Molgarth Hand Forged 51CrV4 Spring Steel Langes Messer with Mushroom Head Nagel & Rounded Tip | About 35 Inches Overall | Brown Scale Grip and Care Cloth | Fencing Gift | RK-3047

The Molgarth is a langes messer trainer with a detail worth stating up front. The blade finishes in a rounded tip. There is no clipped point on it, no cut away back and no angled false edge running back from the end. The spine carries straight on and the last few inches simply turn over into a round, which is the safest termination you can put on a single edged sparring blade and a form that survives in period pieces as well.

The hand is covered by a mushroom head nagel standing off the flat above the grip, a short post with a domed head rather than a ring or a bar. Below it the grip is a pair of brown scales riveted to the flat tang with three steel rivets peened on both faces, which is messer construction as the sources show it. No pommel, no through tang, no peen block. A knife hilt on a sword sized blade.

New to the family? The messer guide covers the sizes and the fittings, and blunt versus sharp training swords covers where a piece like this stops. The rest of the single edged trainers are in HEMA messers.

Specifications

Every figure below is a nominal build figure. This is made by hand, so treat each one as close rather than exact.

The langes messer and the plays written for it

The langes messer is a one hand single edged sword built on knife construction. It carried its own branch of the German art, and Johannes Lecküchner wrote it down at length in 1482, laying out wards, cuts, winds and counters in a system that runs parallel to the longsword material of the Liechtenauer tradition. That is why the messer matters beyond being a cheap sword for townspeople. It has a literature.

In the hand the messer asks for different habits from a double edged sword. One side of the blade cuts and the other does not, so edge alignment stops being something you check and becomes something you feel, and the plays make constant use of the flat and the back. Winding at the bind has to account for which face is where. Fencers coming from longsword usually find the first few months of messer work humbling for exactly that reason.

The one hand messer is the standard tool for that syllabus. The off hand is free, which opens grappling and the arm work that the sources are full of, and the short blade keeps everything close. If you want the same art with two hands and more reach, that is the kriegsmesser, and it is a different tool rather than a bigger one.

A rounded tip, a mushroom nagel and the steel behind them

The rounded tip is the headline. A clipped point is the more common messer termination and it looks the part, but it puts the mass and the shape of the piece out at an angle that concentrates any thrust into a small area. Turning the last of the blade over into a round spreads that contact and takes the bite out of an accidental thrust, which is why rounded tips appear on training pieces. It also means this blade reads as what it is from across a hall. There is no clip on it and we will not pretend otherwise.

The nagel is a mushroom head, a post through the flat with a domed cap standing proud above the hand. It springs from the guard block at the base of the blade and its job is to cover the hand from the side, which is what a messer needs since it has no second quillon and no knuckle bow. A domed head is the kindest version of it, because a nagel with a flat or a sharp face catches a sliding blade and a domed one lets it run off.

The blade is 51CrV4 spring steel hardened to 49 to 52 HRC. Spring steel is chosen because it bends and returns instead of taking a set or snapping under a hard bind, where a high carbon cutting steel at 54 to 58 HRC is too hard for sparring. Flex is medium tier and we do not publish a pound figure, because we do not measure every blade. The tiers are explained in HEMA sword flex explained.

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 a messer the usual place is the blade flat behind the nagel, where the steel is wide and clean and the marking sits where you can see it in the hand. Elder Futhark has no sign for every sound in English, so the converter maps what it can and we cut what it gives back. If you want to read the alphabet before you choose, the Elder Futhark runes guide sets it out.

Engraving is priced by what you ask for. Text and runes are $19, a symbol is $39 and a family crest is $49. All of it is cut in the United States after the piece has landed and passed inspection, so nothing leaves the Czech Republic already marked.

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

This handles short and quick, the way a one hand messer should. The mass sits forward of your hand but there is not much blade to carry it, so the point comes back to line fast and the piece rewards small movements. The three rivets and the scales put your hand in one place and keep it there, which is worth knowing if you are used to a cord grip you can slide along.

We do not publish a weight or a point of balance. The photographs carry no scale, we do not weigh every example, and a number made up for a listing is worse than no number. What is worth saying is that the rounded tip makes the piece feel slightly shorter in the point than a clipped blade of the same length, because there is no tapered tip drawing the eye out.

Care

Wipe the blade down after every session. Sweat off hands and gear is what starts spotting on spring steel, and the edge land and the flats around the nagel are where hands go most. A light film of oil between sessions is enough and the care cloth in the box is for that.

The scales are wood and want no water sitting on them. Let them dry naturally if they get soaked and wipe a little oil into the grain now and then. Check the three rivets for movement every few weeks, since riveted scales on a sparring messer are the part that moves first, and a loose rivet is a defect and ours to put right with no end date and no receipt. Full instructions are 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.

If you want the longer version of how the line is sourced and what we do and do not claim about it, the country of origin page lays it out, and order and shipping information covers timings.

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 radius of the rounded tip is worked by hand and differs a little between pieces. The nagel head is domed by hand. Wood scales carry their own grain and colour so no two grips match exactly, and the rivet peens show as small raised discs rather than flush faces. None of that is a defect.

Frequently asked questions

Whether this has a clipped point

No. The tip is rounded and turned over, with no clip, no cut away back and no false edge. If you want a clipped point, look at the other messers in this line.

Whether it is sharp

No. It is a blunt trainer with a flat edge land of about 3 mm and a rounded tip. It is not sharpened and we will not sharpen it.

What a nagel is for

It covers the hand from the side. A messer has no second quillon and no knuckle bow, so the nagel is the hand protection, and a domed head lets a sliding blade run off rather than catching it.

What flex tier this sits in

Medium, the usual club setting for messer work. We do not publish a pound figure because we do not measure every blade.

Whether it is tournament legal

That depends on the ruleset you fence under. Rounded tips are treated differently by different events, so check the gear rules where you are entering.

Whether a scabbard is included

No. Nothing in this line ships with a scabbard and we do not sell one cut to this blade.

What is in the box

• The Molgarth langes messer, about 35 inches overall
• A light protective coat of oil on the blade
• A care cloth for wiping down after sessions
• A care and storage card with the warranty terms

Explore the range

The single edged trainers are grouped in HEMA messers, with the whole line in HEMA swords. For a double edged blade in one hand look at HEMA arming swords, and the older catalogue sits in messers. The written material is collected in the guides hub.

Near neighbours in the shop

Its closest neighbours on the rack are Aurnvik langes messer, about 35 inches overall, Torvhaug sharp langes messer, about 37 inches overall, Storvekk kriegsmesser, about 44 inches overall and Reifholm leather dussack, about 26 inches overall.

The HEMA messer category and the HEMA sword hub hold the remainder, and you can order a one off on the custom sword builder.