Myrkvald Hand Forged 51CrV4 Blunt Longsword with Blackened Cross & Fuller to Two Thirds | About 47 Inches Overall | Black Leather Wrapped Grip and Care Card | Club Gift | RK-3037

The Myrkvald is a blunt longsword with the cross and the pommel taken down to black, so the only bright metal on the piece is the blade itself. It is a plain fighting shape underneath the finish: a straight double edged blade with a fuller running about two thirds of the way from the cross towards the point, then a flat diamond running out to a blunted tip.

The grip length puts it between a hand and a half sword and a two hander. There is room for the second hand to sit fully behind the first without crowding it, and there is also room to drop the off hand onto the pommel when you want reach. That middle length is the one most clubs end up buying, because it suits both the wide two handed guards and the tighter single handed work.

If you are choosing a first steel trainer, start with how to choose your first HEMA sword, then read HEMA sword flex explained so the flex tier below means something to you. The rest of the blunt longswords sit in HEMA longswords. The feder comparison sits in what a feder actually is, and the edge question in blunt against sharp.

Specifications

Read these as the shape of the piece rather than a measurement certificate. Every one is finished by hand and the numbers move a little.

Hand and a half longswords and the blunt in club practice

A blunt longsword is the plain steel trainer that most clubs start people on once they are past a synthetic. It keeps the outline of a real sword, with a proper cross, a proper pommel and a blade that tapers the way a sword tapers, so everything you learn about edge alignment, measure and the bind carries straight over to a sharp of the same shape.

What it is not is a feder. A feder is a purpose built fencing tool with a narrow blade above a wide schilt and a thick flexible tip, and it exists so that two people can hit each other hard without either of them getting hurt. A blunt longsword is stiffer, heavier in the forward half and much less forgiving on a thrust. Say plainly what that means for events: many longsword tournaments ban blunt longswords outright and allow only purpose built feders or sword shaped feders. Check the ruleset for the event you are entering before you buy for it, because we will not claim a piece is legal under a ruleset we have not named.

Where this one earns its place is drill, solo work, paired technique at controlled speed, cutting mechanics without a target, and any study where the handling of a real sword matters more than free fencing. It is also the shape you want if you are learning from the German sources and want the sword in your hand to behave like the sword in the book. The blackened furniture is a plain aesthetic choice that reads well against the bare blade.

Blackened furniture, the fuller and how this blunt behaves

The blade is 51CrV4 spring steel hardened to 49 to 52 HRC. The whole line uses it on the blunts for one reason: spring steel bends and returns instead of taking a set or snapping under a hard bind. A blade run up to cutting hardness would be stiffer, but it would also hold a bend the first time someone drove a thrust into a mask, and that is how trainers break.

The fuller runs from just below the cross to about two thirds of the blade length, then stops. That is not decoration. Taking steel out of the middle of the flat drops mass from the part of the blade that contributes least to a cut while leaving the cross section deep enough to resist bending. Beyond the fuller the section goes to a flat diamond, which stiffens the last third and keeps the point from wandering when the blade flexes.

The edges carry a flat land rather than a ground edge, in line with the usual standard of 2 mm or more on a longsword trainer, so there is nothing on the blade that behaves like a cutting edge even when the blade is driven along an opponent’s arm. The tip is blunted and rounded off rather than flared into a knob, which is another reason to check an event ruleset before you enter with it.

Flex is in the medium tier. The market labels tiers roughly as light, medium, strong or tournament, and stiff for harness work. We give you the tier rather than a number, because we do not test each blade on a scale.

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 piece a rune line sits well on the flat of the blade just below the cross, where the blackened furniture frames it, and the pommel face will take a symbol if you would rather keep the blade clean.

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

The balance sits a few inches out from the cross, which is where a longsword of this shape belongs. It feels alive in the hand rather than dead, and it will move between guards without dragging, but it is not light. This is a full steel trainer and it will tell you very quickly whether your grip and your shoulders are doing the work or your wrists are.

The two handed grip is the one to learn on. Front hand under the cross, back hand low and loose, and let the back hand lever rather than push. Because the grip is long enough for the off hand to reach the pommel, you also get a real single handed option for the plays that want it, though the blade is heavy enough that you will feel it.

We do not publish a weight or a point of balance. The photographs carry no scale, every piece is finished by hand and a number that is right for one is wrong for the next.

Care

51CrV4 is not stainless. The bare blade will rust if it is left wet or handled and put straight away. Wipe it down after every session and keep a light film of oil on the steel. Mineral oil or a light gun oil is plenty, and a cloth with a few drops on it lives in most club bags for exactly this reason.

The blackened cross and pommel are a surface finish, not a plating you can scrub. Clean them with a dry cloth. Solvents, wire wool and abrasive polish will take the black off in patches and it will not grow back. If you get a bright scuff from a hard bind, leave it. It will dull down and blend in with use.

The leather grip wants to stay dry. Let it breathe after a sweaty session instead of zipping it into a bag, and treat it once or twice a year with a leather balm. Check the pommel for movement every few months and stop using the piece if you feel any. The full method is in the knife 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.

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 black finish sits a little differently on every cross and every pommel, so two of these side by side will not be the same shade under the same light. The fuller is cut by hand, so its stop point moves an inch either way. The leather wrap will have its own grain and its own seam line. None of that is a fault, and none of it changes how the piece behaves in the hand.

Frequently asked questions

Whether this longsword is sharp

No. It is a blunt trainer with a flat edge land of about 2.5 mm and a rounded tip. It is not sharpened and it will not be sharpened by us on request.

Whether it is allowed in tournaments

Many longsword tournaments ban blunt longswords and allow only purpose built feders or sword shaped feders. Read the ruleset for the event you want to enter. We will not claim legality under a ruleset we have not named.

How the blunt differs from a feder

A feder has a narrow blade above a wide schilt and a thicker, more flexible tip built for hard sparring. This blunt keeps a real sword profile, is stiffer and is better suited to drill, technique and handling work.

What the blackening is

A surface finish on the cross and the pommel. It is not paint and it is not a plating. Clean it with a dry cloth and leave scuffs alone rather than polishing them out.

Whether a scabbard is included

No. Nothing in this line ships with a scabbard. It arrives wrapped for transit with a care card in the box.

Whether the grip can be engraved

Yes. Runes or your own design can go on the blade flat or the pommel, cut in the United States after the piece lands here. Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39 and a family crest is $49.

What is in the box

• One Myrkvald blunt longsword, hand made in the Czech Republic.
• A cloth wrap for transit.
• A care and storage card.
• Your warranty and returns information.

Explore the range

The rest of the two handed steel sits in HEMA longswords, the purpose built sparring tools sit in feders, the whole training line is in HEMA swords and the wider catalogue is in longswords. Every guide we have written sits in the guides hub.

Close to this one

The nearest pieces by size and handling are Vernholt hand and a half, about 47 inches overall, Vardholt hand and a half, about 47 inches overall, Tevrand nylon waster, about 47 inches overall and Vulkbrand flame bladed greatsword, about 66 inches overall.

The rest of the group is in the HEMA longsword category and across the HEMA sword hub, and the custom sword builder takes a custom order.