Hand-Forged Leaf-Blade Sword, Ball Quillons

A sword whose blade swells to its widest point somewhere past the middle and then draws in to the tip, rather than tapering steadily from the shoulder. It is one of the oldest blade shapes there is — Bronze Age Europe, Greece, the Celtic world and half a dozen other traditions arrived at it independently, because it solves a real problem: it puts width and weight forward of the hand without adding length.

This one is 17 inches of double-edged leaf blade on a 5.5 inch hilt, 22.5 inches overall, with a gently arched steel cross finishing in ball terminals, a leather-wrapped grip and a capped steel pommel. It comes with a laced leather scabbard shaped to the blade.

Because a short sword is a different weapon rather than a small one, and the distinction is worth having. At 22.5 inches overall this is not a sword you fence with at distance. It is the weapon for when distance has already closed — the press, the boarding action, the moment the spear has broken and there is a man inside your reach.

In that situation a long blade is a liability: you cannot bring the point round, you cannot draw it cleanly, and the man in front of you is too close to cut. A short broad blade with its mass forward does the one thing that matters there, which is deliver a decisive blow inside arm's length. That is why nearly every culture that fought in formation with a spear also carried something like this, and why the shape kept reappearing for two thousand years.

The blade is, near enough. The Greek xiphos was a leaf-bladed short sword with a blade of roughly 45 to 50 centimetres on a weapon of 55 to 65 overall, carried as the sidearm to the spear. This blade is 43 centimetres on a sword of 57. Those are xiphos proportions and the leaf profile belongs to the same family.

The hilt furniture is not. The arched cross with ball terminals and the capped cylindrical pommel are our design rather than anything documented from Greece, where the guard and pommel forms were quite different. So: a xiphos-proportioned leaf sword built our way. If you want a closer reconstruction, see our xiphos range, and our Celtic leaf swords cover the other main branch of the same shape.

It moves mass forward without moving the balance point as far as you would expect, because the widest section sits past the middle rather than out at the tip. The cut lands with weight behind it and the sword still comes back on line. We cover the mechanics properly on our fantasy leaf-blade sword page rather than repeating the whole argument here.

What is worth adding on a short blade specifically: the leaf gives you a broad section to cut with on a weapon that has very little length to generate speed. On a 17 inch blade you cannot rely on tip velocity, so the shape does the work instead. That is the reason the leaf appears on short swords far more often than on long ones.

1,010 grams. Historical leaf short swords of this size ran somewhere in the region of 600 to 900 grams, so this is above that — by roughly 12 per cent at the top of the range and about 68 per cent at the bottom.

Per inch of blade it works out at about 59 grams, which is inside the band we use for heavy kukris — thick-stock chopping tools. So this is a robust build rather than a period-weight one: very hard to damage, slower in the hand than the original would have been. Thinner stock with more distal taper is free on request and it is the build we would suggest to anyone buying this as a historical piece rather than as an object.

The standard build gives a 17 inch blade and a 5.5 inch hilt with a 4.2 inch grip, 22.5 inches overall. That is a default rather than a fixed specification — every blade we make is forged after the order, so the dimensions are yours to set.

Seventeen inches is already right for the type and we would not lengthen it far without changing what the sword is. The grip is the more useful variable: 4.2 inches is a genuine single-hand grip with nothing spare, and going to five gives the hand somewhere to move. It costs nothing.

Mostly they stop things sliding off the end. A quillon that finishes in a knob gives the cross a positive termination, so a blade running down your edge meets something rather than skating past the tip of the guard. They also keep the guard from being a pair of points aimed at your own forearm, which matters more than it sounds on a short weapon where the hand and the blade are close together.

They are not a substitute for real hand protection and we are not going to claim otherwise — this is a simple cross, not a basket or a knuckle bow. If you want more, a side ring or a knuckle bow can be forged onto this hilt at no extra cost.

Yes, both edges sharpened and the point finished, ready to use, unless you tell us otherwise. On a leaf blade the widest section does most of the cutting and that is where the edge is worked most carefully.

Unsharpened builds are free for display or for an awkward import. A stage combat build — rebated edge, rounded tip — is also available at the same price, and on a short broad blade it is a sensible request if the sword will be handled by more than one person.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, which we use across the whole range. The blade is forged to shape, quenched, and then tempered back by hand as a separate operation afterwards. Those two steps are distinct and the second is what matters: quenching alone leaves a blade hard and brittle, and tempering trades a little hardness for the toughness a broad blade needs when it meets something solid.

5160 is not stainless and is not meant to be. It rusts if left damp, and in exchange it takes and keeps an edge far better than any stainless we could sensibly forge. We do not make pattern-welded or laminated blades at all, by choice.

A leather-wrapped grip, a gently arched polished steel cross with ball terminals, and a capped steel pommel. The metal is forged and hand-finished rather than cast.

Grip material and colour are both selectable at no extra cost — rosewood, horn, bone, micarta and other leather colours are all available, and the scabbard is matched to whatever you choose. A cord or wire wrap over the leather is also possible and is closer to most ancient practice.

A leather scabbard shaped to the leaf, with a cross-laced panel over the throat through brass eyelets, brass studs and a belt fitting. It is built to this blade rather than to a pattern, which on a leaf profile is not optional.

The reason is geometry: a leaf blade is at its widest well down its length, so it cannot be drawn through a throat cut to the width of the shoulder. The scabbard has to open to the blade's widest point and then hold it, which is what the lacing does — it draws the throat closed around the blade after it is in. Colour, lacing and carry arrangement are all yours to specify.

Nothing is held in stock. Every blade is forged after the order arrives, which is why the dimensions, the stock thickness, the grip and the furniture are all free to change — there is no standard version already made. Standard builds dispatch in 2 to 3 business days; genuinely custom work runs 4 to 6 weeks depending on the queue.

It ships sheathed and braced in a rigid carton, by DHL or FedEx with tracking, typically 7 to 14 business days from Kathmandu. Import duty and local taxes are the buyer's responsibility and vary by country. Note that a double-edged symmetrical blade is regulated more tightly than a single-edged knife in many places — please check what applies where you live before ordering.