Design Your Own Viking Gear
Some people already know the piece they want and no list anywhere has it. Draw it instead. Start from a Norse shape, move the sliders until the blade, the handle and the fittings are right, and the drawing redraws as you go with real measurements in inches.
What reaches the bench is a specification rather than a guess. If something still needs saying, write it straight on the drawing with the pen.
A $50 review deposit puts it in front of a smith. It comes off the price of the build if you go ahead, and it is refunded in full if we cannot agree a price or the design will not hold up in steel.
What happens after you send it
- A smith reads it. A person, not a form. If something in the drawing is unclear we ask rather than guess.
- You get a straight answer. A price, a lead time, and an honest note on anything that will not work in steel at the size you asked for.
- You decide. If you go ahead, the $50 comes off the price. If you do not, or if we cannot agree, you get it back in full.
- It is made and checked. The piece is forged and fitted by hand in the Czech Republic, which takes 4 to 6 weeks. It is then inspected in North Babylon, New York, engraved there if you asked for engraving, and shipped from there.
Things worth setting carefully
Blade length. A seax at 4 to 6 inches is a knife you will carry every day. At 12 inches and up it is a langseax and it starts behaving like a short sword, which changes the handle, the sheath and the way it is carried. Set the length first, because everything else follows it.
Blade depth. A deep blade has mass behind the edge and takes a heavier cut. A shallow one is quicker in the hand and easier to sharpen evenly. On a seax this is the number that most changes how the finished knife feels.
Where the spine breaks. On a broken back seax the break decides how much straight edge you keep and how low the point sits. Break it late and you get a long working edge with a low point. Break it early and you get a sharper drop and less edge.
The beard on an axe. Beard is how far the edge hangs below the eye. A deep beard gives you a long cut from a light head and lets you choke up behind it for close work. A shallow one is stronger and better suited to throwing.
Handle and haft length. A handle is set by the hand that holds it, not by the blade. If you have a large hand, say so in the notes. On an axe, haft length changes the tool more than the head does: 14 inch is one handed close work, 30 inch and up wants clear space around you.
What we will tell you. If a shape will not hold up, we say so before any steel is cut. A very thin blade at a very long length will flex or take a set. A very deep beard on a very light head is fragile at the horn. None of that is a reason not to draw it, it is a reason to talk about it first.
Or start from a shape we already make
If you would rather pick from a list and see the price move as you go, the six builders do that and need no deposit. You set the spec, you see the total, you order.
- Custom seax. Six blade shapes from the hadseax to the langseax, fourteen handle materials.
- Custom hunting knife. Eight profiles, six steels, four thicknesses, a sheath cut to fit.
- Custom Damascus knife. Twelve profiles, six patterns, forge welded 1095 and 15N20.
- Custom Viking axe. Eight head profiles, seven haft timbers, five haft lengths.
- Custom sword. Fourteen types, your own fuller, guard, pommel and scabbard.
- Custom Norse arms. Spears, hammers, maces and polearms on shafts from 36 to 72 inch.
All six start at Design Your Own.
Questions
What is the $50 for?
It puts your drawing in front of a smith rather than a queue. You get a real price and a real answer on whether the shape works. It comes off the price of the build if you go ahead, and you get it back in full if we cannot agree a price or the design will not hold up in steel.
Do I have to use the sliders?
No. Pick the shape closest to what is in your head, then use the pen to write on the drawing. Arrows, crossings out, a note in the margin. A smith reads the drawing, so anything you mark is read with it.
How long does it take?
We come back on the design in a couple of working days. Once you approve the price, the piece takes 4 to 6 weeks in the workshop, then it is checked in North Babylon, New York and shipped from there.
Can I ask for a shape that is not on the list?
Yes. Pick the nearest one, then say in the notes what it should actually be. The list covers the Norse shapes we make most often, not the limit of what can be forged.
Can a design piece be returned?
No. A piece built to your own drawing is not returnable, the same rule that applies to an engraved piece. That is why we quote and confirm before anything is cut. The lifetime warranty on defects still stands, with no end date.
Where to go next
If you want to see finished work first, start with Viking knives, Viking axes or the wider Norse arms collection. For a run of pieces rather than one, see wholesale and group orders or logo engraved knives.