Rootspire Hand Forged Damascus Sword with Engraved Tree of Life Roundel & Faceted Pommel | About 38 Inches Overall | Leather Grip and Tan Scabbard | Display Gift | RK-2205

The Rootspire is a single handed Damascus sword built around a broad, near parallel blade with a deep central fuller, and the piece that gives it its name is the roundel cut into the ricasso just below the guard. That roundel holds Yggdrasil, the world tree, drawn with its crown and its roots spreading in mirror image from a single trunk. It is one of the very few Norse images that is genuinely central to the mythology rather than decorative, and putting it at the point where the blade meets the hand is a nice piece of thinking.

The blade is folded 1095 and 15N20 Damascus, etched to bring up the layers, with three inset copper rivets set low on the flat. The crossguard is a steel bar that curves down toward the blade at both ends, the grip is wrapped in tan leather, and the pommel is a faceted scent stopper form that puts real counterweight behind the hand. Every one is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks hilt tightness, pommel seating and scabbard fit at our Chicago, Illinois warehouse, and ships from there. A tan leather scabbard is included.

A single handed sword of this class is the usual first purchase, and how to buy a first sword covers what matters. The tree here is Yggdrasil, and Yggdrasil and the nine worlds sets out what hangs off it. The medieval helmets are the obvious thing to hang beside it.

Specifications

Yggdrasil, and what the Norse actually said about it

Yggdrasil is the immense ash tree that holds the Norse cosmos together. Its three roots reach into three separate places, one to the well of Urd where the Norns sit and decide the fates of men, one to Mimir’s well of wisdom, and one into Niflheim where the serpent Nidhogg gnaws at it from below. Its branches spread over every world. A squirrel called Ratatoskr runs up and down the trunk carrying insults between the eagle at the top and the serpent at the bottom, which is a startlingly human detail to find in a creation myth.

The name itself is worth knowing. Yggdrasil is usually read as the horse of Ygg, and Ygg is one of the many names of Odin. Odin hung himself on the tree for nine nights, pierced by a spear, sacrificed to himself, in order to take up the runes. Old Norse poetry sometimes calls a gallows the horse a man rides, so the world tree is named for the gallows Odin rode to win writing. That is the story sitting in the roundel on this blade, and it is a far better one than the tidy modern version about balance and harmony.

The fuller, the rivets and the pommel

The long groove down the centre of the blade is a fuller. It is not a blood groove and it never was, and no serious source has ever called it one. A fuller is a structural feature borrowed from the same principle as an I beam. Removing material from the middle of the flat, where it contributes least to stiffness, takes weight out of the blade without meaningfully weakening it in the plane where bending actually happens. A fullered blade of the same length can be lighter and faster than a flat one, or the same weight and wider. On a blade as broad as this one, the fuller is what stops it feeling like a bar of steel.

The three copper rivets set into the lower flat are decorative rather than structural, a small warm counterpoint to all that grey. The faceted pommel is the working end of the balance equation. Scent stopper pommels take their name from a resemblance to a perfume bottle stopper and were common on high medieval hilts because the faceted form gives you a lot of mass in a shape that does not dig into the wrist. Take that pommel off and the sword would immediately feel nose heavy and dead.

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, so a rune line on the ricasso would take the place of the Yggdrasil roundel. The pommel facets and the scabbard leather are alternatives if you want to keep the tree. See the engraving page.

Handling and display

This is a display and collector sword. It has an unsharpened display edge and it is not built for cutting or for full contact sparring, and we would rather set that out here than have you find out later. In the hand it feels solid and deliberate, with the counterweight in the pommel pulling the balance back close to the guard, which is exactly what a broad bladed sword needs to be manageable.

For display, light it from one side. Damascus is a relief pattern as much as a colour pattern, and flat frontal light will kill it stone dead while raking light will make every fold legible from across the room. Two padded hooks, one below the guard and one two thirds down the blade, spread the weight properly. Keep it out of bathrooms, conservatories and unheated garages, since condensation is the only thing likely to genuinely hurt it.

Care

A thin film of oil on the blade is the whole of it. Mineral oil, camellia oil or a light machine oil, applied with a soft cloth every couple of months and always after it has been handled, since skin oils are acidic and will print themselves into an etched surface. Never use an abrasive metal polish on Damascus. The pattern is a shallow etched relief and abrasive will flatten it and blur the contrast permanently. If the pattern looks dull, oil usually restores it. Feed the grip wrap and the scabbard with a neutral leather cream twice a year, and store the sword out of the scabbard for long periods so the leather is not holding damp against the steel. Details are 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 here is drop shipped out of an importer catalogue. Every sword lands at our Chicago warehouse, gets unpacked, gets the hilt checked for tightness and the scabbard checked for fit, and only then goes live as in stock. That is the honest reason processing runs one to two weeks. Shipping inside the United States is free, returns run for seven days, and there is a genuine lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Every Damascus billet folds differently and the pattern on your blade is unique to it. The etch bites slightly differently each time, so contrast varies. The Yggdrasil roundel is cut by hand, so the line weight and depth of the tree shift a little from sword to sword. Leather takes dye unevenly, so the grip and scabbard can be a shade warmer or cooler than the ones shown. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the sword sharpened

No. It comes with an unsharpened display edge. It is a collector and display piece, and it is not sold or described as a cutting sword.

What are the three copper rivets on the blade

They are decorative inlays set into the lower flat, not fixings holding anything together. They are there as a warm contrast against the grey of the etched Damascus.

Is the fuller a blood groove

No. That name is a modern invention. A fuller removes weight from the centre of the blade where it does least structural work, in the same way the web of an I beam does, so the blade can be broad without being heavy.

Does it come with a scabbard

Yes, a tan leather scabbard is included. Keep the sword out of it for long term storage so the leather is not sitting against the blade.

Can I have runes instead of the tree

Yes. Choose the engraving option and give us the text. A rune line on the ricasso replaces the Yggdrasil roundel, so if you want to keep the tree, ask for the engraving on the pommel or the scabbard instead.

How long does delivery take

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

What is in the box

• Rootspire Damascus sword
• Tan leather scabbard
• Care and warranty card
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

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

Worth a look beside this

Worth putting side by side with this is the Knotcrown arming sword, pattern welded Damascus. In the same category sits the Wheelbraid arming sword, 36 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Rootcrown arming sword, 37 inches overall.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Cupwarden rapier. Or start from a blank sheet on the custom Viking sword page.