Thunderclasp Hand Made Stainless Steel Mjolnir Pendant with Knotwork Bail & Heavy Curb Chain | Norse Gift | RK-1734

A Mjolnir pendant in polished stainless steel, with a broad flared head, a shaft carved with a pair of opposed scrolls and a bail banded in Celtic knotwork. It hangs on a heavy curb link chain with a lobster clasp and arrives in a soft drawstring pouch. This is steel, not silver, which is the honest answer and also the practical one, because a stainless hammer worn every day will not tarnish and will not need polishing.

The short handle is not a design compromise, it is the whole story. In the myth Mjolnir was forged by the dwarf Brokkr while Loki, in the shape of a fly, bit his eyelid to make him stop working the bellows. Brokkr flinched, the hammer came out with a handle too short, and Thor carried it that way for the rest of Norse mythology. Every hammer amulet dug out of a Viking age grave, and there are close to a thousand of them across Scandinavia, England and the Baltic, has that same stubby proportion. Ours is made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

What the hammer actually meant

Mjolnir was not only a weapon in the sources, it was a tool for making things holy. In the poem Thrymskvida the giant Thrym has stolen the hammer and demands the goddess Freyja as the price of returning it. Thor goes in her place, veiled as the bride, and the trap springs at the moment the hammer is brought in and laid in the bride’s lap to hallow the marriage. That single line tells us the hammer had a ceremonial job at weddings, which is why hammer pendants turn up as often in women’s graves as in men’s.

The archaeology adds a second point. Hammer amulets become common in the tenth century, at exactly the moment Christian cross pendants are spreading through the same trade networks, and one Danish soapstone mould from Trendgarden is cut to cast a cross and a hammer side by side. Whoever owned that mould was serving both markets, and possibly both beliefs, out of the same block of stone. That is a more interesting picture than a straight contest between two symbols.

Wearing one now is a straightforward thing. It says Norse without saying anything specific about faith, and the shape reads across a room in a way most pendants do not.

Stainless steel and why it suits a hammer

Stainless steel earns its place in jewellery because of chromium. Above about eleven percent chromium the surface forms a thin oxide film that repairs itself whenever it is scratched, and that film is what keeps the metal bright. Sterling silver has no such film, which is why a silver hammer worn against skin goes grey in weeks and needs a cloth. This one does not.

It also means the piece can be worn in the shower, at the gym and in salt air without anything happening to it. Stainless is harder than silver, so the crisp edges on the head and the cut lines of the scrollwork stay crisp instead of softening the way a soft metal does after a few years of daily wear. It is a nickel bearing alloy but a stable one, and it does not leach the way a plated base metal does, so it does not mark skin.

The chain is the same alloy as the pendant. Mixing metals in a necklace is a common shortcut and it shows quickly, because a plated chain wears through at the links that sit on the back of the neck while the pendant stays bright. Matching them means the whole piece ages as one thing.

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 this pendant the back of the head is the natural panel, and a short line of runes or a date sits well across it. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

The chain is a long one at roughly 24 inches, which is deliberate. A hammer this size wants to sit on the chest rather than at the throat, and a 24 inch chain puts it around the top of the sternum on most adults. If you want it higher, measure a necklace you already like by laying it flat and doubling the straight line length, and tell us in the order notes. We can supply a shorter chain at 20 or 22 inches at no extra cost.

To size yourself without a necklace to copy, run a soft tape or a length of string around your neck at the height you want the chain to sit, then add the distance down to where you want the hammer to hang. A common combination is a 22 inch chain for a shirt collar and a 24 inch chain for wearing over a jumper. If you plan to wear it under a shirt, go with the longer of the two, because a short chain drags a heavy pendant sideways every time you turn your head.

The bail is generously sized, so if you would rather use a leather cord or a chain you already own, it will pass most cords up to about four millimetres.

Care

Stainless steel needs almost nothing. Wash it in warm water with a drop of washing up liquid, rinse it and dry it with a soft cloth. If the polished faces pick up a haze from skin oil or aftershave, a jewellery polishing cloth brings them back in a few seconds. Do not use silver dip on it, because silver dips are made for tarnish that stainless does not develop and they can dull the finish.

The recessed scrollwork is meant to read darker than the polished faces. Do not scrub it out with an abrasive paste, because that contrast is what makes the pattern visible. If the chain ever picks up a kink, work it loose with your fingers rather than pulling it straight. Store it in the pouch it came in so it does not tangle with anything harder.

Made in Memphis

The pendant is cut, shaped, engraved and polished and the chain is fitted in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. It is not a bulk import with our label added to the bag. Each one is finished when it is ordered, so allow one to two weeks of processing, a little longer if you want runes cut into the back. Shipping inside the United States is free.

A note on handmade variation

This pendant is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The scroll lines are cut and the faces are polished by hand, so the exact depth of the shadow in the recesses and the exact break of the highlight across the head will be its own. Two hammers laid side by side will differ by a fraction in the sweep of the head and in how sharply the knotwork band reads. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the chain included

Yes. The heavy curb chain and the drawstring pouch both come with the pendant.

Is this sterling silver

No. It is polished stainless steel, and we say so plainly. It is a harder metal than silver, it will not tarnish and it will not need polishing.

Will it turn my skin green

No. Green marks come from copper in plated or low grade alloys. Stainless steel does not do it.

Can I wear it in the shower or the sea

Yes. Rinse it in fresh water after sea swimming and dry it, and it will be fine.

How big is the hammer

Roughly two inches tall including the bail, which is a size that reads clearly on the chest without being heavy on the neck.

Can I have runes on the back

Yes. Use the rune converter above for a name or a date in Elder Futhark, or choose your own design in the engraving option.

What is in the box

• Thunderclasp stainless steel Mjolnir pendant
• Matching heavy curb chain with a lobster clasp
• Soft drawstring pouch
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the casting, the finish and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed
• Made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the Mjolnir pendants, the Thor’s hammers, the Norse pendants and the guides.