Runeclasp Hand Made Polished Steel Viking Rune Ring with Raised Elder Futhark Band & Applied Mjolnir Motif | Wedding Gift | RK-1637

This is a wide flat band ring in polished steel, cut with a row of Elder Futhark runes that stand proud of the surface rather than being scratched into it, with a small Mjolnir hammer applied at the front where a signet or a stone would normally sit. The edges of the band are stepped and bright polished, which throws a hard line of light around the ring and makes the raised runes read clearly from across a table. It arrives in a soft grey suede drawstring pouch.

The little hammer at the front carries more history than its size suggests. In the tenth century, as Christianity moved through Scandinavia, hammer amulets and cross amulets were worn side by side and sometimes on the same cord. There is a soapstone mould from Trendgarden in Denmark that a smith cut with cavities for both a cross and a Thor hammer, so he could cast whichever a customer asked for from the same block. That single object tells you more about how the conversion actually felt on the ground than any chronicle does. This ring is cut, filed, polished and finished in a Czech Republic workshop and is made to the finger size you give us.

Specifications

Why raised runes cost more than engraved ones

An engraved rune is a line cut down into the metal. A raised rune is the opposite. The rune itself is left standing and every part of the background around it is taken away, which means removing many times more material and holding a consistent depth across the whole band so the letters all sit at the same height. Get it wrong by a tenth of a millimetre in one place and the eye picks it up immediately, because the shadow under each rune changes.

It is worth the extra work for two reasons. First, a raised rune wears from the top and stays legible for decades, while an engraved line on a ring slowly fills with skin oil and polish until it goes soft and grey. Second, the relief catches light from the side, so the inscription reads in a lit room rather than only under direct light. This is the same reason Norse metalworkers preferred chip carved and cast relief ornament on brooches over shallow surface scratching. They understood that a piece has to work in low light.

The metal and the finish

The ring is worked from solid steel and taken to a bright polish by hand through progressively finer abrasives, with the stepped edges cut afterwards so they stay crisp. It is not plated. Plating on a ring is a poor idea because a ring is the single hardest worn item of jewellery a person owns, rubbing against keys, door handles, steering wheels and other rings all day, and a plated finish wears through on the shoulders within a year and cannot be repaired invisibly. Solid polished steel just carries on taking polish.

We will be direct about what it is. This is steel with a bright silver tone, not sterling silver and not white gold. It is priced for the hand work in the relief runes and the finish rather than for a precious metal content. It will not tarnish black the way sterling does and it will not mark your finger green.

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 a ring the most common request by a distance is a date or two names cut inside the band, which stays private and does not compete with the relief runes outside. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

Tell us your ring size in the order notes and we make the band to it. If you do not know it, the reliable way is to have a jeweller size you with a proper ring stick rather than to use a printed paper strip, which stretches. Failing that, measure the internal diameter of a ring you already wear on that finger and send us the figure in millimetres.

Two things matter with a band this wide. A wide ring feels tighter than a narrow one at the same nominal size, because it covers more of the knuckle and cannot roll, so most people go up a quarter to a half size from their usual number. And fingers change through the day and through the year. Measure in the afternoon at normal room temperature rather than first thing on a cold morning, when your hands are at their smallest, or after exercise, when they are at their largest. If you are between sizes on a wide band, take the larger one.

Care

Take it off for the gym, for swimming and for any job involving solvents or heavy hand tools. Chlorine and salt are hard on any polished finish, and a ring caught on a bar or a ladder rung is the one piece of jewellery that can genuinely hurt you. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth after wearing. When the polish flattens, a jeweller’s cloth restores it in a minute, and a soft toothbrush with warm soapy water clears whatever collects in the shadow between the raised runes. Dry it fully. Do not put it in an ultrasonic cleaner with abrasive paste, because the paste settles under the relief and dulls the very shadow that makes the runes readable.

Made in the Czech Republic

This is a handmade piece from the Czech Republic, made in a workshop that still forges, grinds and finishes by hand instead of stamping parts out. The smiths there have kept the older way of working, and the wood, horn and leather are shaped and fitted by hand as well. Two pieces of the same design will never be identical, and that is part of what you are buying.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We handle the import ourselves, look over every piece when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done in the United States after the piece arrives, so your design goes on before we send it out.

A note on handmade variation

This ring 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 relief is cut by hand, so the exact height and spacing of the runes shift by a fraction between rings, the polish is worked by hand so the way light runs along the stepped edge differs, and the applied hammer is set by eye so its position on the band varies very slightly. The dimensions, the material, the rune row and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

How do I size a ring like this

Get sized by a jeweller with a metal ring stick if you can. A wide flat band wears tighter than a narrow one, so go up a quarter to a half size from your usual number, and measure your finger in the afternoon rather than on a cold morning.

Is it solid silver

No. It is polished steel with a bright silver tone. We say that plainly rather than calling it silver, which is what a lot of rings at this price are really made from under a thin plate.

Will it tarnish

Not the way sterling silver does. It will not go black in a drawer. What it will do over years of wear is soften from a mirror to a satin, which most people come to prefer, and a polishing cloth takes it back whenever you want.

Can I have a date engraved inside

Yes, and it is the most popular request on this ring. Use the rune converter for Elder Futhark or send plain text through the engraving option and we will cut it into the inner face.

Is it comfortable for daily wear

Yes. The inside of the band is rounded and smoothed rather than left with a square inner edge, which is what makes a wide ring bearable over a full day.

How long does it take to make

One to two weeks of processing because it is cut to your size, then free shipping inside the United States. An inscription adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Hand made polished steel Viking rune ring with raised Elder Futhark band
• Applied Mjolnir hammer motif at the front of the band
• Grey suede drawstring pouch
• Care card for polished steel
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the making and the finish
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in the Viking rings and bracelets, the arm rings and torcs and the wedding and groomsmen gifts, or read the guides on rune rows and sizing.