Kaldrast Hand Forged 51CrV4 Spring Steel Hanger Sabre Trainer with D Knuckle Bow & Rounded Blunt Tip | About 36 Inches Overall | Black Leather Grip and Care Card | HEMA Gift | RK-3001

The Kaldrast is a hanger, the short curved sidearm that infantry, sailors and hunters carried from the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, built here as a blunt trainer in 51CrV4 spring steel. The blade is single edged and curved, wide through the forte where parries land and narrowing through the foible to a rounded blunt point. A D shaped knuckle bow sweeps out of the cross and back to the cap, and the grip is bound in black leather.

A hanger does not fence like a longsword. The work sits on one edge, on one side of the body, with the point kept live so a cut can turn into a thrust without a second tempo. The hanging guard, the moulinet from the elbow and wrist, the beat and the bind at the forte all belong to the military sabre schools written down through the nineteenth century, and the broad curved blade before them belongs to the dussack plays Joachim Meyer set out in 1570.

If this is your first curved blade for club work, read the HEMA sabre guide and our explanation of sword flex first, then look across the rest of the HEMA sabres to see how much the hilts differ. A hanger, a three bar guard and a stirrup hilt fence the same art with a very different feel in the hand. The practice dussack belongs in the same single edged family and is covered in the dussack guide.

Specifications

Every length is given as about, because this is ground and fitted by hand. We do not publish a weight or a point of balance, because we will not print a number we have not taken.

The hanger and the military sabre schools

The hanger was the everyday short sword of people who needed a blade on the hip and did not need a duelling sword. It was cheap, short enough to wear all day, and the curve made it a better cutter than its length suggested. By the time the nineteenth century sabre schools were printed, that body of technique had been tidied into a teachable system, and it is what most clubs drill on a curved single edged blade.

What you practise with a piece like this is a small number of guards and a large number of transitions between them. The hanging guard that gives the family its name covers the head and the outside line at once and turns straight into a cut. A moulinet keeps the edge tracking through a circle so a parried cut does not die on contact. At the bind you learn to feel whether the pressure in front of you is hard or soft and to go around it or through it.

Spring steel, the curve and where the flex lives

This blade is 51CrV4 spring steel hardened to 49 to 52 HRC, softer than the 1095 on our cutting swords and softer on purpose. Spring steel is chosen because it bends and returns instead of taking a set or snapping under a hard bind. A cutting hardness of 54 to 58 HRC gives an edge that holds through tatami and a blade that does not forgive a bad parry. A sparring blade has the opposite job.

The forte is wide and thick because that is where steel meets steel, and the foible is narrower because that is where the speed is. The curve puts the centre of percussion out along the edge rather than near the hand, which is what makes a hanger feel like it wants to cut. The give is in the flat and sits in the last third rather than running back into the forte, so a firm parry does not wobble.

Be straight with yourself about the point. The Berlin HEMA Cup gear requirements ask for spatulated or rolled tips with a minimum diameter of 1.5 cm, and they do not accept rounded tips on rapier and sabre. The tip here is rounded, so it does not meet that requirement and we will not pretend otherwise. Buy it for drills and controlled club sparring, and read the ruleset before any open event.

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 or the grip. On this one the flat of the forte takes a line cleanly, the leather grip will hold a short name or date, and the outside face of the knuckle bow suits a single mark. Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39 and a family crest is $49, all cut in the United States after the piece has landed and been inspected.

If you would rather have your own design 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. More on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

We are not going to give you a weight or a point of balance. The photographs carry no scale, the blades are ground by hand, and a number printed here would be a guess dressed up as a fact. What the shape does can be said honestly. Mass on a hanger sits ahead of the hand, so the cut carries itself and the recovery asks for the wrist and elbow rather than the shoulder.

The knuckle bow changes how you hold it more than people expect. With the hand enclosed you can loosen the fingers at the end of a cut without losing the sword, which is exactly what a moulinet wants, and the thumb can ride up the back of the grip for a controlled thrust. The leather is not slick, so a sweaty hand keeps its purchase. One handed work punishes a tight fist and this hilt forgives a loose one.

Care

Spring steel rusts. It has no stainless content and it is not meant to. After a session, wipe the blade down before it goes in the bag, because salt on bare steel in a closed bag overnight leaves a mark you then take off with abrasive. A thin film of oil is enough, and keep it off the leather.

Check the hilt every few sessions. A hanger takes hard lateral hits on the knuckle bow, and anything loose at the cap will rattle before it fails, so treat a rattle as a warning. Sight along the blade for a bend that has not come back, and take burrs off the blunt land with a fine file. The full routine is in the care guide.

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 straight to a customer. Every one is checked for hilt tightness, pommel seating and blade straightness at our North Babylon, New York warehouse, and ships from there. Shipping in 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.

We do not name the workshop and we do not print a town on the box. The same hands make the whole run, the blades reach us in batches rather than by the container, and anything that turns up with a loose hilt or a bend in it goes back. More on the country of origin page.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand forged. It is not machine made, not cast and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page. The leather is cut, wrapped and set by hand, so the seam sits where the hand that wrapped it put it, and the knuckle bow is bent to a shape rather than stamped against a die.

Grain in the wood, the turn of a finial and the shade of the cord all move a little from piece to piece, and lengths are given as about because a hand made blade is ground to a shape rather than to a tolerance band. None of that is a defect. What is covered, for as long as you own it, is a failure in the forging, the grind, the heat treat or the fittings.

Frequently asked questions

Whether this hanger is sharp

No. It is a blunt trainer with a flat land of about 2 mm or more along the edge and a rounded blunt point. It is not ground for cutting and it should not be taken to tatami.

Whether it can be used in a tournament

That depends on the ruleset, so read the one for your event. The Berlin HEMA Cup requires spatulated or rolled tips of at least 1.5 cm and does not allow rounded tips on sabre, and this tip is rounded.

Who this piece suits

Club fencers drilling nineteenth century sabre material, longsword players widening into one handed work, and anybody on Meyer dussack plays who would rather feel steel than leather.

Whether a scabbard is included

No. Nothing in this part of the range ships with a scabbard and we will not imply one. You get the sword, oiled and wrapped.

How the flex compares with a longsword feder

It is stiffer in feel and the give sits further out. A feder bows through the middle so a thrust to the mask is absorbed. A hanger holds its line through a parry.

Whether it can be engraved

Yes. Runes, a name, a date or your own design, cut in the United States after the piece arrives and is inspected. Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39, a family crest is $49.

What is in the box

• The Kaldrast hanger sabre trainer, one piece, full tang, blunt.
• A light film of protective oil on the blade for the journey.
• A printed care and storage card with the wipe down routine.
• Your lifetime warranty record against defects in the forging, grind and fittings.

Explore the range

Put it beside the rest of the HEMA sabres, look at the smallswords and spadroons for a straight blade with the same one handed feel, try the messers for a heavier single edged blade, or work down from the HEMA sword hub. If you are still deciding, the guides are the place to start.

If this one is not it

Close in size and role you have Kjeldhar stirrup hilt sabre, about 36 inches overall, Sturvang three bar sabre, about 37 inches overall, Ostrevak steel dussack, about 31 inches overall and Brenvald langes messer, about 37 inches overall to compare against this one.

The full HEMA sabre category and the wider HEMA sword hub hold the rest of the line, and you can specify your own on the custom sword builder.