Hand-Forged Arming Sword, Trumpet Quillons

A fantasy arming sword in a late medieval idiom. Broad double-edged blade running in a long straight taper to an acute point, a squared unsharpened ricasso at the base, a cross with flared trumpet-shaped quillon terminals, a faceted block above the blade, a brass collar and a polished cone pommel. It comes with a matching leather scabbard on a belt.

It is not a reproduction of a documented type and we will not pretend otherwise. The blade profile is close to what Oakeshott classed as a Type XV — broad at the base, straight-tapering, built around the thrust rather than the cut — but the proportions, the ricasso and the hilt furniture are a modern design. An original sword in a historical idiom, which is a perfectly good thing to be provided nobody sells it as older than it is.

Because the blade is cut from thick stock, and this is the single most important thing to know before you order. The standard build is 1,540 grams over a 22 inch blade, which works out at 70 grams for every inch of blade. A historical single-handed sword of the same blade length would run somewhere around 700 to 900 grams. We are at roughly twice that.

For scale, 70 grams per inch is the figure we see on our heavy kukris — thick-stock chopping tools, not swords. So this is a very robust sword that will shrug off abuse no historical original would survive, and it is a genuinely heavy thing to hold on the end of a 5 inch grip. YES, WE CAN BUILD IT LIGHTER, at no extra cost: ask for thinner stock and increased distal taper and we will take a large amount of that weight out. If you want a sword that handles like a historical arming sword rather than one that outlasts one, order it that way and say so in the order note.

One-handed by design — the grip is 5 inches, which is a single-hand grip and will not comfortably take two. But you should know that 1,540 grams is a lot to carry on one hand. Historical single-handers sit near 1,100 to 1,300 grams with blades a third longer than this one, and they feel light because the mass is spread over more length and less thickness.

In practice: fine to pick up, handle and hold for photographs and display; tiring quickly if you are doing anything sustained with it. If you intend to swing it seriously, either order the lighter build described above or ask us to lengthen the grip so you can crowd the pommel with the off hand. Both are free.

That is a ricasso, and it exists so there is somewhere safe to put a finger or a hand. Hooking the index finger over the quillon gives far better point control on a thrusting blade, and a ricasso means you are doing that against blunt steel rather than an edge. On longer swords the same idea extends to gripping the blade outright to shorten the weapon in a bind.

Worth saying that it is not an arming sword feature historically. Ricassos belong to later swords — the cinquedea, bastard swords, rapiers — and a true medieval arming sword is sharpened right up to the cross. It is here because it suits the design, and it is genuinely useful. Our Swiss sabre page covers the other half of that problem, which is protecting the finger you have just put outside the guard.

Yes, and it is the clearest thing about the blade. The taper runs in a straight line from a broad base to a very acute point rather than curving in near the tip, and the section stays thick behind the point instead of thinning early. That is the geometry of a sword meant to be driven into something, and it is why the profile reads as a Type XV.

The practical consequence is a point that will not fold on contact, which is exactly what you want on a thrusting sword and exactly what cheap swords of this shape get wrong. The edges cut too, but the point is the argument.

Green micarta as standard, with a brass collar at each end, a faceted steel block below and a polished cone pommel above. Micarta is a resin laminate: dimensionally stable, completely indifferent to humidity, and it grips better wet than dry, which is more than can be said for polished timber.

It is a synthetic, and some collectors want only natural materials on a historical-idiom sword. If that is you, rosewood, horn, bone and leather over timber are all available at no extra cost. Micarta comes in other colours too, and the scabbard is dyed to match whichever you choose.

The standard build carries a 22 inch blade, a 9 inch hilt with a 5 inch grip, 31 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.

The two changes worth considering on this design are a longer blade, which pushes it toward full arming sword proportions of 28 to 32 inches, and a longer grip, which lets the off hand crowd the pommel and makes the weight far more manageable. Neither costs extra. Put the numbers in the order note.

Yes, both edges sharpened and the point finished, unless you tell us otherwise. The ricasso is left blunt by design, which is the whole point of it.

Unsharpened builds are free, for display or for an awkward import. So is a stage combat build — rebated edge, rounded tip — balanced for the work. Add that exact wording to your order note if it is what you want.

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 that keeps an acute point in one piece.

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.

Further back than the weight might suggest. A short thick blade with a substantial steel block at the base and a solid cone pommel behind it puts a lot of mass close to the hand, which is the one mercy of a build this heavy — it is not a sword that hangs out in front of you.

We do not publish a single point-of-balance figure, because hand-forged blades vary and a number two inches out is worse than none. Ask before dispatch and we will measure the actual sword we are sending you, from the cross, and send you the figure. Our sword guide explains what the measurement means and why it is worth asking any seller for.

A leather scabbard dyed to match the grip, with a riveted throat section and a leather belt. The rivets are brass and set in a pattern rather than just where the stitching needed help.

Colour is yours. The standard build pairs a green grip with a green scabbard, and we will match whatever grip material and colour you choose. If you want a contrasting scabbard, a different belt arrangement, or a wall mount cut to this blade's profile, those are custom forge items and we will quote them.

Nothing is held in stock. Every blade is forged after the order arrives, which is why the dimensions, the stock thickness, the grip material and the edge specification 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.

The sword ships sheathed and braced in a rigid carton with the belt packed separately so nothing bears on the blade, 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.