Knotcrown Hand Forged Damascus Arming Sword with Triquetra Disc Pommel & Ring Quillon | About 38 Inches Overall | Leather Grip and Brown Scabbard | Display Gift | RK-2200

The Knotcrown is a single handed arming sword with a folded Damascus blade, the plain and effective sword that hung at a knight’s left hip from roughly the eleventh century to the fifteenth. It is the sword most people picture when they hear the word, and it deserves the reputation. Long enough to reach, short enough to draw from horseback, light enough to carry all day, and simple enough that a village smith could keep it in order. The hilt here follows the late form, with a broad disc pommel, a straight crossguard and a small ring set on one quillon for the forefinger.

The blade is folded 1095 and 15N20 Damascus with a shallow fuller running most of its length, and the disc pommel carries a cut triquetra on its face. The grip is wrapped in brown leather. Every one of these is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks the hilt for tightness, the pommel for seating and the scabbard for fit at our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse, and ships from there. A brown leather scabbard is included.

If you have seen the phrase battle ready and wondered what it covers, display or battle ready explains it. The triquetra is the three cornered knot, and it sits with the rest in the Norse symbols guide. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

The triquetra and the disc pommel

The three cornered knot on the pommel is a triquetra, three interlocked arcs drawn as a single unbroken line. It is one of the oldest ornaments in northern European art. It appears carved on Gotland picture stones, worked into the metal of Insular jewellery, and drawn in the margins of the Book of Kells centuries before anyone attached a fixed meaning to it. That is worth saying plainly. The triquetra was primarily a decorative knot, and the neat threefold readings people offer today, land sea and sky, or maiden mother and crone, are modern interpretations laid over an old shape. What is genuinely true about it is more elegant anyway. It is drawn from one continuous line with no beginning and no end, which is exactly why knotwork appealed to artists working in a tradition that loved things that could not be untangled.

The disc pommel it sits on is not decoration either. A disc is the most efficient way to put a lot of counterweight behind the hand without adding bulk that gets in the way of the wrist. Put a heavy pommel on a sword and the point of balance walks back towards the guard, which is what makes a thirty inch blade turn on a thought instead of dragging. Flatten that counterweight into a disc and you also get a broad face for a maker’s mark, an inlay or, as here, a cut symbol. The small ring on the quillon is the other late medieval refinement. It lets the forefinger hook over the guard for point control, and the ring keeps that finger from meeting an opposing edge.

Folded Damascus and what the pattern means

Damascus here means pattern welded steel, which is not the same thing as the historical crucible wootz that the name originally described. The billet is a stack of 1095 high carbon steel and 15N20 nickel alloy, forge welded together, drawn out, folded and welded again until the layer count runs to several hundred. Grinding the bevels afterwards cuts through the stack at an angle and exposes the layers as the flowing lines you can see. An acid etch darkens the 1095 and leaves the 15N20 bright, which is the only reason the pattern is visible at all. It goes right through the steel and it is not a coating.

Hardened and tempered to 58 to 60 HRC, the blade is stiff and holds its geometry. On a sword this length that stiffness matters more than raw edge retention, because a long blade that flexes and stays bent is worse than useless. The etched finish is slightly more prone to marking than a bright polish, so a thin film of oil is worth keeping on it.

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 disc pommel and the flat above the fuller are the natural places for a cut line. Full detail is on the engraving page.

Handling and display

Be clear about what this is. It is a display and collector sword. The edges are unsharpened and the point is rounded, and it is not built for cutting or for full contact sparring. It handles the way an arming sword should, with the balance sitting a few inches ahead of the guard and the disc pommel pulling the mass back into the hand, but it belongs on a wall or a stand rather than in a drill.

A Damascus blade wants side light. Hung flat against a wall under an overhead lamp the pattern goes muddy, while a lamp set to one side rakes across the etch and lights every fold. Two padded hooks, one just below the guard and one two thirds down the blade, will hold it without pressing a mark into the etch. Avoid hanging it in a bathroom or an unheated garage, because condensation is the one thing that will genuinely damage it.

Care

Keep a thin film of oil on the blade. Mineral oil, camellia oil or a light machine oil all work, applied with a soft cloth every couple of months and always after handling. Skin oils are acidic and will print into an etched surface if they are left. If the etch ever looks flat and grey, a wipe with oil usually brings the contrast straight back. Do not use an abrasive polish on a Damascus blade, because it cuts through the etched relief and blurs the pattern. Feed the grip wrap and the scabbard twice a year with a neutral leather cream, and store the sword out of the scabbard for long periods so that the leather is not sitting against the steel. There is more in our knife care guide.

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 and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing is drop shipped out of an importer catalogue direct to a customer. Every sword comes to our Memphis warehouse first, is unpacked and checked piece by piece, and only then listed as in stock. That is the reason processing runs one to two weeks rather than overnight. Shipping inside the United States is free, returns run for seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the 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 Damascus billet folds differently, so the pattern on your blade belongs to it alone and cannot be repeated. The etch takes slightly differently every time, which changes the contrast. The cut triquetra is engraved rather than stamped, so its line weight varies a little. Leather takes dye unevenly, so the grip and the scabbard can be a shade off the ones shown. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is this sword sharp

No. It is supplied with an unsharpened display edge and a rounded point. It is a collector piece, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out when it arrives.

What is the ring on the crossguard for

It is a finger ring. Hooking the forefinger over the guard gives much finer point control, and the ring protects that finger from an opposing edge. It is a genuine late medieval feature rather than an ornament.

Is the Damascus real or is it printed

It is real pattern welded steel. The layers of 1095 and 15N20 run through the full thickness of the blade, and the pattern is exposed by grinding and revealed by an acid etch rather than being applied to the surface.

Does it come with a scabbard

Yes. A brown leather scabbard is included with every sword. Store the blade out of it for long periods so the leather is not holding moisture against the steel.

Can the triquetra be replaced with something else

Yes. Choose the engraving option and tell us what you want on the pommel. Your design replaces the triquetra rather than sitting alongside it.

How long does delivery take

Processing takes one to two weeks while the sword is checked at the Memphis warehouse, then standard United States shipping. Engraving adds a few days on top of that.

What is in the box

• Knotcrown Damascus arming sword
• Brown leather scabbard
• Care and warranty card
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in arming swords, Damascus swords, swords and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides.