Moonhorn Hand Forged Steel Kabuto Helmet | Bronze Ribbed Bowl | Polished Crescent Crest and Rune Cut Brow Band | Norse Display Gift | RK-1514

A ribbed bowl helmet in a warm bronze brown, built from riveted steel plates with a standing rib at every plate joint, capped at the crown with a pierced ring fitting, and carrying a large polished steel crescent standing up from a bracket at the brow. The brow band under it is bright steel cut with a line of Elder Futhark, and the flared neck guard behind is lacquered plate laced with indigo cord, with a raised flap at each temple. It is a display helmet that borrows its shape from Japanese armour and its lettering from the Norse world, and we would rather tell you that than pretend it is a faithful copy of either.

The crescent crest has a real ancestry. The best known crest in Japanese armour is the thin gold crescent worn by Date Masamune, the one eyed lord of Sendai, and it started a fashion that outlived him by centuries. What is less well known is that a crest of that size is deliberately built weak at the mounting. It is meant to tear away rather than transmit a blow into the helmet, because a big rigid ornament that stays attached will twist a helmet off your head or break your neck trying. This one is formed, laced and finished in the Czech Republic, and it arrives fully assembled. The wooden stand, the stump and the loose buckled straps in the photograph are studio props and are not included. Japanese armour is lamellar to its core, and chainmail versus plate versus lamellar explains how that differs from mail.

Specifications

Why the crest is meant to come off

Everything on a helmet that sticks out is a lever. A crescent this wide catches a branch, a doorway, a shield rim or a blade, and whatever hits it applies force at the end of a long arm. If that crest were welded solid to the skull, the helmet would rotate on your head and the chin tie would do the rest. So the bracket is the sacrificial part. It is riveted to the bowl through a thin tongue that will bend or shear before the skull deforms, and the crest itself sits in a slot so it can be pulled out and pushed back in by hand.

The practical consequence for an owner is simple. If the crest ever pops out or the tongue bends, that is the fitting doing its job and not a fault, and we will replace the bracket free under the warranty. It also means you can take the crest off for storage and transport, which is the single best way to keep a helmet undamaged in a car boot.

Ribs, plates and lacing

The bowl is made from shaped plates riveted edge to edge, with a raised rib standing along every joint. That rib is structure. Flat sheet dents. Folded sheet resists, in the same way corrugation stiffens a roofing panel, so a ribbed bowl at a modest gauge behaves better than a smooth bowl of the same thickness. The rivet line hides under the rib, which also protects the heads from a glancing blow.

The neck guard is a stack of plates carried on cord. Lacing lets each plate move against its neighbour, so the guard hangs and flexes with the shoulders instead of locking the head in place. It shades the neck, drops water off the back and covers the gap between helmet and shoulders that a rigid plate could never close without becoming a collar. Indigo is the cord colour photographed here, and we will lace it in black, orange, deep red or natural at no extra charge.

Steel and finish

The bowl and plates are mild steel at 18 gauge. Say what that means in plain terms. It is display and light reenactment weight. It is right for a stand, a costume, a photograph, film and stage work and light contact, and it is not certified armour and not built for full contact steel combat, where leagues set their own gauges and impact standards. The bronze brown is a heat and lacquer finish on the steel rather than a bronze alloy, and the crest and brow band are polished bright so the rune cut reads clean against the darker bowl.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this helmet the brow band already carries a rune line and that is what your text would replace, and there is room on the crescent itself if you want a longer phrase. See the engraving page for how the cut looks at this size.

Fit and sizing

Measure the circumference of your head above the ears and across the brow, then decide what goes underneath. A padded cap is not optional with a helmet of this weight and it will take close to an inch of that measurement, so measure over the cap you intend to use. Tell us if your head is long front to back rather than round, because a bowl built to the right circumference but the wrong shape will grip at the temples and rock at the brow.

The flared neck guard needs clearance above the shoulders. If you will wear this over a mail coif, a high collar or a padded jack with a standing neck, tell us and we will lengthen the lacing so the guard sits over that bulk rather than fighting it.

Care

The bronze finish protects the bowl while it is intact. The bright steel of the crest and brow band is the part that wants attention, so wipe it after handling and keep a light oil film on it. Dry the inside of the bowl after use, since sweat runs down into the liner and sits against bare metal. Store the helmet with the crest removed, upright on a stand or a ring of cloth, never face down on the crest and never with weight resting on the laced neck guard, because the cords take a set if they are crushed for months. Cord can be replaced, so tell us if one frays. The oiling notes on steel care apply to the polished parts. Care is the same as for any steel armour, covered in caring for chainmail and steel armour.

Made in the Czech Republic

The work behind this piece happens in a Czech Republic workshop that has kept to the old methods. Steel is forged and heat treated by hand, the grind is taken down by eye rather than by machine, and the handle, fittings and sheath are cut and finished one at a time. Because of that, every piece carries small marks of the hand that made it.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import direct, check each piece when it reaches us, and ship from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Engraving is added here in the United States after arrival, so the piece you receive is finished to your order.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The bronze tone shifts a little from helmet to helmet because it is a heat colour, the rib spacing and the cord tension are set by hand, and the exact sweep of the crescent will be its own. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the black kabuto you also sell

Same construction, different dress. This one has a bronze brown bowl, a large polished steel crescent and indigo lacing with a rune cut brow band, where the black helmet has a lacquered bowl, a brass crescent and orange lacing with a knotwork band.

Is the crest removable

Yes. It lifts out of the bracket by hand, which is how you should store and transport the helmet. The bracket itself is built to give way before the bowl does, and we replace it free if it ever bends.

Can I fight in it

Not in full contact. It is 18 gauge display and light reenactment weight with no impact certification. Light contact and theatrical use are fine, heavy list and buhurt fighting are not.

Is the bowl really bronze

No, and we will not sell it as one. It is mild steel with a bronze brown heat and lacquer finish. The crest and brow band are bright steel, not plated.

Will it fit over long hair or a coif

Over hair, yes, if you measure with the hair up. Over a mail coif you need extra room, so tell us at the order stage and we will build the bowl a size up and lengthen the neck lacing.

When will it ship

Processing is one to two weeks because the bowl is built to your measurement and the neck guard is laced by hand, then shipping inside the United States is free.

What is in the box

• One ribbed steel helmet with a bronze brown finished bowl
• Polished steel crescent crest and its brow bracket
• Laced plate neck guard with side flaps, fitted
• Rune cut bright steel brow band
• Suspension liner and chin tie
• Care sheet and lifetime warranty against defects
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in medieval helmets, roman and greek helmets, scale and lamellar armor and viking armor, or read the guides.

If this one is not it

Another in the same line is the Nightcrest lamellar armor. Next along the rack is the Crimsonlace lamellar armor. For a straight comparison, see the Silkscale lamellar armor.

The Kinhelm Viking helmet covers the other half of the same kit. Pick the steel, the length and the fittings yourself on the design your own page.