The Spira Rapier & Dagger: Balefire Blades

This serpentine set was made to suit late 16th Century Italian fencing, with a lightweight rapier and a low-profile ring dagger.

The rapier features a slender, lightweight blade, resulting in a deft and nimble weapon that is swift to attack and recover. However, the thickened ricasso and longer point of balance give the blade enough presence to dominate in the bind.

The twin-snake hilt design offers ambidextrous protection, sweeping into a knuckleguard, and paired with a spiral-filled port. The spherical pommel features carved spirals, echoing the coils of the snakes.

The dagger features a long blade with a slight flex, making it appropriate for use in some tournaments. Its broad blade base pairs with a closed port to offer an extra degree of protection when parrying. The S-curved quillons, spiral port, steel wire wrap and spiral-carved pommel all echo the snake-themed stylings of the rapier.

The name is based on the Italian word for coil or whorl, referring to the theme of curled serpents - at rest, but ready to spring into attack.

Please see our pricing structure for an idea of what a similar sword would cost.

∴ Specs ∴

Total length: 113cm
Blade length: 100cm
Blade width at ricasso: 1.7cm
Blade width at widest: 2.2cm
Blade thickness at ricasso: 8mm
Grip length: 7.5cm
Grip and pommel: 11cm
Grip to guard: 5.7cm
Quillon span: 24cm
Weight: 1053g
Point of Balance: 12.5cm
Ambidextrous
Blunt edges & rounded tip
Fencing safe flex

Total length: 43.5cm
Blade length: 30.5cm
Blade width at base: 3cm
Blade thickness at base: 6mm
Grip length: 8.5cm
Grip and pommel: 11.5cm
Grip to guard: 4cm
- Quillon span: 15.5cm
Weight: 352g
Point of Balance: at cross
Left-handed
Blunt edges
Rounded tip

∴ Notes ∴

The hand-forged and heat-treated guard and pommel are blackened to a matte finish with selective polishing to highlight the serpentine carvings. The guard is formed of flat-section bars, with vertical S-shaped quillons and a symmetrical guard comprising of two coiled snakes with hand-carved scale texturing. The snake tails flow into a sweeping knuckleguard, while the closed port features further snaking spiral designs.

The oak grip is finished with a steel wire wrap, with Turk's heads to the top and bottom. The spherical pommel features hand-carved spirals to four faces.

The dagger is crafted to match the stylings of the sword, with a simple ring filled with a spiral, vertical S-shaped quillons, a steel wire-wrapped grip, and a small spherical pommel marked with spiral carvings.

∴ Gallery ∴

∴ A Coiled Fate ∴

You slip through the crumbling archway, boots silent on moss-cloaked stone, fingers trailing against verdant fronds. You pause and breathe deeply. You want to remember this: how vines coil like sleeping serpents, draping the temple’s ribs. How the air is thick with mist, its weight like a fellow presence: something ancient, watching, waiting.

It is just as you imagined.

The altar is half-buried in shadow, spirals carved into its smooth stone, worn by time or reverent touch. A candle burns at either end, though there is no sign of who lit them. Just as your mentor said, this is a moment you must face alone.

At the centre of the altar a pair of weapons rests, unrusted by the humid air. A sword and a dagger, their hilts formed of dark, coiling serpents, patterned with faint scales that ripple as torchlight flickers.

This, then, is your choice: the dagger, small and subtle, a path of shadow and secrets. Or the sword, an elegant streak of steel, a path of blood and boldness.

Who will you become?

Your fingers brush the cold coils of the sword, and a shiver races up your spine. A whisper slithers through your mind, unknown syllables winding like serpents through dry leaves.

Your left hand hovers over the dagger, and the voice grows louder: wordless and older than stone, a whispered welcome home.

Acting on pure impulse, you snatch up both weapons, one in each hand.

Under the mosaic floor, something shifts. The temple exhales, dust and rubble pooling like mist over serpent-patterned tiles. A rumbling travels from the earth through your bones. A sound like a hoarse and mighty roar builds beneath you.

Weapons in hand, you run.