Vardholt Hand Forged 51CrV4 Hand and a Half Blunt Longsword with Narrow Fuller & Wheel Pommel | About 47 Inches Overall | Waisted Leather Grip and Care Card | HEMA Gift | RK-3008

This is a hand and a half blunt, the longsword size that sits between the single handed arming sword and the full two handed bar. The grip takes a whole hand and most of a second, which is what you want for winden at the bind and for the short grip up near the cross when the fight closes.

The blade carries a narrow fuller that runs from the base and stops well short of the point, leaving the last third as full stock so the tip stays stiff on a thrust. The cross is plain straight bar with no side ring and no schilt. The pommel is a steel wheel peened over the tang, and the grip below it is black leather over wood, waisted so it swells at both ends and pinches through the middle.

If this is your first steel trainer, read how to choose your first HEMA sword, then HEMA sword flex explained so the tiers mean something in the hand. The rest of the two handed steel sits in HEMA longswords. Where a blunt sits against a purpose built trainer is set out in what a feder actually is, and the difference between a blunted edge and a cutting one in blunt against sharp.

Specifications

The hand and a half blunt in Liechtenauer practice

The German longsword tradition that runs from Liechtenauer through Ringeck and on to Meyer is built on a small set of guards and on the transitions between them. Vom Tag over the shoulder, Ochs at head height with the point online, Pflug low by the hip, Alber with the point dropped. A blade this length reaches all four without the hands crowding one another, which is why the hand and a half size survives as a training length.

Most of the interesting work happens after the blades meet. In the bind you read whether the pressure coming back is hard or soft, then answer with winden to hold your point online while the hilt turns, or with a versetzen that displaces and threatens in one motion. A full length flat land takes that pressure week after week without the edges chewing into nicks that snag a partner’s blade.

Be clear on one thing before you buy. A blunt longsword is a drilling and sparring blade, not a tournament entry. Many longsword tournaments now exclude blunts and accept only purpose built feders or sword shaped feders, so read the gear requirements of the event rather than assuming. Fence it in proper kit: finger protecting gloves, a mask with back of head protection, a gorget and a rated jacket.

Spring steel, the narrow fuller and how this blade flexes

The blade is 51CrV4 spring steel hardened to 49 to 52 HRC, softer than the 1095 at 54 to 58 HRC we put on the cutting swords. That is on purpose. Spring steel at this hardness bends and returns instead of taking a set or snapping under a hard bind, and a trainer that holds a permanent bow after one heavy displacement is finished.

The narrow fuller earns its place twice. It takes mass out of the middle of the blade where mass does least good, and it leaves a raised spine either side of the groove so the blade resists twisting when you wind and the edge has to stay true. Because the fuller stops short, the last third is full stock, which keeps the point from wandering on a committed thrust.

Flex sits in the medium tier. The market sells flex in bands, light around 15 to 21 lb, medium around 25 to 29 lb, strong or tournament grade around 30 to 43 lb, and stiff for harnischfechten where the point lands on plate. We give the tier rather than a figure because we do not put every blade on a jig. The edge is blunted to a flat land well over the 2 mm minimum club gear lists ask for, and the tip is rolled and flared to about 15 mm across, the shape the Berlin HEMA Cup requirements describe when they call for at least 1.5 cm.

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 a line sits cleanly on the flat of the blade under the cross, on the face of the wheel pommel or in the leather of the grip.

Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39 and a family crest is $49, and the work is done in the United States after the piece has landed and passed inspection. 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

Take it up in one hand and the wheel pommel pulls the balance back toward the fist, which is what keeps a longsword this size controllable for the moment you need a single hand. Put the second hand on and it turns around a point between the hands rather than around one wrist, which is the feel you want for a Zwerchhau.

The waisted grip swells at the cross and again at the pommel and thins through the middle, so the front hand locks where it belongs and the rear hand slides onto the pommel for reach without you looking down. We do not publish a weight or a point of balance. The photograph carries no scale and a figure printed here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Care

Steel that lives in a gear bag rusts. Wipe the blade down after every session, pay attention to where hands and gloves have been, and leave a thin film of oil on before it goes back in the bag.

Burrs raise on any blunt that sees real sparring. Run a thumb along the edge land and take any rough spot back flat with a fine file, then finish with wet and dry paper. Do not chase it into an edge. Check the cross and pommel for movement every few sessions. The full routine for oiling, rust and long storage is in our 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.

The hilt on this one is fitted and peened by hand, so pommel seating is the first thing the team checks when the crate is opened, along with blade straightness and the seam on the grip.

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. Fuller width shifts a little blade to blade, the wheel pommel is filed to shape rather than pressed from a mould, and leather takes dye unevenly, so the black on the grip can read warmer or cooler than the picture.

Every one still leaves the workshop straight, tight and blunted to the same standard, and anything that fails the check at the warehouse never goes in a box.

Frequently asked questions

Whether this blunt is allowed at tournaments

Read the ruleset of the event. Many longsword tournaments accept only purpose built feders or sword shaped feders and exclude blunts from the longsword pool. We will not call any piece tournament legal without naming the ruleset it passes.

How this compares with a feder

A feder is thinner through the middle, carries a schilt above the ricasso and flexes early on the thrust. A blunt is closer to a sword in section and in the way mass sits, so it teaches the bind and edge alignment more honestly and forgives a hard thrust less.

Whether a scabbard is included

No. This ships as the sword on its own and we do not sell a scabbard for it. Carry it in a padded sword bag and keep the blade oiled inside the bag.

Which level of fencer this suits

A fencer a few months in who is drilling with steel under supervision and taking part in club free play. A complete beginner is usually better off on a synthetic trainer until measure and control are settled.

Whether the blade can be sharpened

Do not sharpen it. The steel is 51CrV4 at 49 to 52 HRC, chosen for sparring rather than cutting, and an edge would turn a safe trainer into something else. Buy a sword built for cutting if you want to cut.

How engraving changes the delivery time

Engraving is cut in the United States after the piece lands and passes inspection, so an engraved order takes a few days longer than a plain one.

What is in the box

• The Vardholt hand and a half blunt longsword, blunted along the full edge.
• A protective film of oil on the steel, which comes off with a rag.
• A printed card covering oiling, burrs and storage between sessions.
• The lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind and the fittings.

Explore the range

There is more two handed steel in HEMA longswords, purpose built flexers in feders, single handed blades in HEMA arming swords, and the whole training line under HEMA swords. The rest of our writing sits in the guides.

Compare it with these

Worth setting next to this one: Vernholt hand and a half, about 47 inches overall, Myrkvald longsword, about 47 inches overall, Tevrand nylon waster, about 47 inches overall, Norvakt rondel trainer, about 18 inches overall and Vindlaur feder, about 50 inches overall.

Look through the HEMA longsword category and the HEMA sword hub for the rest, then try the custom sword builder if you want something specific.