Arms & Armor Katzbalger

This Katzbalger Sword by Arms & Armor is reproduced from an original 1560s example which is part of the collection of the Deutsches Klingen Museum in Solingen. Its blade is well-crafted from 6150 high carbon steel. The guard and pommel are steel and the grip is hardwood which is tightly bound in stitched black leather which was treated with infused beeswax and shrunk to fit for a traditional and long-lasting grip wrap. The large S-Guard features serpent or gargoyle-like creatures rendered into its seamless design.

A favored sidearm of the famed German and Swiss Landsknecht mercenaries, the Katzbalgers unique design seems tailor made for fighting in and among tightly-packed formations of pikes and halberds. A Landsknecht's primary weapon was likely to be a polearm or a two-handed sword, but for truly close-in combat a short and vicious sword was always appreciated.

The broad, stout and short blade is less likely to be entangled among massed polearms and its wide design could inflict sweepingly decisive cuts and hacks. The guard is quite large for a sword of its size; when coupled with the thickened and strengthened base of the blade it likely made for a sword that could push outstretched pikes aside as the swordsman waded through the scrum of a mass polearm formation.