I did some test cutting with a functional version of Glamdring, as seen wielded by Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, which was designed and made by master swordsmith Peter Lyon, by incorporating leaf-shape blade profile found on Bronze Age European swords to medieval longswords.
This version of Glamdring is made by Ryan Sword, and is evidently inspired by Peter Lyon’s design, but made modifications to every component. Instead of the leaf-shape, it features uniform profile taper on the blade, akin to Oakeshott type XIIa grete swerdes of war, but with a very narrow fuller running 80% of the blade length, a diamond cross section found on late medieval longswords, and a ricasso with some narrowing to pay tribute to the movie version of Glamdring. The distal taper demonstrated on the blade is excellent, from 6.8mm at the base, down to 4.9mm at midpoint, and 3.6mm at 2” from the tip. Coupled with the profile taper (43mm at the base, down to 25mm at 2” from the tip), and the rectangular cross section at the ricasso that brings extra weight to the base, it ensures a weight distribution that results in a lively blade, but has forward momentum to do the work for you in cutting, yet still having good point precision.
The blade is very rigid, yet demonstrates proper flex when making a hard impact. This ensures stability in cutting and stiff thrusting resulting in deep penetration. The edges have a singular bevel, and were sharpened well. The point is stout, so it penetrates resilience soft targets like textile protections well, but probably wouldn’t penetrate maille rings easily.
The hilt took clear inspirations from Peter Lyon’s Glamdring, but made modifications resulting in thinner quillons that have edges chamfered to avoid discomfort. Only the central plaque has the Elvish engraving preserved, the rest on the quillons have been removed due to their thinning. The pommel is a mushroom AKA faceted scent-stopper pommel in Talhoffer style, and it doesn’t have the flaring and flattening found on Peter Lyon’s design. Sword friend Matt, who sent me this sword after he got a refund from Ryan Sword, suspected these fittings to be made of Zamax instead of stainless steel. I found the crossguard likely to be made of steel, but the pommel is either indeed made of alloy or is hollow, which results in an overall lightweight but slightly forward-heavy sword.
The weight is 1261g (2lbs 12oz), with a 35” blade and 47.75” overall length. It’s quite light for its size, but the point of balance is at 6” from the guard, which is slightly further away than desired. With both hands on such a long grip and the scent-stopper pommel that effectively lengthens the grip space, it’s very easy to use leverage to control the sword. Cutting and thrusting are very easy. It performed quite well in tests, and didn’t suffer any dulling on the edges. One thing noteworthy is that before Matt sent me this sword, he smashed the blade powerfully onto a large shield with a steel rim, resulting in some edge deformation but no chipping. This is to be expected, yet probably shows the steel is not very hard–likely around 50 HRC on the edges. The blade is made of folded 1095 hard carbon steel.
Overall, it is an interesting sword that proves not only that fantasy designs can very well result in functional swords, but also that Ryan Sword is capable of making good products. However, it also means customers need to be careful and emphasize their requirements when ordering. These swords are likely designed by their clients, and thus can be further modified. One can ask Ryan Sword to swap out the blade for an actual leaf-shape blade found on their Eragon sword, and ask for a pommel made of proper material, or is solid enough to provide the desired counterweight effect to balance the blade out. There’s quite a bit of room to add weight to bring the center of gravity back to 3-5” from the guard, while still being a lightweight sword.
For an accurate replica of the film Glamdring, you would definitely do well to commission one from Peter Lyon himself, who also makes other versions of this sword with modifications to make the fittings and blades more practical. Other high-end makers take commission to replicate the design or create modified versions of it. However, at 300 dollars, Ryan Sword does provide a good product that is inspired by Glamdring, while still being different, and handles and perform like an actual sword.
Product page: [ Ссылка ]
Background music:
The Lord of the Rings - Classical Guitar Medley (Shire, Rohan, Gondor)
Lukasz Kapuscinski
