Ironreach Hand Forged Damascus Arming Sword | 29 Inch Overall with 22 Inch Blade | Olive Wood Handle and Brown Leather Scabbard | Medieval Collector and Display Gift | RK-506

Twenty two inches of layered Damascus, a 5 inch olive wood grip and 29 inches from pommel to point. The Ironreach is a one handed arming sword built to the proportions of the historical originals rather than to the proportions of a film prop, and it comes home in a brown leather scabbard with brass fittings at the throat and the tip.

An arming sword is the single handed knightly sword of medieval Europe, the sidearm carried on the belt from roughly the eleventh to the fifteenth century. The grip is sized for one hand, the cross is a simple bar and the blade is straight and double edged, which leaves the other hand free for a shield or a buckler. The Ironreach follows that layout: a curved brass cross, a short olive wood grip and a round brass pommel.

This one is forged, hardened, ground and assembled in the Czech Republic, and it ships in its brown leather 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 sword with no pommel would feel slow and blade heavy, even at 22 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 22 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 22 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 22 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. 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 sword blade is one of the largest engraving surfaces in this catalogue, and historically one of 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 a 22 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 22 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 Chicago, Illinois. 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 arming sword 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. Twenty two 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 leather scabbard are natural materials, 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 an arming sword and a longsword

Mostly the grip. An arming sword like this one has a one handed grip and a blade of a little over twenty inches, made to be used alongside a shield or buckler. A longsword is a later hand and a half sword with a grip long enough for two hands and a longer blade.

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 22 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 arming sword
• Brown leather scabbard with brass fittings
• 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.

Close to this one

In the same category sits the Tenthcentury sword, 35 inches overall. A near match for this one is the Leathergrip sword, 38 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Shieldwall sword, 24 inches overall.

Fitting out further, the Emberfall falchion belongs with it. Nothing here exactly right, build one to your own spec on the custom Viking sword page.