Valkshade Hand Forged Twin Ninjato Sword Set with Valknut Etched Blades | Cord Wrapped Handles and Round Iron Tsuba | Two Black Scabbards | Norse Collector Gift | RK-2072

The Valkshade is a matched pair of ninjato style swords sold together as one set, each with a mirror polished blade, a straight angled tip, a black cord wrapped handle over a round tsuba, and its own black scabbard. Both blades carry the same etching at the root: a Valknut, the three interlocked triangles of Norse art, with a second knotwork roundel a little further up the flat. It is a deliberate crossover piece, Japanese in form and Norse in decoration, and it is one of the few places where those two traditions sit together without either looking borrowed.

Worth knowing before you buy: the straight bladed ninjato as most people picture it is largely a modern form. There is very little in the archaeological or documentary record to support the idea of a distinct short straight sword carried by shinobi, and the shape as it is understood today owes far more to twentieth century film and stage than to the sixteenth century. That does not make it a bad sword, it makes it an honest one, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a legend. The Valkshade is made by hand in the Czech Republic, imported and checked by Ransack Viking, and shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Both swords and both scabbards are included.

If you are deciding where to start, the three Japanese lengths compares the lengths. That knot of three triangles is the valknut, and where the valknut appears comes down to a handful of picture stones. The tanto knives carry the same furniture at knife length.

Specifications

What the Valknut is, and what we honestly know about it

The Valknut is three triangles locked through one another so that no single triangle can be lifted free without breaking the others. It appears on the Stora Hammars picture stones on Gotland, on the Tangelgarda stone, and carved into a bed post recovered from the Oseberg ship burial in Norway. In almost every surviving instance it sits alongside imagery connected with Odin, with the dead, or with burial, which is why it is usually read as a symbol of the slain and of Odin as the god who receives them.

Beyond that, the honest answer is that nobody knows. The name Valknut is not Norse at all. It is a modern Norwegian compound meaning knot of the slain, coined by scholars long after the fact, and no Viking Age source records what the carvers called it or what they believed it did. It is not attested as a protective charm and there is no surviving text explaining it. What we have is a symbol that turns up repeatedly in funerary contexts across three centuries and then stops.

The geometry is worth looking at on the blade itself. The version etched here is the unicursal form, drawn as one continuous path folding back through itself, which is a genuinely difficult thing to cut cleanly at that size. The three interlocked triangles have been read as the nine worlds, as the bind between the living and the dead, and as a knot that ties a fate closed. All of those are later interpretations. The carving is real, the meaning is reconstruction, and it is more interesting for being uncertain.

The steel, the polish and the angled tip

Both blades are 1095 high carbon steel hardened and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC and finished to a bright polish. There is no pattern welding here and no hamon, and we will not describe a polished line as a temper line when it is not one. What you get is a clean single edged blade with a visible shinogi ridge running the length of the flat and a broad polished bevel below it.

The tip is the feature that most separates this from a katana. Instead of a curved kissaki with a yokote line, the blade is cut off at a steep straight angle, giving a chisel style point with a long flat leading edge. That geometry puts a great deal of steel directly behind the point, which is why the shape reads as aggressive even at a glance. It also means the point is easier to keep sharp than a curved kissaki, which needs careful stone work at a changing angle.

The handles are cord wrapped in the traditional alternating diamond pattern over the tsuka, tightened down so the wrap locks rather than slides. The tsuba is a plain round blackened disc with no piercing, which is a quiet choice and the right one when the blade already carries etching.

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 Valkshade that means your engraving takes the place of the Valknut and roundel. Tell us whether you want it on one sword or on both, because they are etched separately. Details are on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Each sword is built as a single handed blade with room on the tsuka for a two handed grip if you choose to take one. The pair balance identically, which is the point of buying a matched set rather than two unrelated swords, and the mass sits just forward of the tsuba where a single edged cutting blade wants it.

Sets like this are usually bought for display on a two tier stand or a wall mount, with both scabbards shown alongside. If you are mounting them, put the longer run of the wall behind them and hang them with the edges up, which is the conventional orientation and also the one that keeps the blades off their edges.

These are hand made collector and display swords with real edges. They are not sold as full contact sparring swords and are not intended for paired drills, contact work against another blade or cutting practice against hard targets.

Care

Polished carbon steel wants a dry cloth after every handling session and a light film of oil between them. Fingerprints are the main enemy on a mirror finish, because skin acid will etch a visible mark into a bright polish within a few days if it is left. Camellia oil is traditional for Japanese style blades and works well here, but any light mineral or blade oil is fine.

Keep the swords out of the scabbards for long term storage, and never put a damp blade back into a saya. The cord wrap on the handles should be kept dry and away from direct sunlight, which fades and weakens cord over time. Wipe the blackened tsuba with a dry cloth only, as polishing compound will cut through a blackened finish. There is more in our steel care guide.

A curve like this does not sharpen the way a straight edge does, and sharpening a curved blade works through the stroke.

Made in the Czech Republic

Both swords in this set are made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks the polish, the tsuba fit, the cord wrap tension and the scabbard fit on each one, and ships from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue without being seen. Shipping in the United States is free. Processing usually takes one to two weeks, with engraving adding to that. Returns are accepted within seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

These are hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The two swords in your set will match each other closely because they are finished as a pair, but the polish will carry its own faint working marks, the cord wrap will differ slightly in the pitch of the diamonds, and the etched Valknut will sit a fraction differently on each flat. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Am I buying one sword or two

Two. This listing is for the complete matched set: both swords and both scabbards, shipped together at the price shown.

Are the two swords the same length

Yes, they are a matched pair rather than a long and short daisho. In the photographs one looks longer than the other, but that is the camera. The sword closer to the lens is simply nearer, and the tsuba on both swords measures the same in frame.

Is the polished line on the blade a real hamon

No, and we will not call it one. These are through hardened 1095 blades with a bright polish. The line you can see along the flat is the shinogi ridge where the two grinding planes meet, not a differential hardening line.

Are they sharp

Yes. Both arrive with working edges and the chisel style tips are genuinely pointed. Unpack them carefully and store them out of reach of children.

Can I display them on a stand

Yes, and a two tier stand suits them well. Look in the sword stands and displays section for a rack sized for a pair. Wall mounts also work if you keep them clear of damp exterior walls.

How long will delivery take

Processing is normally one to two weeks from Chicago, then free standard shipping inside the United States. Rune or design engraving is done here after the set arrives, so allow extra days for that.

What is in the box

• Two Valkshade ninjato style swords with Valknut etched blades
• Two matching black scabbards
• Light protective oil film on both blades
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

More in katana and Japanese swords, swords, Norse arms and sword stands and displays, or read the guides.

Near neighbours in the shop

Next along the rack is the Valkcurve Japanese sword, 40 inches overall. For a straight comparison, see the Blackreed Japanese sword, forged from 1095. Worth putting side by side with this is the Nightpath Japanese sword, 33 inches overall.

If you are putting a set together, the Snowhilt arming sword sits alongside it. You can have this made your way instead on the design your own page.