Flamewake Hand Forged Flame Bladed Longsword with S Curved Crossguard & Engraved Pommel | About 42 Inches Overall | Leather Grip and Brown Scabbard | Display Gift | RK-2199

The Flamewake is a flame bladed longsword, the pattern most people know by the German name flammenschwert and by the French flamberge. The whole edge runs in a regular series of waves from the ricasso to the point instead of a straight line, and it is one of the very few sword forms where an obviously theatrical shape was arrived at for practical reasons. Landsknecht companies of the sixteenth century carried the two handed version, and the undulating edge is documented as a deliberate design choice rather than a flourish. Please note that the photograph shows two examples of the same sword laid across one another so that both faces of the hilt are visible. One sword is supplied.

The blade is 1095 carbon steel, polished bright, with the waves ground rather than pressed in. The hilt is a long two handed grip wrapped in black leather over raised cord risers, an S curved steel crossguard, and a teardrop pommel set with a round engraved rosette. The scabbard is brown leather with a steel throat and a steel chape, and the leather rain guard at the mouth carries an embossed panel of Celtic knotwork. Every one is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks hilt tightness, blade seating and scabbard fit at our Chicago, Illinois warehouse, and ships from there.

If this is your first sword, how to buy a first sword covers what actually matters. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. Thrusting blades with the same kind of hilt sit in the rapiers.

Specifications

Why the edge waves

The undulating edge is not a decorative squiggle, and the reasons behind it are more interesting than the myths. First, a wave is longer than the straight line it spans, so a flame blade packs a noticeably greater length of cutting edge into the same overall blade length. Second, when the blade slides along an opponent’s parrying blade, the waves break the contact into a series of short catches instead of one smooth glide. Fencers of the period described the resulting judder as unpleasant and disorienting through the hands, and half the point of a bind is to control the other man’s blade rather than to cut him. Third, in the cut, the crests concentrate force at intervals rather than spreading it evenly, which changes how the edge bites.

What the wave does not do is any of the lurid things later writers invented for it. It does not tear a wound that cannot be stitched, and there was no papal ban on it. Those stories attach themselves to almost every distinctive blade shape sooner or later. The genuine drawbacks are more mundane. A flame blade is harder to forge evenly, harder to sharpen, and slower to draw and sheathe, which is why straight blades outnumbered them by an enormous margin even at the height of their popularity.

The hilt and the steel

The blade is 1095, a plain high carbon steel with about one percent carbon. On a piece this long the heat treat matters more than anything else, and 54 to 58 HRC is the sensible window. Any harder and a forty two inch blade becomes brittle. Any softer and it takes a set instead of springing back. Beyond that the blade is left thick behind the edge, which is normal for a display sword and is part of why it is not sharpened.

The grip is long enough for two hands with room to move the rear hand onto the pommel for leverage. Raised cord risers under the leather stop the hand sliding along the wrap, an old and very effective trick that costs nothing. The S curve in the crossguard is a period feature, sweeping one quillon towards the blade and one towards the hand so that the guard catches and turns an incoming edge rather than simply stopping it. The teardrop pommel is the counterweight that makes a blade this long turn at all, and the round engraved rosette set into its face is the only piece of pure decoration on the whole sword.

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 longsword the ricasso flat, the pommel face and the leather rain guard all take engraving cleanly. Read more on the engraving page.

Handling and display

This is a display and collector sword. The edges are unsharpened and the point is rounded, so it is not a cutting sword and it is not intended for full contact sparring or any drill where it is struck against another blade. Said plainly so there is no confusion later. In the hand it feels the way a longsword should feel, with the mass carried close and the pommel doing real work, and it is a genuinely satisfying thing to pick up and move.

On a wall it wants space. A flame blade reads badly in a crowded arrangement because the eye needs the length of it to register the rhythm of the waves. Mount it horizontally on two padded hooks at the ricasso and just below the point of balance, or vertically on a plate mount if you have the height. Do not hang it by the scabbard alone for years at a time, because leather stretches under a static load.

Care

Polished carbon steel needs almost nothing indoors as long as it is dry. Wipe the blade with an oiled cloth every couple of months and always after handling it, because skin oils are acidic and will print themselves permanently into a bright polish if they are left for weeks. Mineral oil or a light machine oil is fine. If it is going into a garage or a basement rather than a heated room, oil it more heavily and check it seasonally. Feed the grip wrap and the scabbard with a neutral leather cream twice a year, and keep any metal polish off the leather. Store the sword out of the scabbard for long periods. There is more detail in our knife care guide.

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 longsword is made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. It does not go from an importer catalogue straight to your door. Every sword arrives at our Chicago warehouse, is unpacked, has the hilt checked for tightness and the scabbard checked for fit, and only then goes on sale as in stock. That is the honest reason processing takes one to two weeks. United States shipping 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

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so the sword that arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Every wave in a flame blade is ground by eye and by hand, so the rhythm and depth of the undulations differ a little between swords, and no two are identical. Leather takes dye unevenly by nature, so the grip wrap and the scabbard can be a shade lighter or darker than the ones shown. Hammer texture and polish direction shift from piece to piece. The dimensions, the steel and the build stay the same. The character does not, and on a flame blade that is more obvious than on most.

Frequently asked questions

Do I get one sword or two

One. The photograph shows two examples of the same model crossed over each other so you can see both faces of the hilt and the full length of the blade at the same time.

Is it sharp

No. It has an unsharpened display edge and a rounded point. It is built and finished as a collector and display sword rather than a cutting sword.

Can I spar with it

No. It is not built or certified for contact drill of any kind. Use a purpose built training sword for that and keep this one for display, photography and costume where nothing is struck.

Is the scabbard included

Yes. A brown leather scabbard with a steel throat, a steel chape and an embossed knotwork rain guard comes with every sword.

Can I get runes cut into the blade

Yes. The flat above the ricasso is the usual place. Choose the engraving option and tell us what you want and where, and note that a chosen design replaces the existing rosette if you want it on the pommel.

How long does it take to arrive

Processing is one to two weeks because every sword is checked at the Chicago warehouse before it leaves, then standard United States shipping on top. Engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Flamewake flame bladed longsword
• Brown leather scabbard with steel throat and chape
• Embossed knotwork leather rain guard
• Care and warranty card
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

See more in longswords, swords, Norse arms and scabbards and sheaths, or read the guides.

Near neighbours in the shop

Next along the rack is the Flamewave flamberge sword, pattern welded Damascus. For a straight comparison, see the Nightflame flamberge sword, pattern welded Damascus. Worth putting side by side with this is the Flamewhorl flamberge sword, 28 inches overall.

If you are putting a set together, the Bellcourt rapier sits alongside it. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Viking sword page.

The Rundholm montante is our blunt option for club training, and our first HEMA sword guide is there if you want to compare.