Emberkey Hand Forged Damascus Viking Keyring with a Mjolnir Etched Axe & Hammer Charm | Norse Pocket Gift | RK-1662

The Emberkey is a hand forged viking keyring carrying two miniature tools rather than one. The first is a bearded axe with a damascus head about the size of a thumb joint, with a small Mjolnir etched into the cheek of the blade. The second is a square faced hammer head in the same damascus. Both are hafted on pale ash handles, wedged the same way a full sized tool is, and both hang from a heavy split ring on a short length of chain. A brown leather fob with a steel press stud finishes the set and gives you something to hook over a finger.

Miniature tools on a ring is not a modern gift shop idea either. Thousands of tiny iron and silver amulets have come out of Scandinavian graves, and the two commonest shapes are hammers and axes. What is genuinely striking is the timing. The count of Thor hammer amulets rises sharply through the tenth century, exactly as Christian crosses start appearing in the same regions, and a mould found at Trendgarden in Denmark casts a cross and a hammer side by side in one block. Whoever owned it was hedging. This set is forged, etched and hafted in the Czech Republic. It sits in the Thor’s hammers. The Viking hammers cover the same ground from a different angle.

Specifications

The hammer, the axe and why both

The hammer is Mjolnir, the hammer Thor throws and which returns to his hand, forged by the dwarf brothers Brokkr and Sindri. The myth is careful to explain that the handle came out short because a fly bit the dwarf working the bellows, which is a small detail that tells you these stories were told by people who knew what happens when a forge fire drops at the wrong moment.

The axe is the other half of the pairing and it is less well known. Miniature axes turn up as amulets across the Norse world, from Gotland to the Volga trade routes, and they are usually read as a general emblem of the free man rather than as the sign of a specific god. An axe was the one edged tool almost every household actually owned, since it cleared timber, split firewood, shaped a boat strake and could go to war if it had to. Carrying both a hammer and an axe means carrying the god and the working man together, which is why we made this as a pair rather than a single charm.

The steel and the ash

Both heads are cut and forged from offcuts of the same 1095 and 15N20 damascus billets we use for full sized blades, which is why the pattern on a piece this small is as tight and as legible as it is. The two steels differ in nickel content, so a ferric etch darkens one and leaves the other bright. It is a structural pattern that runs through the thickness of the metal and it cannot rub off, scratch off or fade.

The handles are ash, the same wood used for full sized axe hafts, and they are wedged into the eye rather than glued. A wedge driven into the end grain spreads the wood inside the eye and locks it under compression, and it is the reason a properly hung axe stays tight. Doing it at this scale is fiddly work and it is the part of this piece that takes the longest. The ash is finished with a light oil that leaves the grain open.

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 Emberkey the Mjolnir on the axe cheek is that design, so a custom mark takes its place there. Two or three runes fit on the cheek, and a longer line can go on the leather fob instead. See the engraving page.

Carrying it every day

This is built to live in a pocket, so a few honest notes about that. The axe edge is a working profile rather than a razor edge, blunt enough to be safe against a pocket lining and sharp enough to look like a real tool. It is not a knife and it will not be much use as one. The split ring is heavy gauge, which makes it stiff to open the first time and means it will not spring off a key when the bunch is thrown on a table.

Total weight is under two ounces, so it adds very little to a pocket, but two hafted heads do knock together. If you carry it with a phone in the same pocket, hook the leather fob over the outside of the pocket edge or use the fob to hang the set from a belt loop instead. The press stud opens so the leather can be looped through a loop and closed again without dismantling the ring.

Care

Damascus is high carbon steel and it will spot with rust if it is left damp, and pockets are damp places. Wipe both heads occasionally and put the smallest trace of mineral oil or even lip balm on them, buffed off with a cloth. If the pattern starts to look grey, a light non abrasive polish and a re oil brings the contrast back. Do not put the set through a washing machine in a pair of jeans. The ash needs nothing except an occasional wipe of oil if it dries out, and the leather fob will darken with handling, which is normal. Fuller detail is 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 Chicago, Illinois. 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 keyring is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The damascus pattern is different on every head because it comes from where in the billet that offcut was taken. The ash handles come from natural wood and vary in colour and grain, and each one is shaped by eye so no two are exactly the same profile. The leather takes dye its own way. The sizes, the steel, the build and the two charms are the same every time. The character is not. We go further into it in what Mjolnir meant, and pick it up again in the Norse symbols and what they meant.

Frequently asked questions

Are both charms included

Yes. The axe, the hammer, the chain, the split ring and the leather fob all come as one set at this price.

Is the little axe sharp

It has a working profile rather than a cutting edge. It will not slice a pocket lining and it is not intended for use as a knife.

Is the damascus real or printed

Real. Two steels are forge welded together and the pattern runs through the full thickness of each head, so it cannot wear off.

Will it rust in my pocket

It can if it is left damp for a long time. A wipe and a trace of oil every few weeks is all it takes to prevent it.

Can I have runes on it instead of the hammer

Yes. Two or three runes fit on the axe cheek in place of the Mjolnir, or a longer line can be stamped into the leather fob.

How quickly does it ship

One to two weeks while the heads are forged and the handles wedged, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Emberkey miniature damascus bearded axe with a Mjolnir etched cheek
• Matching miniature damascus hammer
• Both hafted on wedged ash handles
• Heavy steel split ring and short chain
• Brown leather fob with a steel press stud
• Care card for damascus steel
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the other Thor hammers, the damascus steel jewellery, the rest of the accessories, and the guides for how a head is hung on a haft.

Others in the same line

Next along the rack is the Runestrike Thor hammer. For a straight comparison, see the Anvilcrown Thor hammer. Worth putting side by side with this is the Anvilwake Thor hammer, forged from 1095.

If you are putting a set together, the Thornwake polearm sits alongside it. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Norse arms page.