Viking weapons and shields: buying, carrying and the law

A blunt steel sword for reenactment combat is a specialist purchase made through a group. A wall-hanger replica is a souvenir with airline problems. Knives are legal to buy everywhere and illegal to carry in public in most of the Nordics. Know which you are buying and pack it in checked luggage.

Three kinds of weapon at a market

Combat weapons. Blunted steel swords, axes and spears made to reenactment safety standards, with rounded edges and points, for use in the choreographed battles. Bought by fighters through their groups, often from smiths who exhibit at the markets. Several hundred euros for a sword.

Display replicas. Sharp or blunt copies of museum pieces for the wall. Sold at some stalls and widely online. Quality varies enormously.

Tools. Knives, axes for wood, and arrowheads. Real tools, made by smiths, and the best value on the field.

What Vikings carried

A knife, always, for everyone. A spear and a shield for the ordinary free man. An axe as a tool and weapon. A sword for those who could afford one; swords were expensive and are found mostly in wealthy graves. Bows for hunting and war. The round shield was wood, about 80 to 90 centimetres across, faced with leather or linen, with an iron boss.

Shields

The most satisfying thing to buy or make. Planks glued edge to edge, faced, rimmed, with a boss and a handle, painted in patterns from picture stones and the Gokstad find. Ready-made combat shields run 150 to 400 euros; making one is a good first project and every group has someone who will show you.

The law, in brief

Buying any of these is legal in the Nordic countries. Carrying them in public is a different matter.

Sweden. The knife law bans carrying knives, other blades and dangerous objects in public places without a legitimate reason. A knife bought at a market and carried wrapped to your car or hotel is fine; the same knife on your belt in town is not.

Norway. Carrying a knife or similar in a public place without a lawful purpose is prohibited. Transporting a purchase home is a lawful purpose.

Denmark. The strictest. Knives with blades over 12 centimetres, and most fixed-blade knives, may not be carried in public without a recognised reason; some types are banned outright. Buy, wrap, transport directly.

Iceland. Similar rules on carrying knives in public without reason.

On a market site, participants carry period knives and weapons as part of the event, under the organiser’s rules and insurance. Visitors should not.

Flying

Knives, axes, arrowheads and anything with a blade or a point go in checked luggage only, wrapped. Swords likewise, and some airlines want them declared. Nothing of this kind in hand luggage, at any Nordic airport, ever. A wooden shield is bulky but harmless; check its size against your airline’s limits.

Should you buy a sword

If you fight, your group will tell you when and which. If you want one for the wall, buy from a smith you can talk to, and remember that a good blade costs what a good bicycle costs. If you want a Viking thing to take home that is legal to own, easy to carry and useful, buy the knife, and pack it properly.

Last updated 2026-09-06. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Gear and reenacting or the festival calendar.