Flamewave Hand Forged Damascus Flamberge Longsword with Wave Cut Blade | Parrying Hook Guard | Leather Wrapped Grip and Wooden Scabbard | Display Collector Gift | RK-2174

A flame bladed longsword in 1095 and 15N20 Damascus. The edge runs in a series of deep waves from the ricasso to the point, the pattern of the folded steel following the curves so the whole blade seems to ripple. Above the long crossguard sits a leather wrapped grip and a faceted pommel. Below it, two forward curving hooks stand out from the flat of the blade, and behind them the ricasso is left unsharpened and squared off.

The wave is not styling. A flamberge or flammard blade was a real pattern, and the reason for the waves is friction. When a straight edge slides along an opposing blade it glides. A wavy edge catches, stutters and transmits a vibration into the other person’s hands, which makes a bind harder to hold and a parry harder to read. The hooks below the guard are parrying lugs, and the unsharpened ricasso between them is meant to be gripped in the off hand. Made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked by Ransack Viking, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse with a fitted scabbard.

A wave cut edge is a display feature before it is anything else, and display or battle ready explains the difference. Damascus here means 1095 and 15N20 forge welded and etched, and what Damascus steel actually is covers how the layers get there. Thrusting blades with the same kind of hilt sit in the rapiers.

Specifications

What the lugs and the bare ricasso are for

The two hooks under the guard have a proper name, parierhaken, and they belong to the large two handed swords of the sixteenth century. They act as a second crossguard. When a blade slides down toward your hands in a bind, the lugs stop it well short of your fingers. They also give you something to hook and lever against.

The bare ricasso above them is there because these swords were routinely gripped by the blade. It sounds alarming and it is not, so long as that section is deliberately left blunt, which it is here. The technique is called half swording, and putting a hand on the blade shortens the lever enormously, which is what you want when the fight has closed to arm’s length and you need precision rather than reach. The lugs and the unsharpened ricasso are two halves of the same idea, and a flamberge that has one and not the other has been copied without being understood.

The Damascus and the wave

The blade is layered 1095 and 15N20, forge welded, folded and drawn out, then etched so the nickel bearing 15N20 stands bright against the darker 1095. On a straight blade the pattern runs in long parallel bands. On a wave cut blade it does something more interesting. Because the waves are ground into a billet whose layers run lengthwise, each curve cuts across the stack at a different angle, so the figure swells and tightens as it follows the edge. That is the effect visible along this blade and it cannot be printed or faked with an acid stencil.

Hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. The point is deliberately rounded and the edges are not brought to a cutting sharpness, which is the honest description of this piece. It is built to be looked at and handled, not to cut. Damascus is not stainless, so the bright layers will spot if the blade is left damp.

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 the flat ricasso between the guard and the lugs is the natural panel for a short line, and the leather grip can take a stamped design. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives. See the engraving page.

Handling and display

It is a two handed sword and it wants both hands, the leading hand up under the guard and the trailing hand near the pommel. Held that way the length stops feeling unwieldy and starts feeling like leverage. Move it slowly the first few times. A long blade sweeps a much bigger circle than people expect indoors, and light fittings do not survive the discovery.

For display, the waves read best against a plain wall where a raking light can catch them. Mounted flat on brackets the pattern disappears into the shadow, so give it some angle. We make no battle ready claim for this sword and it is not built or tested for full contact sparring or for cutting.

Care

Damascus needs oil more than plain steel does, because the etch leaves the surface very slightly textured and moisture sits in it. Wipe the blade after handling and put a light film of mineral oil or blade oil over it, working carefully into the inside of each wave where a flat cloth will bridge across and miss the hollow. A soft brush helps there. If a spot of rust starts, lift it with oil and a cork rather than abrasive paper, which will flatten the contrast. Feed the leather grip and the scabbard with a neutral cream twice a year. Store the blade out of the scabbard in a humid room. There is more in steel care.

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

Made by hand in the Czech Republic. The billet is forge welded and folded, the waves ground in, the blade etched, the fittings made and the grip wrapped by the people who build it. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue. Ransack Viking imports them into the United States, checks each blade for straightness, each hilt for tightness and each scabbard for fit, and stocks them in our Chicago, Illinois warehouse so an order ships from a shelf rather than from a queue. Processing takes one to two weeks, longer within that window if an engraving is ordered. Shipping across the United States is free, returns run 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, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. On a Damascus flamberge the variation is greater than usual, because the pattern is a slice through a folded billet and the waves are ground by eye. The rhythm of the curves, the depth of each hollow and the figure of the steel are different on every blade. The etch contrast shifts with how long the acid was left. The steel, the hardness, the profile and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this sword sharp

No. The point is rounded and the wave edges are not brought to a cutting sharpness. It is finished as a display and collector piece and that is how it should be treated.

Did flame bladed swords really exist

They did. Flamberge and flammard blades appear on genuine sixteenth and seventeenth century two handed swords and rapiers, and the wave was made for the way it grabs an opposing blade in a bind.

What are the hooks below the guard

Parrying lugs. They act as a second guard to stop an opposing blade running down onto the hands, and they anchor the off hand grip on the bare ricasso above them.

Can I hold it by the blade

Only on the squared ricasso between the guard and the lugs, which is left unsharpened for exactly that. Keep your hands off the waved section.

Will the pattern fade

The pattern goes all the way through the steel and cannot fade. Heavy polishing lowers the surface contrast, and a re etch restores it, but ordinary care will not touch it.

Can it be hung on a wall

Yes, on a bracket rated for its weight, and it looks better at an angle than flat so the light can find the waves. Wall mounts and stands are listed separately.

What is in the box

• One Damascus flamberge longsword with a leather wrapped two handed grip
• One fitted 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 longswords, Damascus swords, swords and Norse arms, plus the guides.

Compare it with these

Closest to this in the range is the Nightflame flamberge sword, pattern welded Damascus. If this one is not quite right, there is the Flamewake flamberge sword. Also in this group is the Thornbite flamberge sword, 40 inches overall.

If you are putting a set together, the Nightgild rapier sits alongside it. Pick the steel, the length and the fittings yourself on the custom Viking sword page.

If you want to spar rather than display, the Vulkbrand flame bladed greatsword is the blunt trainer built for it, and our intro to HEMA is worth a look.