Runespine Hand Forged Damascus Tanto Knife with Walnut Scales & Etched Elder Futhark | About 12 Inches Overall | Brass Bolster and Tan Leather Sheath | Norse Gift | RK-2207

The Runespine is a Damascus tanto with a full row of Elder Futhark cut along the spine of the blade. The profile is worth looking at closely. The spine runs dead straight from the bolster and then breaks down at a hard angle to meet a straight edge, so the point sits at a corner rather than on a curve. Anyone who has snapped the tip off a fine pointed knife understands immediately why that geometry exists. The steel behind the point stays at full thickness right up to the angle, and a corner backed by that much material is very difficult to break.

The blade is folded 1095 and 15N20 Damascus, etched so the layers run in flowing bands from bolster to point, and the runes are cut into the flat just below the spine where they catch the light against the pattern. The handle is walnut, pinned with brass, with a polished brass bolster at the front. Every one is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks the etch, the edge and the sheath fit at our Chicago, Illinois warehouse, and ships from there. A stitched tan leather sheath is included.

Tanto means a short Japanese blade before it means a point shape, which the tanto explained sorts out. Elder Futhark is where these marks come from, and the full rune chart tells you what is actually cut into the steel. At sword length the same lines turn up in the short swords.

Specifications

Reading the runes on the spine

The characters running along the spine are Elder Futhark, the oldest runic alphabet, in use across Germanic northern Europe from roughly the second century to the eighth. There are twenty four of them and the name comes from the sound values of the first six, fehu, uruz, thurisaz, ansuz, raido and kaunan, which give f, u, th, a, r and k. Written out in the traditional order the row splits into three groups of eight, each group called an aett.

The shape of the letters is the interesting part. There is almost no curve anywhere in Elder Futhark, and very few horizontal strokes. That is not a stylistic choice, it is a consequence of the medium. Runes were cut into wood with a knife, across the grain, and a curve or a horizontal line following the grain either splits the wood or disappears into it. So the alphabet evolved into vertical staves with angled branches, every stroke cutting across the fibre. When the same letters were later carved into stone the shapes were kept, because by then that was simply what writing looked like. A blade spine is an unusually appropriate place to put them, since it is the one straight line on the knife.

Because Elder Futhark is phonetic rather than symbolic, a name converts into it cleanly and honestly. That is why the rune converter on this page works the way it does, letter by sound rather than letter by letter.

The Damascus billet and the walnut

The steel is a stack of 1095 high carbon and 15N20 nickel alloy, forge welded, drawn out, folded back and welded again until several hundred layers sit through the thickness of the bar. Grinding the bevels cuts through those layers at an angle, and an acid etch darkens the 1095 while the nickel bearing 15N20 stays bright. That is the whole trick, and it means the pattern runs through the full thickness of the blade rather than sitting on the surface. Hardened and drawn to 58 to 60 HRC, it holds a fine edge well.

Walnut has been the default handle timber for fine tools and stocks for centuries for a set of very practical reasons. It is dimensionally stable, so it does not move much between a damp summer and a dry heated winter. It is dense enough to be hard wearing but light enough not to unbalance a knife. It takes an oil finish beautifully and the grain deepens with handling rather than wearing out. And it is easy to repair, since a scratch in oiled walnut can be sanded and re oiled in an evening.

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, so your own rune line would take the place of the full alphabet row already on the spine. That is by far the most popular choice on this particular knife. See the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The brass bolster puts the balance at the index finger, which is where it belongs on a knife meant for controlled work. The walnut scales are shaped with a slight palm swell and a squared butt, so the hand finds the same position every time without looking. The spine is wide and square where the runes are cut, which makes it a comfortable place to put a thumb for a hard push cut.

The two working edges do different jobs. The long straight edge slices, and because it is dead flat it is the easiest geometry in the world to sharpen, needing nothing more than a stone and a steady angle. The short angled front edge is for the tasks that need a point, and it stays stiff because it is short. Keep the corner between them off hard surfaces, since that corner is the sharpest and most valuable part of the knife.

Care

Wipe the blade dry after use and keep a thin film of oil on it. Damascus is carbon steel and it will spot if it is stored wet or left with fingerprints on it. Mineral or camellia oil is fine, and food safe mineral oil is worth using if the knife will ever touch food. Never take an abrasive polish to the blade, because the pattern is a shallow etched relief and abrasive will flatten and blur it. The walnut wants a rub of a wood oil once a year. Feed the leather sheath two or three times a year with a neutral cream, and store the knife out of the sheath for long periods so the leather is not holding moisture against the steel. There is more in our knife care guide.

Damascus wants oil more than plain steel does, because the etch that shows the pattern also opens the surface, and caring for a Damascus pattern covers what to use.

Made in the Czech Republic

Made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing here is drop shipped out of an importer catalogue. Every knife lands at our Chicago warehouse, is unpacked, has the edge, the handle fit and the etch checked, and only then goes live as in stock. That is the honest reason processing takes one to two weeks rather than a day. United States shipping is free, returns run for seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This 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 belongs to the billet it was cut from and cannot be repeated, so your blade will carry its own arrangement of bands and swirls. Walnut varies from pale honey to deep chocolate depending on where in the tree it was cut, so two sets of scales can look very different. The cut runes vary a fraction in depth. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is what separates something worked by hand from something stamped out.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes. Both the long straight edge and the short front edge arrive sharpened and ready to work, with a bevel suited to controlled cutting rather than chopping.

What do the runes say

They are the Elder Futhark alphabet row itself rather than a word. If you would rather have your own name, a date or a phrase there, choose the engraving option and yours will be cut in place of the alphabet row.

Is this a tanto or a seax

The profile has an angled point of the kind normally called a tanto. A broken back seax is a related idea from a different tradition, and the two shapes are cousins, but the short reinforced front edge here puts it in the tanto family.

Will the Damascus pattern fade

No. It runs through the full thickness of the steel because it is layered, not printed. Heavy sharpening can reduce the contrast right at the edge and a light re etch will bring it back.

Is it safe to use on food

It will cut food well, and if you use it that way, wash and dry it by hand at once and oil it with a food safe mineral oil. Never put a carbon steel knife with wood scales in a dishwasher.

How long does shipping take

One to two weeks of processing while the knife is checked at our Chicago warehouse, then standard United States shipping. Engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Runespine Damascus tanto knife
• Stitched tan leather sheath
• Care and warranty card
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

See more in tanto knives, Viking knives, Norse arms and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides.

Near neighbours in the shop

If this one is not quite right, there is the Gildsaya tanto knife. Also in this group is the Tantostag tanto knife, pattern welded Damascus. Sitting beside it in the catalogue is the Tantoguard tanto knife.

From the same corner of the shop, there is the Inkbraid kukri knife. You can have this made your way instead on the custom hunting knife page.