Hand-Forged Fantasy Sword, Skeleton Guard

No. It is an original design from our own workshop, and the hilt in particular corresponds to no historical pattern and no licensed property. We build inspired-by pieces on request, but this one is ours, which means you can own it without it being the same sword ten thousand other people bought from the same licence. If you are after a specific sword from a film, a game or a novel, send us the reference and our custom forge will quote it — we will tell you honestly if it is something we can build or something we should not.

Three things, and the trade-offs are worth understanding before you buy any sword with a cut-out hilt. First, weight: metal removed from the guard comes off the part of the sword closest to your hand, which is where mass affects handling least, so a pierced guard lightens the piece without pushing the balance forward. Second, appearance: an open guard reads as a shape against the background rather than a solid block, which is why it photographs so well and why fantasy designers reach for it. Third, and this is the honest part, strength: every internal corner in a cut-out is a stress riser, a point where force concentrates instead of spreading. On a decorative or display sword that is irrelevant. On a sword taken into contact work it is not, which is why we say plainly that this guard is styled first and structural second. Ours is cut, filed and polished on both faces by hand, which rounds those internal corners far better than casting does — a cast pierced guard has sharp internal angles you cannot see under the finish.

Because the construction is genuinely knife construction, and it is a deliberate choice rather than a shortcut. The tang here is flat and full width, running the length of the grip with the rosewood scales riveted straight through it — the same way a large fixed-blade knife is built. The alternative, used on most European swords, is a narrower tang threaded through a solid grip and capped with a pommel that holds the assembly in compression. Historically this exact distinction is what separates a Messer from a falchion: the blades can look identical, and the difference is entirely in the hilt. Riveted-scale construction is extremely strong in the direction a blade is normally loaded, and it has no glue joint and no wrap to wear through. What it gives up is the pommel counterweight, which is why swords built this way carry their balance a little further forward than a pommelled sword of the same length.

Start with how you will hold it, then with the silhouette. On grip length: this sword and the fantasy scimitar are single-hand pieces, while the fantasy messer and fantasy falchion carry two-hand grips of ten to eleven inches. On blade shape: this one is a shallow recurve with a long clipped point, the scimitar and dao families are more strongly curved, and the falchion and messer are broader and straighter-backed. On hilt: this is the only one in the range with a pierced open guard and bare riveted scales, which is also what makes it the most distinctive in a photograph. And on use: if the sword is going into contact work rather than display or cutting, none of the sculpted-guard pieces are the right answer — commission a purpose-built blunt from the custom forge instead.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, oil-quenched and then tempered back. 5160 holds a working edge and flexes under load rather than snapping, which matters on a long single-edged blade. It is also the steel family Nepali smiths have traditionally drawn from vehicle leaf spring, so our forge reads it by colour and by sound at the anvil rather than by instrument alone. The guard is worked from steel and finished by hand, not cast.

Yes. It ships with a working edge along the outer curve, sharpened by hand and ready out of the sheath. It is not a blunt wall-hanger with a sword-shaped profile ground into it. If the sword is going into a display case, a costume or a stage production where an edge is a liability, ask for it blunted in the order note before we ship and we will finish it that way at no extra cost.

Yes — full width as well as full length. The tang is a flat continuation of the blade running the whole length of the grip, with the rosewood scales pinned through it. You can see the rivet heads on the scales in the photographs, which is the visible sign of the construction. There is no narrow hidden tang and no glued grip block. On a blade of this length that matters, because a 24 inch blade generates real leverage against the hilt, and a partial tang is where that leverage eventually finds the weak point.

Yes. Blade length is selectable, and beyond the listed options our smiths will forge to a dimension you specify. The recurve gets redrawn when the length changes rather than simply stretched — scaling a curve up without redrawing it puts the mass in the wrong place and the sword feels dead in the hand. That redrawing is included in a custom build. Going substantially longer will usually mean lengthening the grip too, and we will flag that before we start rather than surprise you with it.

Yes. A fitted brown leather sheath comes with the sword, cut around this specific blade profile. A recurved blade with a clipped point is awkward to sheath safely, so it is made around the piece rather than being a generic sleeve the sword happens to fit. A belt frog, a baldric or a wall mount can be added on request, and if you change the blade length on a custom build the sheath is made to the new dimensions.

Wipe the blade dry after handling, since fingerprints are acidic enough to etch a satin finish within days, and keep a thin film of camellia, mineral or light gun oil on it in storage. Two places people miss on this hilt: the inside edges of the pierced aperture and the shoulders where the guard meets the blade, where a cloth skips over and moisture sits. Check both every time. Bare rosewood scales need no wrap care, but give them a light coat of a hard wax or a furniture oil once or twice a year so the grain does not dry and lift around the rivets. Do not store the sword sheathed for long periods.

No, and that is inherent to hand forging and hand filing. Every blade is drawn out under a hammer, so the depth of the recurve and the width through the belly carry small differences from piece to piece. The guard aperture is cut and filed by hand, so its exact curve differs on every one — this is the part where the variation is most visible. Rosewood is a natural timber, so grain and colour vary on every set of scales. Weights and dimensions vary by a few percent. What is consistent is the steel, the heat treatment, the construction and the edge.

Hand-forged in Tokha-3, Kathmandu, Nepal, by our own smiths. Everest Forge is a working forge rather than a reseller putting a name on imported blanks — the steel is cut, drawn, quenched, tempered, ground, the guard cut and filed, the scales shaped and riveted, and the sheath stitched, all under one roof. That is why we can build to a drawing on a custom order: there is a smith at the anvil and a fitter at the bench rather than a catalogue of finished stock.