Stavelight Hand Forged Viking Sword with a Full Elder Futhark Blade Row | 35 Inch Overall | 1095 High Carbon Steel and Brown Leather Scabbard | Norse Rune Gift | RK-1656

The Stavelight is a hand forged single hand viking sword with the complete Elder Futhark cut in a single line along the upper third of the blade, twenty four runes running from the guard towards the point. The blade itself is left plain and satin polished so the rune line is the only thing on the surface. Above it sits a three lobed pommel and a short straight guard in polished steel, with a brown leather grip between them. A brown leather scabbard with a bright steel throat is included.

There is an honest complication behind that rune line and it is worth stating on the product page rather than hiding it. The runes cut here are Elder Futhark, the older twenty four character row used across Northern Europe from roughly the second century to the eighth. By the time the Viking age proper began, Scandinavian carvers had already reduced their alphabet to the sixteen character Younger Futhark. We cut Elder Futhark because twenty four characters map far more cleanly onto modern names and phrases than sixteen do, and because it is what almost every rune converter online produces. It is a deliberate choice, not an accident. The sword is forged, ground, hardened, engraved and assembled in the Czech Republic.

Specifications

Reading the row on the blade

The Elder Futhark is not an alphabet in our sense. It is a fixed sequence of twenty four staves divided into three groups of eight, and those groups are called aettir, meaning families. The order never changes, which is how we know it was memorised as a sequence rather than assembled from a chart. It begins fehu, uruz, thurisaz, ansuz, raido, kenaz, and it is from those first six sounds that the word futhark comes, exactly as alphabet comes from alpha and beta.

The full row appears on real objects. It is cut on the Kylver stone from Gotland and on the Vadstena bracteate from Sweden, in both cases apparently written out complete rather than spelling anything. Scholars generally read that as the row itself carrying weight, a kind of statement of the whole system rather than a message. That is the tradition this blade follows. It is not a sentence and it does not translate. It is the alphabet, cut into steel.

The steel and the engraving

The blade is forged from 1095 high carbon steel and hardened to 54 to 58 HRC. That is the right range for a plain carbon sword. It gives a blade that takes a good edge and, more importantly on a piece this long, one that flexes and returns rather than staying bent or snapping. The fuller is ground down the centre of each face and it is there to remove weight from the middle of the section without weakening the blade in bending, which is what makes a long sword feel quicker than its mass suggests.

The runes are cut into the hardened surface rather than acid etched through a mask. Cut work has a V section that catches light along one wall of every stroke, which is why the row reads clearly from an angle and almost disappears when the blade is flat on. An etched line looks the same from every direction and always slightly grey. If you tilt this blade under a lamp you can see immediately which one you are looking at.

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, the leather or the wood. 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 the Stavelight that is the key point. If you order custom runes, your text is cut in place of the standard futhark row rather than added below it. Roughly thirty characters fit comfortably in that space. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Balance sits about four inches ahead of the guard, which is a neutral, easy point for a single hand blade of this length. The sword feels lighter in the hand than its two and a half pounds because the fuller has taken mass out of the middle of the blade. The grip is a deliberately snug one hand fit, with the pommel bearing against the heel of the palm so the wrist can steer the point without the arm following it.

This is a sharpened hand forged sword sold for collecting, display and careful solo handling. It is not sold as a sparring sword, it is not for contact against another blade, and it is not a toy. Hang it or store it where children cannot reach it.

Care

Plain 1095 rusts faster than most people expect, and the cut runes are the first place it shows because moisture sits in the grooves. Wipe the blade after handling, then run an oiled cloth along the rune line and let a trace of mineral oil sit in the cuts. Do not store the sword sheathed for months in a damp room, because leather holds water against steel. Surface rust comes off with fine steel wool and oil. Feed the scabbard twice a year with neutral cream. There is more detail on steel care.

Made in the Czech Republic

Every piece we sell is made by hand in the Czech Republic. The smiths there work the way the trade has been worked for a long time, heating and hammering the steel, taking the bevels down by eye, and fitting the handle and the leather one at a time. There is no automated line anywhere in it, so small differences from one piece to the next are normal and expected.

Ransack Viking is a United States company based in Memphis, Tennessee. We bring the pieces in ourselves, inspect them on arrival and ship them from our own warehouse. If you add engraving, that is carried out here in the United States before your order goes out.

A note on handmade variation

This sword is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The rune row is cut by hand, so the spacing between staves and the exact depth of each stroke will differ from the one shown. The satin polish will carry its own grain direction. The leather will take dye a shade lighter or darker. The length, the steel, the heat treat, the geometry and the twenty four runes themselves are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

What does the rune line on the blade say

Nothing, in the sense of a sentence. It is the complete twenty four character Elder Futhark row in its traditional order, the same way it appears on the Kylver stone.

Can I have my own words instead

Yes. Custom runes replace the standard row rather than sitting alongside it, and about thirty characters fit in that space.

Is the blade sharp on arrival

Yes, both edges carry a hand put working edge. Treat it as sharp the moment you open the box.

Is this a battle ready sparring sword

No. It is a sharp collector and display sword for careful solo handling. Do not use it in contact against another blade or another person.

Why does it cost less than the pattern welded swords here

Because the blade is a single high carbon steel rather than a welded billet of two, which is a great deal less work at the forge.

How long is the wait before it ships

One to two weeks of forging, finishing and hand engraving, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Stavelight viking sword with the full Elder Futhark row cut along the blade
• Brown leather scabbard with a wooden liner and a bright steel throat
• Care card for plain high carbon steel
• Leather feed note for the scabbard
• Lifetime warranty against defects, no receipt needed
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the other viking swords, everything under swords, the engraved and personalised pieces, and the guides for how the rune rows differ.