that line, where the hilt has grown just enough to solve one specific problem and no further.

Steel, leather and the stamped raven

The blade is 1095, a plain high carbon steel taken to 54 to 58 HRC. On a long blade that hardness is the point of balance between an edge that holds and a blade that flexes and returns rather than taking a permanent bend. It is not stainless, so the bright finish needs oil, but it sharpens easily and behaves predictably.

The grip is vegetable tanned hide dyed burgundy and wrapped over a shaped wooden core, and the same hide sleeves the ricasso ahead of the guard, where the raven is stamped. The raven is stamped rather than printed, which means a heated die was pressed into damp leather and compressed the fibres. That is why the image sits below the surface and will not scuff off. It also means the mark deepens in colour as the leather ages and takes oil. The scabbard is cut from the same hide and dyed to match, over a wooden liner so the blade does not chafe.

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 this sword there is room for a rune line along the upper blade, and the wide burgundy grip below the raven takes a leather stamp cleanly. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Take it with both hands on the long grip first and feel where it wants to sit, then slide the front hand forward over the guard onto the leather of the ricasso, behind the parrying hooks. That shortened grip gives far more control of the point, and the side rings and hooks are there to protect the hand when it sits there. The faceted steel pommel keeps the balance from running away toward the tip.

This is a display and collector piece. It is not built or tested for full contact sparring, and it should not be used against another blade or on hard cutting targets. As something to hold, to hang and to explain to people, it earns its place.

Care

Wipe the blade after handling, because fingerprints on a mirror polish will etch if they are left. A light film of mineral oil or blade oil over the flats is enough, and pay attention to the inside faces of the side rings where a cloth does not easily reach. Use a cotton bud there. The polished steel fittings take the same oil. Feed the leather grip and scabbard with a neutral cream two or three times a year and avoid anything with silicone or heavy wax, which will sit on top of the stamped raven and dull it. Store the blade out of the scabbard in a damp room. More detail is in 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

Made by hand in the Czech Republic, blade forged and ground, rings formed and welded, pommel turned and peened, grip and scabbard cut and stitched by the people who make it. None of it is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking imports them into the United States, checks each hilt for tightness and each scabbard for fit, and holds stock in our Chicago, Illinois warehouse so an order goes out from the shelf. Processing takes one to two weeks, at the longer end when an engraving is ordered because the cut happens after the sword arrives. Shipping within the United States is free, returns run for seven days, 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 rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The side rings are formed and welded by hand, so the exact sweep of each one varies a little and the two rings on one sword are near mirror images rather than identical castings. Burgundy dye takes differently on different hides, so the grip may run lighter or deeper than the picture, and the stamped raven will sit at a slightly different depth. The steel, the geometry, the hardness and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What is the ring on the guard for

It protects an index finger hooked over the crossguard for better point control. It is a finger guard, not a place to hang the sword or to thread a cord.

Is it sharp out of the box

It arrives with a finished edge and a sharp point. It is a real blade and should be stored and handled with that in mind.

Can I use it for cutting practice

We do not recommend it. This is a display and collector piece, it is not built or tested for full contact use, and cutting targets put loads on a hilt that this pattern is not tested against.

Will the raven wear off the leather

No. It is stamped into damp leather with a heated die, so the fibres are compressed and the mark is part of the hide rather than a surface print. It darkens as the leather ages.

Does the scabbard match the grip

Yes, both are cut from the same burgundy dyed hide, though natural variation means the two can settle at slightly different tones over time.

How long does delivery take

Processing is one to two weeks from the Chicago warehouse plus transit time. Free shipping applies across the United States.

What is in the box

• One 1095 high carbon two handed side ring sword with polished steel fittings
• One matching burgundy leather scabbard
• Your Elder Futhark rune line or chosen Viking design, if ordered
• 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

More in arming swords, swords, Norse arms and engraved and personalised pieces, plus the guides.

Near neighbours in the shop

Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Serpentward arming sword, high carbon steel. Another in the same line is the Wolfbrand arming sword, 36 inches overall. Next along the rack is the Stormhilt arming sword, 36 inches overall.

Fitting out further, the Duneglint short sword belongs with it. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Viking sword page.