Hand-Forged Cossack Shashka Sword, Riveted Rosewood Hilt

The shashka is a guardless single-edged cavalry sword that originated among the Circassian peoples of the North Caucasus. Its name comes from the Adyghe sashkho, meaning roughly "long knife". Russian and Cossack forces adopted it during the Caucasian campaigns of the 19th century, and it went on to replace the sabre across the Russian cavalry, becoming regulation issue with the Model 1881. The blade is single-edged with a shallow curve, and the hilt is a plain riveted grip.

In the ways that matter for the type, yes. It is single-edged with a shallow curve, fullered, and built with grip scales riveted directly through the tang, which is the correct construction for the type. What it is not is a reproduction of one specific regulation pattern — the dimensions are ours rather than copied from a Model 1881 or a particular Caucasian example, and the blade is brightly polished rather than finished the way a service weapon would have been. Treat it as a faithful modern interpretation of the type rather than a museum copy. If you want a specific pattern reproduced, we will quote it through Custom Forge.

Broadly, the Caucasian shashka is the original, with a distinctive cleft or eared pommel, and worn in a scabbard that swallows the hilt almost to the pommel so only the top shows. The Cossack and later Russian regulation versions are the adopted forms, generally with a longer blade, a plainer capped pommel, and a scabbard that sits below the hilt in the usual way. This sword follows the Cossack line: plain capped pommel, conventional scabbard.

Both are historical curved cavalry swords, but they come from different traditions and handle differently. The kilij is Turkish, with a pronounced curve, a crossguard, and characteristically a yelman — a widened false edge along the back near the point that adds mass exactly where the cut lands. The shashka is Caucasian and Russian, and carries a shallower curve with the weight distributed more evenly. In use the kilij hits harder on a committed swing; the shashka is faster to draw and better suited to a slicing draw-cut. Buy the kilij for Ottoman and Middle Eastern collecting; buy this for Russian, Cossack and Caucasian.

Yes. It is hand-forged from 5160 high-carbon spring steel, full tang, oil-tempered, and sharpened to a true cutting edge before it ships. The grip scales are riveted through the tang rather than glued around a stub. It handles tatami mats, water bottles and light green targets well. Do not use it on bone, metal, seasoned hardwood, or anything you would not put a good knife through.

The blade is forged from 5160 high-carbon spring steel, the same alloy used in heavy-duty truck leaf springs, prized for toughness and edge retention. It is oil-tempered for a hard cutting edge backed by a flexible, shock-absorbent spine. On a long curved cavalry blade that flex matters — the blade loads unevenly through a draw-cut, and the steel has to take that without setting a bend.

Full tang, with the rosewood scales riveted straight through it and a metal ferrule at the blade and a cap at the top. This is the correct construction for the type: the grip is mechanically fastened to the tang itself rather than relying on a pommel nut to hold an assembly together. There is no rat-tail and nothing glued into a hollow handle.

Because it was built around the first cut rather than the exchange. A guard exists to protect the hand while you parry and bind against another blade — the shashka's design assumes you are not going to do that. It was carried edge-up and drawn straight into the cut in one motion, so the priority was a fast draw and an unobstructed hilt, not hand protection in a fencing exchange. Removing the guard also lets the sword sit deeper in its scabbard and clears the hand for a rolling wrist cut. It is a genuine design trade-off: you gain speed and lose protection.

Edge-up, suspended from the belt — the opposite of a European sabre, which hangs edge-down. Carrying it edge-up means the draw and the cut are the same movement: the hand comes up and back, the blade clears the scabbard already travelling along its cutting line, and the stroke lands without a separate windup. It is why shashka technique looks so different from sabre fencing. The scabbard supplied carries leather suspension so you can rig it to a belt in the traditional way.

Yes, sharpened as standard along the full edge, finished by hand. If you need it blunt for reenactment, larp, stage use, display, or to satisfy import rules where you live, choose the display-blunt option or tell us in your order notes. There is no extra charge either way.

Yes. Blade length, curve depth, fuller arrangement, finish and grip material are all adjustable to order — rosewood as standard, with buffalo horn, bone and walnut available. If you want a specific regulation pattern reproduced, send us the model and any measurements or photographs you have and we will tell you honestly what we can match. Use Custom Forge to start that conversation.

Yes. We ship worldwide from Nepal by DHL or FedEx in 7 to 14 business days with tracking. In-stock specs dispatch within 2 to 3 business days; fully custom builds take roughly 4 to 6 weeks to forge first. Import and blade laws vary by country, so please check your local rules before ordering.