Ironreach Hand Forged Damascus Longsword | 37 Inch Overall with 30 Inch Blade | Olive Wood Handle and Olive Burl Wooden Scabbard | Medieval Collector and Display Gift | RK-506

Thirty inches of layered Damascus, a 7 inch olive wood grip and 37 inches from pommel to point. The Ironreach is a longsword built to the proportions of the historical originals rather than to the proportions of a film prop, and it comes home in a scabbard turned from olive burl.

The word longsword has a precise meaning and it is not simply a long sword. It describes the European hand and a half sword of roughly the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, and the defining feature is the grip. A grip of about seven inches is too long for one hand and too short for a comfortable two handed hold on a hilt alone, which is exactly the point. It lets the swordsman use one hand for reach and two hands for power without swapping swords, and it is the reason the entire European fencing tradition of that era, written down in manuals that survive today, is built around a sword that can be held either way.

This one is forged, hardened, ground and assembled in the Czech Republic, and it ships in its olive burl wooden scabbard with free shipping inside the United States.

Specifications

The pommel, the cross and where the weight goes

A sword is a lever and every part of the hilt exists to manage that fact.

The pommel is the counterweight. It is a mass of metal behind your hands, and moving weight backwards has a disproportionate effect on how the blade behaves, because it shifts the balance point back toward the grip and shortens the effective lever you are fighting against. A longsword with no pommel would be unusable at 30 inches of blade. With one, 35 ounces feels alive rather than heavy, and the sword recovers from a movement instead of dragging you after it.

The cross does two jobs. It protects the hand, which is obvious, and it gives you a second point of leverage against an opposing blade, which is less obvious and matters far more in the historical manuals. Between them, cross and pommel turn a long bar of steel into something you can actually direct.

Then there is distal taper, the gradual thinning of the blade from the shoulders toward the point. This is the single detail that separates a properly made sword from a wall hanger, and it is invisible in photographs. A blade of even thickness over 30 inches is dead in the hand. Thin it progressively and you remove mass from the far end of the lever without losing the stiffness near the hilt where it is needed. Every original in a museum shows it. What collectors actually judge a sword by is this, plus balance point and fittings, rather than by how sharp it arrives. For the Norse background to pattern welded blades, read about the Ulfberht swords.

Why Damascus and not stainless

Real Damascus is a stack of steels rather than a finish. Layers of 1095 and 15N20 are forge welded, folded, drawn out to 352 layers and finally etched, which is when the pattern appears. Over 30 inches of blade the figure has room to stretch out into something you can read from across a room.

Stainless is a genuinely bad idea in a sword and this is worth saying plainly, because plenty of decorative swords are made from it. High chromium stainless alloys are relatively brittle in thick sections and they do not take the deep hardening and tempering a long blade needs, which is why stainless swords are notorious for snapping rather than bending. The 1095 in this blade takes the hardness, and the nickel bearing 15N20 supplies the toughness that lets a 30 inch blade flex under load and come back straight. The trade is that carbon steel needs oiling, which on a display piece is a wipe with an oiled cloth twice a year. The full comparison is in Damascus versus stainless.

Olive wood in the hand

Olive wood is a dense, oily, interlocked grain timber and it is close to ideal for a sword grip. The density puts real mass behind the cross where it helps the balance. The natural oil content means it resists moisture without needing a heavy surface finish. And the interlocked grain makes it resistant to splitting along its length, which matters on a component that is clamped between a cross and a pommel and stressed every time the sword is swung.

It is also one of the most figured woods in commercial use, with dark streaking that wanders across pale gold, and the burl used for the scabbard is the most figured part of the tree. Keep the grip out of standing water, keep it out of direct sun and away from dry heat, and give it a wipe of light oil once or twice a year to keep it fed. The method is in wooden handle care.

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 handle. 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 whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it.

A longsword is the piece in this catalogue with the most engraving surface of all, and historically it is the most appropriate. Inscribed blades are a real medieval tradition, from the Ulfberht name inlaid into Viking age swords to the invocations and mottoes cut into later European blades. A full phrase in Elder Futhark running down the fuller of a 30 inch blade is close to how those originals were treated. All engraving is cut here before the sword is packed. Options are on the engraving page.

Care and sharpening

Damascus is high carbon at heart, so it will rust if you leave it wet or handle it and put it away. Wipe the blade down with an oiled cloth after handling, since fingerprints etch themselves into a polished surface over weeks, and give it a proper wipe of mineral or camellia oil twice a year.

Do not store it long term inside the scabbard in a damp room, and do not hang it on an exterior wall or in a bathroom where condensation forms on cold surfaces. If it ever needs the edge dressed, work in overlapping sections along the blade with a stone in your hand rather than trying to drag 30 inches of steel across a bench stone. Method in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This longsword is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph on this page. Thirty inches of Damascus gives the pattern an enormous amount of room to be individual, and no two billets draw out the same way under the hammer. The olive wood grip and the burl scabbard came from different parts of different trees, so the figure and tone will be their own.

The dimensions, the weight, the steel, the layer count, the hardness and the build are the same on every one. The grain, the tone, the pattern and the exact profile are not, because each is worked by hand from natural materials. That is what separates this from a cast reproduction.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a functional sword or a display piece

It is built as a collector and display piece, and that is how it should be used. The steel is real, properly hardened and correctly assembled, and the proportions follow the historical record, but it is not sold or warranted for test cutting, sparring or contact of any kind.

What is the difference between a longsword and a Viking sword

Mostly the grip and the era. A Viking age sword is a one handed blade with a short grip, a heavy pommel and a broad blade, used with a shield. A longsword is a later hand and a half blade with a grip long enough for two hands, a longer blade and a more pronounced taper, used with no shield and a very different fencing tradition.

Does it come sharpened

It arrives with a finished edge appropriate to a display sword rather than a shaving edge. Collectors judge a sword on balance, taper and fittings rather than sharpness, and an aggressively sharp 30 inch blade is a hazard on a wall.

How should I hang or store it

Use a wall mount that supports the blade at two points rather than hanging it by the scabbard, keep it off exterior and bathroom walls where condensation forms, and keep it out of direct sunlight which will bleach the olive wood. Wipe it with an oiled cloth twice a year.

Can the blade be engraved along its length

Yes, and it is the most historically appropriate piece in the range for it. A full phrase in Elder Futhark fits comfortably down the blade, and a name or date can go on the grip at the same time.

How long does delivery take

Processing is one to two weeks while the sword is forged, ground, fitted and scabbarded by hand, plus transit, with engraved orders at the longer end. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are open for seven days after delivery.

What is in the box

• One Ironreach Damascus longsword
• Olive burl wooden scabbard
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Nearby in the range: Swords, Viking Swords and Dagger Knives. Everything else worth knowing is written up in the guides.